Curriculum for the 21st Century

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A curriculum for the 21st century has certain critical attributes;  it is interdisciplinary, project-based, relevant, rigorous and real-world.  Even if you teach a single course, for example - Algebra, Botany, 4th grade Social Studies or 8th grade Spanish - you can still design and deliver a curriculum that is 21st century!

Teachers today are stressed by the current state of affairs in education, and many feel that they do not have the time to design and deliver a 21st century curriculum.  They feel pressured to teach to the test, putting their students and themselves through a regimen of memorizing huge amounts of facts so that they can pass their standardized tests.  One teacher at a recent on-site workshop commented that she felt like a robot.

Fortunately, we have examples of many classrooms and schools around the country and the world who are demonstrating phenomenal success by implementing a 21st century curriculum.  They achieve this success in a variety of ways, locally unique, yet also demonstrating a common set of critical attributes.  And there is a growing body of research supporting the 21st century curriculum, classroom and school.  It's not just the curriculum, you see, it's the structure of the total environment.  Education - from the design of physical structures to the design of the curriculum and the school day - that was designed for the Industrial Age is obsolete.  See our developing essay, What is 21st Century Education?

That's why we call one of our workshops Designing the 21st Century Classroom, because it integrates the physical, emotional and academic environment;  classroom strategies;  authentic assessment;  21st century skills and literacies;  all the content areas; global competencies; technologies and multimedia; and even the daily and weekly schedule.  They are all part of one interdependent system.  And we can show you how to create the system that is best for you.  We provide you with examples from our personal and professional experiences, examples of other schools, and support it with the research!  Then, in our workshops, you will learn experientially - our workshops are not the 20th century style of "sit and get";  we practice what we preach.  You will learn, teach, design, create, and leave with a real product you can use to begin taking your classroom into the 21st century immediately.

You can design a program that is unique to you, your students and your community which will enable your students to enjoy high levels of learning, develop 21st century skills, deepen understanding, and dramatically increase student motivation, attendance, grades, graduation rates - and by the way, higher test scores as well.

There is a way to reclaim the joy and success that has been drummed out of teaching and learning by the current epidemic of standardized testing mania.

This web site is a continually evolving source of information and ideas. You will find many ideas to help you design your personal project-based unit of curriculum, from suggested unit themes to examples of unit frameworks. 

Additionally, we provide a continually evolving program of professional development to assist you in successfully creating a 21st century program of education for your community.

As you may know, we are currently redesigning our web site - which had approximately 850 pages!  We began the redesign on the evening of October 2, and we are working hard to restore all the pages.  We believe we have the Professional Development pages completed, and we have begun work on the Curriculum Section.  It will be restored very soon!  You will shortly have access to unit design tools, resources, themes, sample units and recommended resources.

Need More Information?

Please use the form below to send us any requests for more information on curriculum, including notification of when the units, design tools, themes and recommended resources will be online.  Also we would like to receive specific questions or requests you may have regarding curriculum.  We look forward to hearing from you! 

May we also recommend that you subscribe to our blog (see button at right sidebar).  We have begun blogging quite a bit, and have lot more to post!