Task 1 Exploring

I would define Web 2.0 as Web development and design used to interact in various ways: communicating, sharing information, and collaborating. Examples are social networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.

Three important things I have found out about 21st century learners are (1) the You Tube Generation has grown up in a new digital landscape, constantly exposed to digital media. (2) Digital is their language of choice. (3) Their cognitive structures process information in a parallel or simultaneous manner, not sequentially like ours.

Twenty-first Century skills that are important are mastery of core subjects and 21st century themes. In doing so, teachers must move beyond lecturing and search for new ways to engage students in the learning process. People in the 21st century live in a technology and media-suffused environment, marked by various characteristics, including: 1) access to an abundance of information, 2) rapid changes in technology tools, and 3) the ability to collaborate and make individual contributions on an unprecedented scale. To be effective in the 21st century, citizens and workers must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills related to information, media and technology. Teacher must provide opportunities for students to develop these skills. Some 21st century skills are being able to read and write; speak, listen, and view; think critically, act creatively and collaboratively; manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information. All of these skills are quite important, but for someone of my generation, the last skill is the most difficult.

I am trying to make my assignments assess higher level thinking, and I am also working to incorporate technology in a relevant and memorable manner. In relation to our Wordly Wise vocabulary study, I have my students use a core group of words for each unit to do creative writing assignments, in various genres. This coming year I plan to have them add a colored picture to the poetry, narrative, and descriptive assignments to illustrate the figurative language they create. This past school year, in relation to our study of The Adventures of Ulysses, my students used a Google map for an oral presentation of the route Ulysses took on his twenty year return trip from Troy to Ithaca. Each student had a particular site on the map and researched on the Web information pertinent to the site. Each student gave a brief plot summary of the book for his or her site. The students were also able to use the map to show just how far it was from one place to another. The students were very engaged in the research and presentation of this material. Next year, when we read Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, I am planning on using a blog (rather than our usual study guide and some of the class discussion time) to share ideas about social issues,.