Tag: critical thinking skills

A curator pulls together and oversees collections of materials. The Internet, Web 2.0 tools and social media has expanded the traditional role of publisher to almost anyone. The role of curator is changing too. Anyone can “curate” online material, pulling together their own collections.

I started a new Scoop-it “Curate your Learning” and now I see why curating is important. When you create a Scoop-it, you put in the tags.

Some of my tags are:

curation, curating, curate, curation skills, curating learning, 21st century skills

Because of Scoop-it and other curation tools, there are thousands of results as you curate. If you don’t take the time to read the contents and just Scoop-it, then is the resource really useful and valuable?

Curation skills can include:

• understanding keywords and tags

• scanning text
  
• reading and summarizing content

• building connections
• choosing appropriate resources
• sharing resources
• promoting and branding topic

When I searched for others with the same topic, there were many so I followed several of those people. However, the content differed because of their background. I couldn’t always tell from the title or understood why some content appeared for me to curate. I started another topic on Creativity, Innovation, and Change. What I’m finding is that this is a great idea to store articles, blog posts, and other resources by topic. I used to use Diigo and Del.icio.us, but I’m a visual learner. I also like the way I can build communities of people and view their topics. I can easily Scoop-it on one of their topics and add it to one of mine.

Something to think about. Is Scoop-it the right tool for kids?

I see a great opportunity for a company to design a curation tool for kids. A few concerns come to me though: filtering, monitoring, providing feedback, measuring what they curated.

The thing with curation is that what you curate keeps changing — just like the real world. Maybe we need to rethink what we measure.

Social media is behind all of this. You can retweet and curate resources other people have shared. My Scoop-it Making Learning Personal made it all clear to me where we are going with learning. All of us can be curators of our own learning.

It’s easy to set up your Scoop-it.

Dashboard: Your dashboard keeps track of the activity:

• Topic of the Day (whoever is the most active)

• What’s New (your friends who started a new topic)
• your Curated Topics (you can have as many as you want)
• Trending Topics (most active topics)
• Your Community (links to people who you may be following or who are following you or who have the same tags)
• Your Stats (number of posts and views)
• Connect to social media (you choose which ones you want to connect to)
• Link to your profile (keeps track on the progress of your scoop-it and the topics you follow)
  

Curate: Review suggested content and Scoop-it!
Scoop-it uses the tags you suggested to find sources from other curators. You then either remove the source, discard it (not sure of the difference yet) or Scoop-it! Your latest scoop appears in your Scoop-it which you can use the move feature to move it where you want it on the page.

Explore: Review what’s new on the 5 topics you follow.
Scoop-it uses your tags to find resources with the same tags. You can then rescoop any of the resources.

Another social media tool that lets you curate your learning is Pearltrees that is a social curation community using a visual map. Just signed up so will be learning and sharing more.



This is the first step for learners to own their learning. They get to choose the resources, but I see a problem. It’s easy to just choose anything that maybe relates to your topic. When you do a Google search, the robots and spiders return millions of resources based on your search. Using your tags Scoop-it and Pearltrees retrieve resources where others have used those tags. I’m finding I’m receiving lots of resources that have nothing to do with my tags. So I need to be very discerning and careful about reviewing the resource to make sure it is relevant to my topic.

Let’s be real. Will young learners really do this well? This is a skill we will need to teach learners. How to be a critical curator!

I see the need for a personal guide on the side. This is where teachers, librarians, counselors, and peers as student experts could support learners. Been thinking about this for some time. I’m a coach. Designed a coaching community (My eCoach), and see the need for some type of coach, guide or curator to your curating. Even with a guide, learners will need a new skill:

critical curating skills

Tags: 21st Century Skills, critical thinking skills, critical-thinking, curator, personalized learning, PLN, Scoop-it, social media

Dr. Seuss is brilliant. Let’s learn from Dr. Seuss. He knew that each person is special and unique. I was going through his quotes and realized he got it way before we knew how important it was to personalize learning for each learner.

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
How better to say it than this? One size that fits all doesn’t work for learners today. I like this quote how it focuses on the importance of you and believing in yourself.

“And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed!”
Believe in yourself and you can do anything. When learning is focused on you, your interests, and passions, you are more motivated to succeed.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”

Traditional school that is “one size fits all” doesn’t work for everyone. Some learners feel discouraged because the system is focused on learning objectives that may not even have anything to do with them or have no meaning for them. Personalizing learning for each learner means they take ownership of their learning.

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those that matter don’t mind and those that mind don’t matter!”
When you know who you are and focus on what you believe in, what you are passionate about, and are in a learning environment that lets you take risks, be innovative, and creative, anything can happen.

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!”
When you are in a creative learning environment that is open to questioning and critical-thinking, you never know what you will come up with. I still consider this quote of Margaret Mead’s when I think about thinking: “Children must to taught how to think not what to think.”

“Think and wonder, wonder and think.”
When you are open to questions and search for wonder, you will find amazing things. Open your classroom so learning is anytime and everywhere.

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”
Each person is born as a unique and amazing individual. Every child comes into this world having endless opportunities to do whatever they believe they can do. Traditional schools don’t allow creativity or you to stand out. Personalizing learning encourages each child to find and share their unique characteristics and stand out.

“You are you. Now, isn’t that pleasant?”
Celebrate YOU! Every day celebrate who you are. Personalized learning encourages each child to use their strengths and talents as they learn a concept.

“You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So… get on your way!”
So today is your day! Enjoy it! Celebrate it! Have a wonderful time finding ways to make your day the best day so far!

Care2′s article Are American children growing less creative? shared Tests since 1990 show a steady decline in the creativity levels of American children, despite the fact that IQ tests indicate they are getting smarter.

