The world has changed dramatically since I stopped teaching French at a private high school 12 years ago. Now that I’m studying 21st century teaching/learning, I cringe when I look back on my classes. Not that you could blame me. We were barely into the 21st century. Information and communication technology was not as advanced, and we were only just beginning to understand how hyper-connected our world would become. My classroom was teacher-centered and largely textbook-driven. Hands-on projects were limited to posters, skits and the occasional cooking of French foods. The internet was only a research tool. Oh, and there was a lot of exciting rote memorization!
The professional development organization, 21st Century Schools, asserts on their website that:
Our students are facing many emerging issues such as global warming, famine, poverty, health issues, a global population explosion and other environmental and social issues. These issues lead to a need for students to be able to communicate, function and create change personally, socially, economically and politically on local, national and global levels...Schools in the 21st century will be laced with a project-based curriculum for life aimed at engaging students in addressing real-world problems, issues important to humanity, and questions that matter. (What is 21st Century Education?)
Now that I understand how crucial 21st century skills are for today’s youth (tomorrow’s leaders), I am highly motivated to change how I teach.
One component of 21st century teaching is allowing for the integration of interdisciplinary themes. This is a move away from the traditional education model in which students study different subjects in an isolated, fragmented manner. 21st century curriculum should be “interdisciplinary, project-based, and research-driven” and be “connected to the community-local, state, national and global (What is 21st Century Education?). It allows teachers to make their core subjects more holistic and relevant. These are a few of my initial ideas for interdisciplinary lessons for a high school French class:
Civics: Compare and contrast the political systems of France and the U.S., including a look at our shared political history.
Civics/Language Arts: Learn how language can change over time by investigating the who, what, why, where, when and how behind the current argot (French slang) of les d’jeunes (the young). It becomes a Civics lesson when students learn how things like technology or large emigrant populations can affect language.
Economics: From animation studios to production factories, several large American corporations have opened branches in France. Why? What are the benefits? Drawbacks?
Another critical component of 21st century learning is the 4Cs: creativity, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration. Creativity is easy to incorporate when one gets beyond textbook assignments and chapter tests and instead opts to have students tackle a research project and present their work in any number of creative ways from mind maps to videos. Creativity is taken further when critical thinking and problem solving are added to the mix by asking the students to address a central question without a clear cut right or wrong answer.
Collaboration can be achieved by having students work together as they learn and practice their language skills as has been done in language classes for years. But there are options that go beyond the classroom, such as ePals, an online educational service that connects students in classrooms around the globe to communicate with each other and collaborate on projects. Students in a U.S. classroom could consult with French students on how to start a student-led effort to convince legislators to promote stronger non-GMO laws in the U.S. similar to what has already occurred in Europe. The project could end with the American students creating a PSA. I love how the Food and Culture Project (“A Global, Collaborative Classrooms Project”) articulates a goal we should all strive for, to “develop global competencies by studying ‘with’ the world instead of ‘about’ the world.” (Food & Culture)
Obviously, effective integration of technology is a huge part of the new education model. Effective being the key word. Allowing students to be passive media consumers (using media solely for entertainment, research or information storage/retrieval) will not serve them for the future. Students have to be taught how to conduct internet searches that will lead them to credible sources and be introduced to tools that will help them create powerful, multimedia presentations. And they have to be taught safety and ethics, especially how to avoid copyright infringement and abide by fair use rules. Another consideration is the age and maturity of our “audience,” our students. It can be tough for them to be online and not be tempted to surf for fun, get distracted, or, heaven forbid, stumble onto some seriously inappropriate material. I am especially excited to try the Yabla service which will keep my language students from surfing YouTube.
The professional development organization, 21st Century Schools, asserts on their website that:
Our students are facing many emerging issues such as global warming, famine, poverty, health issues, a global population explosion and other environmental and social issues. These issues lead to a need for students to be able to communicate, function and create change personally, socially, economically and politically on local, national and global levels...Schools in the 21st century will be laced with a project-based curriculum for life aimed at engaging students in addressing real-world problems, issues important to humanity, and questions that matter. (What is 21st Century Education?)
