Proposed+strategy+for+Lesson+Plan+3


 * Evolution of our thinking as we plan for our lesson for DAY 3.**

Thursday's Lesson Plan: > Come to consensus on a topic for investigation. This topic investigation is, in many ways, to practice this skill...i.e., we are not trying to devise the "Westminster Blood Project." > Report back to the whole group to broaden the view and experience. > (The goal here is learning rather than frustration venting.)
 * Review what we've done and what we are doing in this PLC - participants volunteering brief summaries of meeting 1, meeting 2, how we got to meeting 3, is it an issue we are not "further along" in Pink, etc. [This should not be a long discussion...quick summary.]
 * Generate a web/list of ideas for a lesson/project investigation (see DD's and LAL's notes below on "Big Picture Concepts").
 * In small groups, explore the topic as a student.
 * As a teacher, keeping [|Pink's senses]in mind (see Jim's and Bob's questions below), debrief the investigation/exploration. Seek curricular connections.
 * WIKI discussion on use, strategies, notification, participation (see Kim's note below).
 * Set goals for the next month and the next meeting:
 * How much of AWNM should be read? Are there other important things to read/absorb?
 * What and how often should contributions to the WIKI be made to further our work and learning?
 * What if we each select a portfolio topic and share our journaling for feedback and reflection?
 * Can we tackle the table below to identify, as a group, what we want or what we think our students want/need in terms of 21st century skills?

I think we need a larger place to meet for March's meeting! How do you feel about branching out in the art rooms, of the Jr. High?? DD

There is more space, for sure, in the Junior High Art rooms. But the stools are killer to sit on for two hours. If we meet in there, maybe we could have some comfortable chairs brought in? Or, is there another room that is both bigger and has more comfortable seating? KW

It might be helpful to have a short educational component at the meeting on the best organizational structure to follow for using the Wiki. As I spend more time on here, I feel as though there are still some holes in my knowledge as to where certain things should be entered. For example, what is best suited to a "Discussion" vs. a "Page?" (And now I'm thinking that what I just wrote maybe should have been entered under "Discussion".....) KW

==** After chatting up a few folks, here’s an idea I think might be worth pursuing as a lesson plan for Thursday. Let’s float several topics and encourage others to add to a brainstorming list of big picture concepts that intrigue us and are worth investigating. **** Through conversation on the wiki, let’s try to home in one. **** At our meeting on Thursday, let’s start by dividing the whole group into 5 groups – 4 of 4 and 1 of three – so that the groups are both small and large enough to be viable. **** Groups should then evaluate their composition and look around the room to see if they need to draft and/or trade members to have a multi-disciplinary representation. **** Groups could consider the following scenario: **** Imagine that you don’t have a curriculum to follow, you don’t have to worry about chapter 14, you don’t even have to fret about the four walls of your classroom confining you. In fact, you are not even a teacher; you are a student, a student of life. Imagine Bill has given you all a wad of cash just to follow your heart’s passion about this particular topic. Big Picture Concepts (Add topics to this list): "LIGHT" (DD); "WATER" (DD); "SOUND" (DD); "DESIGN" (DD); Going Green ; Numeracy/Literacy  ; A World without OIL ; Genetic Future-Who's in Control?  **** __Now consider these guided prompts below:__ ** == == After groups have had sufficient time to allow an idea to percolate, let’s gather back together and share ideas. Then perhaps, we could discuss how and which of Pink’s senses the idea incorporates. ==
 * What do you think you know about x?
 * What do you want to know about x?
 * What would be a cool thing (maybe some problem/inquiry based learning) that you could do as a group that would allow you all to learn something powerful and meaningful about the topic?... Not something that you have been taught but something you have learned and own for yourself. [If any of you have read The Falconer, there is a great chapter in there about questioning/problems. The teacher is upset because he doesn't have any problems (I laughed a this) but what he means is that there are problems that affect us negatively (ie. the copier is broken) and then problems that affect us positively (ie. stretch our minds). I'd love to look at this activity as a questioning activity--what MORE can we learn? As we know, questions lead to more thinking than answers! ;) ] PD
 * As a group, brainstorm possibilities! Build on each others’ ideas and work to come to a consensus around one. Try not to worry about how you could bend the idea to a curriculum. Let the idea grow first. Let it stand alone as a good idea. The curricular connections can come later.