The focus for the last 9 years has been on increasing student achievement based on standardized tests. Maybe our children are learning how to memorize facts and increasingly doing better on spelling tests and Jeopardy games. Even the TV show “Are you smarter than a 5th grader?” encourages students to recall facts. There is no problem-solving, critical thinking or creativity involved in these activities. The 5th graders on this show are stoked when they get the answer right but there is only one right answer.

Life doesn’t always work that way. What we need are students who come up with the questions and are able to take some risks, find multiple ways to answer any of the questions or solve problems. They need to be able to think on their feet and jump in with new innovative ideas. Who knew even five years ago that people would be listening to mp3 files with an iPod or that cell phones could access the Internet. Email is old school. Now people text, use Facebook and Twitter to communicate. Traditional schools are closing because of so many reasons and, in my opinion, we need to rethink what a school is and redesign our learning environments if we want our students to be productive 21st century citizens.

“Schools in their present state are anti-creative.” [source] There are more than 120 different definitions of creativity but, in the case of creative thinking in schools, it is not just about bringing arts into the curriculum; it is about changing how we teach and learn. It is about creating a new type of school culture where learners are innovating, being curious, taking risks, and are okay about failing and learning from mistakes. Read Creativity at School: is it even possible?

I have been thinking about creativity while working with 1:1 laptop programs and schools that are integrating technology into the classroom. Just giving students a laptop or using technology in a lesson is not changing the culture of the school and how students learn. Learners need critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Teachers become more of a facilitator guiding the buzz happening in their classroom and online. We hear the why we need to change over and over at conferences, in speeches, on YouTube. We get it. We have to change our learning environments to prepare our students to be 21st century citizens. Read Ben Johnson’s post on “How to Ignite Intellectual Curiosity in Students” on Edutopia.

Changing schools like this is not something that happens right away. In fact, changing schools and school culture takes years. The reason is that the adults who work in the system, the teachers, administrators,  parents — all were taught in systems where creativity was not allowed. It was about memorizing facts. I still hear from some parents “if it was good for me, then it is good for my children.” The problem that we need to get across to these parents is that yesterday’s schools won’t work today and are harmful for our children’s future. The jobs you prepared for in the past are no longer available today. The world has changed and is changing faster than we can keep up. Our kids cannot compete now. How will they compete as a global citizen?  I said it once before — this is a moral issue.

Most innovative programs are with soft money (grants). When the grant ends, the program ends unless they find other money. Some grants are for one year. Some lucky grants are three to five years, but that still is not enough time to change the culture of the school. I’ve been throwing around in my head how much time is enough time for change. Every school, every teacher, every student is different and unique. There is no clear cut formula on change. How you deal with change is personal.

When you think about changing the culture in a school, you need to be creative and innovative. Actually, those are the skills you need to teach. How do you teach something you may not know about? We ask our teachers to integrate technology but, in many cases, we don’t provide enough technology or training, current technology, or technology that works all the time. In fact, it’s not really the technology that makes change. We continue using the same school schedule and assessment strategies. In other cases, we assume if we teach teachers how to use a technology, then they will automatically know how to include it in their lessons. Teachers will use an interactive whiteboard just like they used a whiteboard; in front of the classroom. They will use PowerPoint to present their lessons. Animating bullets may be all a teacher feels comfortable learning and doing. Teaching teachers to let go and let students become more responsible for their learning just doesn’t seem right for many teachers. Being a facilitator instead of a lecturer is not an easy move for teachers especially if teachers are told to teach to the test and follow a pacing guide.

Bringing creativity to the classroom is so big and scary for schools that it IS going to take time before we see full scale change. There are pockets of excellence here and there. There are programs like New Tech High and the Buck Institute where schools are changing to project-based learning. This takes a big effort from everyone and a commitment to invest time and money into people and appropriate resources.

Next post will be about a change process I’m working on with several schools. I thought I’d share how it works while it is being implemented. Going to take a few risks myself so all of us can learn together.

School districts around the country are rethinking how they deliver instruction.

“The current system of public education in this country is not working” said Superintendent John Covington. “It’s an outdated, industrial, agrarian kind of model that lends itself to still allowing students to progress through school based on the amount of time they sit in a chair rather than whether or not they have truly mastered the competencies and skills.”

Here’s how the reform works:

Instead of moving students from one grade to the next as they get older, schools are grouping students by ability. Students, often of varying ages‚ work at their own pace, meeting with teachers to decide what part of the curriculum to tackle. Teachers still instruct students as a group if it’s needed, but often students are working individually or in small groups on projects that are tailored to their skill level. [Source]

I applaud Kansas City Schools for taking this step. I believe this is the first innovative step school districts need to make to meet the needs of today’s children. The industrial model is broken and needs to change NOW. We are losing children in every school in the US. What this means is that teachers need job-embedded professional development, students need a different form of assessment, and everyone in the school community needs to communicate with each other. Change is difficult. It is difficult to envision that the education that parents received isn’t working for their children. All they know now is that assessment means testing — testing means focusing on facts — and it’s important for their students to get high scores on these tests so they get into college. It is going to take the whole school community to embrace the change to ability grouping and then change how they measure learning.

This is the next thing that will have to change. For today’s jobs and future jobs, our children will not need to know facts. All they need to know is available on the Internet. They need critical thinking skills so they can find the information, determine its authenticity, validity, and appropriateness, and then how to use that information in problems, discussions, debate, and written form. It would be cool to work with them designing student ePortfolios. That’s the next step!

I believe all children are unique and smart in their own ways. Allowing ability grouping gives children the opportunity to spread their wings. I cannot wait to see how they fly!!!