I'm struggling with this in a variety of different ways. Most significantly, one of the dramatic shifts to 21st century learning is allowing students to set the direction of much of the content of the course. However, in a content driven curriculum, such as U.S. History, there is not a lot of room to let student choice/research set the agenda or direction that the course will take. In my opinion for example, students need to learn about the Battle of Gettysburg (simplified, but merely an example). What if however, a student driven course chooses to bypass the Civil War entirely as being "old news", unimportant, or uninspiring for further study (hard to imagine, I know, but I suppose it could happen)! Does the 21st century U.S. History classroom/teacher allow this to happen?
Further, another difficulty to consider is the notion of a 21st Century Learner learning for learning's sake. This assumes a lot about the mind of the average American teenager. Is it possible for instance that technology and immediacy has made the teenage mind lazy and complacent, rather than curious and engaged? I'm not sure yet. Still trying to work it out.
Regarding your thought about the American teenager being lazy as opposed to more curious. I've found that there are some things that I show or do where students have said "I saw that online" but then I give it some context and it makes it that much more fun for them. I do think that technology and immediacy has made kids incapable of being bored. Boredom is really important because it forces kids to use their imaginations and think outside the box instead of constantly being the information sponge. On the other hand, having an all access pass to everything that goes on in the world can also get them thinking too.
ReplyDeleteTo your point about student driven content - I'd refer to one of the articles for week 1 that says that teachers have the role of trying to help students sort through the information. I think there is still the need for a teacher's guidance and I can't imagine any US History teacher not guiding students towards learning about such an important part of our history that still has repercussions today.
So like you, I'm still trying to work this through.
So, student choice in content. This is a common concern. Here's something that I heard a sitting superintendent say last year, "when differentiating, you have three areas- content, product, process. If teachers can loosen up on any one of these three for any given topic, students can use technology to pursue their interests and up the engagement".
ReplyDeleteGiven your Civil War example, yes, all students should learn about the Civil War. However, what if you gave them the choice of who's perspective they learn/share. Could one student tell the story of the civil war through the voice of a freed slave in the North? Another tell the story of the slave owner in the South? Yet another tell the story from the perspective of a nurse in army of the Union and/or Confederacy? Allowing students choice at that level opens up the doors for lots of student choice and 21st century learning.
True, they could do this, if I had an entire quarter to spend on the Civil War, getting them up to speed on the context so that they can understand the perspectives you are citing. Unfortunately, US History is not just skill driven but content driven as well. There is a cultural literacy/common experience aspect to it that is important to our society and thus, the content can not always be parsed or diminished.
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