Thursday, July 18, 2013

Disruptions, Cursive, iPadography, and other Good Stuff!

The Other 21st Century Skills
Many have attempted to identify the skills important for a learner today in this era of the 21st century (I know it is an overused phrase).  I have an affinity towards the skills identified by Tony Wagner . . . .Some other ones that I believe important based on what I hear at conferences, read via blogs and other social networks include:
Grit
Resilience
Hope and Optimism
Vision
Self-Regulation
Empathy and Global Stewardship

13254 via Compfight cc
Should Schools Still Teach Cursive?
The decline in teaching cursive handwriting, the rise of the keyboard, and the introduction of the Common Core State Standards that do not require children to know cursive has the New York Times asking, “Is Cursive Dead?” Passionate advocates claim that cursive is a cultural tradition with cognitive and academic benefits that must be preserved, while some teachers and handwriting experts say the decline of cursive is natural, and it should be allowed to morph into a print/cursive hybrid, or bow out altogether.
http://tinyurl.com/lbrrab5

Pinterest 101 for Teachers
Pinterest doesn’t require a big time investment and is the simplest method I’ve found to keep track of great ideas. I spend maybe 15 minutes every other day on Pinterest. It’s a fun way to relax and unwind before shutting off my computer for the night, and also great for those moments during the day when I’m already online and have just a moment or two of downtime. I scroll through my Pinterest feed, which shows everything that’s recently been pinned to the boards I follow.

Disruptions: Social Media Images Form a New Language Online
Photos, once slices of a moment in the past — sunsets, meetings with friends, the family vacation — are fast becoming an entirely new type of dialogue. The cutting-edge crowd is learning that communicating with a simple image, be it a picture of what’s for dinner or a street sign that slyly indicates to a friend, “Hey, I’m waiting for you,” is easier than bothering with words, even in a world of hyper-abbreviated Twitter posts and texts.

What I learned about iPadography . . . during the ISTE 13 Photo Walk
Even though Carlos came all the way from Austin for the photo walk, all he brought with him was an iPad and tripod. I had not considered the iPad as a serious camera since the iPhone has a better lens and is always with me. In fact, there is a new branch of photography people refer to as iPhoneography but is now considered to be photography from any smart phone. Carlos prefers the iPad as he used some Apps I had never heard of that provide adjustment tools that require the larger screen.

What is 21st Century Education

1 comment:

Unknown said...

My kid's school offered cursive as a summer school offering this summer. I groaned aloud when I saw this. Would much rather have my kid participating in robotics, Maker spaces, digital media production etc than cursive!

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