Now that I understand how crucial 21st century skills are for today’s youth (tomorrow’s leaders), I am highly motivated to change how I teach.
One component of 21st century teaching is allowing for the integration of interdisciplinary themes. This is a move away from the traditional education model in which students study different subjects in an isolated, fragmented manner. 21st century curriculum should be “interdisciplinary, project-based, and research-driven” and be “connected to the community-local, state, national and global (What is 21st Century Education?). It allows teachers to make their core subjects more holistic and relevant. These are a few of my initial ideas for interdisciplinary lessons for a high school French class:
Civics: Compare and contrast the political systems of France and the U.S., including a look at our shared political history.
Civics/Language Arts: Learn how language can change over time by investigating the who, what, why, where, when and how behind the current argot (French slang) of les d’jeunes (the young). It becomes a Civics lesson when students learn how things like technology or large emigrant populations can affect language.
Economics: From animation studios to production factories, several large American corporations have opened branches in France. Why? What are the benefits? Drawbacks?
Another critical component of 21st century learning is the 4Cs: creativity, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration. Creativity is easy to incorporate when one gets beyond textbook assignments and chapter tests and instead opts to have students tackle a research project and present their work in any number of creative ways from mind maps to videos. Creativity is taken further when critical thinking and problem solving are added to the mix by asking the students to address a central question without a clear cut right or wrong answer.
Collaboration can be achieved by having students work together as they learn and practice their language skills as has been done in language classes for years. But there are options that go beyond the classroom, such as ePals, an online educational service that connects students in classrooms around the globe to communicate with each other and collaborate on projects. Students in a U.S. classroom could consult with French students on how to start a student-led effort to convince legislators to promote stronger non-GMO laws in the U.S. similar to what has already occurred in Europe. The project could end with the American students creating a PSA. I love how the Food and Culture Project (“A Global, Collaborative Classrooms Project”) articulates a goal we should all strive for, to “develop global competencies by studying ‘with’ the world instead of ‘about’ the world.” (Food & Culture)
Obviously, effective integration of technology is a huge part of the new education model. Effective being the key word. Allowing students to be passive media consumers (using media solely for entertainment, research or information storage/retrieval) will not serve them for the future. Students have to be taught how to conduct internet searches that will lead them to credible sources and be introduced to tools that will help them create powerful, multimedia presentations. And they have to be taught safety and ethics, especially how to avoid copyright infringement and abide by fair use rules. Another consideration is the age and maturity of our “audience,” our students. It can be tough for them to be online and not be tempted to surf for fun, get distracted, or, heaven forbid, stumble onto some seriously inappropriate material. I am especially excited to try the Yabla service which will keep my language students from surfing YouTube.
Yabla is an online multimodal (simultaneous use of textual, aural and visual elements) language immersion tool that uses videos from “contemporary television, film and music, videos intended for native speakers and made by native speakers (Yabla).” I tried to incorporate tv clips, films and music into my classes, but it was tough to get my hands on that stuff. Now, of course, there is YouTube. And all the pitfalls, distractions, and limitations that come with it. Yabla carefully selects their material then goes one step further with interactive games that reinforce what the students have seen and heard.
On a final note, I would say that a teacher is mistaken if they think they’ve moved into the 21st century if all they do is have their students do online research and type their papers in Google Docs. Even the use of a document camera is barely a step forward. It allows you to face your students instead of turning your back on them to write on the board, but it’s still just you, the teacher, talking and writing. If we are going to adequately equip our students for the future, we have to intentionally and creatively incorporate “higher order thinking skills, multiple intelligences, technology and multimedia, the multiple literacies of the 21st century and authentic assessments” into our teaching models (What is 21st Century Education?).
Sources:
Food & Culture website. Retrieved from http://21stcenturyschools.weebly.com/
What is 21st Century Education? 21st Century Schools. Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/What_is_21st_Century_Education.htm
Yabla website. Retrieved from https://www.yabla.com/
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