A Day in the Life of a Student
What is happening in schools today which causes them to be killing critical skills such as Creativity, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Agility, Adaptability, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and the other 7 Survival Skills of the 21st Century?
Let's take a quick look at a typical day for a student at school. Here is a schedule from a middle school in Texas:
Let's take a quick look at a typical day for a student at school. Here is a schedule from a middle school in Texas:
Imagine that you are a student at Central Middle School. As you can see from this schedule you have five class periods before lunch and five class periods after lunch. Each class period lasts 40 minutes, and you have two minutes to get from one class to the next! Most, if not all, of your classes go something like this:
* You rush into the classroom, find your seat (probably assigned, and arranged in rows), get your homework, books and notepad or tablet out and ready. It takes a minute for everyone to get into class, get seated and prepared to begin class.
* You listen to the teacher dispensing information while you sit quietly, pay attention and take notes (supposedly :-) I call this the Pez Dispenser Teacher - students come to this class, and the teacher distributes pellets of information.
* After the teacher's lecture/lesson you may spend some time doing some in-class reading assignments and/or some exercises or a worksheet related to the lesson.
* The bell is about to ring, and you pack your books, getting ready to rush to the next class. You have two minutes to get there; hopefully it is not on the other side of the campus. The school is probably arranged by departments.
* Get to the next class and repeat the steps above. The information in this class is not connected in any way to the information in your previous, or any other, class. Neither is it likely to be connected to the real world. The purpose of school is apparently to sit, listen, memorize, then take a test.
* Friday - Test Day. The class has "covered" the material in a chapter, and on Friday you take a test. You receive a grade which reflects how much of the information you had memorized and/or understood. Your grade reflects this, and is probably going to be somewhere between a 51 and a 100. Whether you got a good grade or a poor one, next Monday you will move on to the next chapter.
Note: Other than special classes that your school may offer, such as music, art and PE, or an occasional science lab, you probably encounter very passive, rather than active, learning experiences. Occasionally, one of your teachers may offer a "project", which is usually an activity added on at the end of a chapter or unit. And, very rarely, you will have a teacher that knows about and offers authentic project-based learning. You will love and remember that class for the rest of your life!
After spending your day shadowing a student, what do you think the possibilities are, in the current organizational structure, for students to develop Creativity or any of the other 21st century skills and literacies?
Go to the next section, The Pac-Man Curriculum . . . !
* You rush into the classroom, find your seat (probably assigned, and arranged in rows), get your homework, books and notepad or tablet out and ready. It takes a minute for everyone to get into class, get seated and prepared to begin class.
* You listen to the teacher dispensing information while you sit quietly, pay attention and take notes (supposedly :-) I call this the Pez Dispenser Teacher - students come to this class, and the teacher distributes pellets of information.
* After the teacher's lecture/lesson you may spend some time doing some in-class reading assignments and/or some exercises or a worksheet related to the lesson.
* The bell is about to ring, and you pack your books, getting ready to rush to the next class. You have two minutes to get there; hopefully it is not on the other side of the campus. The school is probably arranged by departments.
* Get to the next class and repeat the steps above. The information in this class is not connected in any way to the information in your previous, or any other, class. Neither is it likely to be connected to the real world. The purpose of school is apparently to sit, listen, memorize, then take a test.
* Friday - Test Day. The class has "covered" the material in a chapter, and on Friday you take a test. You receive a grade which reflects how much of the information you had memorized and/or understood. Your grade reflects this, and is probably going to be somewhere between a 51 and a 100. Whether you got a good grade or a poor one, next Monday you will move on to the next chapter.
Note: Other than special classes that your school may offer, such as music, art and PE, or an occasional science lab, you probably encounter very passive, rather than active, learning experiences. Occasionally, one of your teachers may offer a "project", which is usually an activity added on at the end of a chapter or unit. And, very rarely, you will have a teacher that knows about and offers authentic project-based learning. You will love and remember that class for the rest of your life!
After spending your day shadowing a student, what do you think the possibilities are, in the current organizational structure, for students to develop Creativity or any of the other 21st century skills and literacies?
Go to the next section, The Pac-Man Curriculum . . . !
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Are you ready to re-imagine and totally transform your campus or district into one that is truly 21st century, but you aren't sure how?
21st Century Schools is ready and willing to support you in that mission! Contact Anne Shaw, Director at 21st Century Schools, to find out how we can help you!
In the meantime, please see our Products and Services!
Are you ready to re-imagine and totally transform your campus or district into one that is truly 21st century, but you aren't sure how?
21st Century Schools is ready and willing to support you in that mission! Contact Anne Shaw, Director at 21st Century Schools, to find out how we can help you!
In the meantime, please see our Products and Services!