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">I am having trouble fulfilling charges to identify 21st century schooling or 21st century classrooms because I, as of yet, have no clear philosophical basis on what a 21st century student or curriculum might be. I think the confusion around the 21st century students and what they will need is real, especially for teachers that have not been thinking in this way. I don't think Pink directly addresses this question, except for his six senses. But I do think these two resources do address what skills are needed for the 21st century student. This framework outlines some excellent thinking by many educators around this question ( [|21st Century Skills Partnership]). Also, the article by Nancy Walser, Teaching 21st Century Skills in Harvard Education Letter ( [|Walser's article]), is an excellent overview what she believes we need to be doing. Why I like her article is that she also gives numerous examples of what it might look like in a classroom. We have not identified what will be the needs of Westminster's 21st century students. Neither have we clarified what students coming to Westminster might bring, in the way of 21st century skills, as they enter school, or what Westminster might expect them to bring to school. We have not determined what behavioral, social, emotion, affective experiences they might have. It seems like we were off to a good start with Pink's first three chapters in defining what these areas might be. However, we haven't even challenged the premise of his argument before accepting it. So it may be that we need to try and figure out where we (PLC group) stand relative to the literature (Walser's article, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Pink and others).

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Garamond','serif';"> > Are we to simply accept everything Daniel Pink has told us in his first three chapters and go from there? Mr. Pink is writing to a business audience, not to an educational audience, though he must certainly want to influence education. At Westminster are we to prepare (only) business people? I think it is our job to adapt Pink's thinking and models to a K-12 educational community. He does not make any claim to have done that. I think it is our work to translate his thinking into our teaching and learning environment. Questions: (1) How are the six senses interrelated?; (2) How would each sense be translated into a classroom lesson in ....?; (3) What would a 10th grade chemistry class look like if the six senses were woven into the teaching methods? > > It seems to me, if we are truly to define what 21st century learning, schooling, and classroom are to be, we must first define what our students will be like and what they will need to have to flourish in American and global society. I would also suggest that we (teachers) need to have a much better idea of what a 21st century student (IKid) needs. See the article ([|Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner]). I would first identify who our students are to be (what they will be like) and what their potential needs will be. I would suggest that we have to try and understand our students better and not only imposed on their learning what we think they need to learn (some of each). Next, we would envision a curriculum to service those goals. Then we would envision lesson plans, technologies and a school culture to support the curriculum. Then we would envision the classrooms to support those visions. > > Pink's premise--the right vs. left brain stuff is old news. We in the arts have known and practiced the value of creating thinking, gestural and symbolic communication, collaboration for years. What is "news" is that creativity can now serve business, make money. I would add that his model and way of thinking is very new to education in general. I think his six senses are a new way of thinking. While the arts have been more involved in some aspects of Pink's six senses, I still think the teaching can be very "old school." Just because a teacher teacher art, music, music theory, drama, etc. does not mean they have found a way to translate the experience in exciting, relevant, creative, and collaborative ways. Maybe, but maybe not. In my career, I have seen some pretty entrenched, boring, not inspiring and not creative art teachers. I agree and disagree. > > What characteristics that Pink feels people must have to succeed in the work place will we insist that our students must have at the end of a Westminster Education. What will we reject? What additional attributes, skills, and experiences will we want our students to have?
 * Could we fill in the column left blank (what do we want for Westminster students in terms of 21st century skills)?**
 * **Skills for a New Century (**[|Walser's article]**)** || **Partnership for 21st Century Skills** || **Pink's Six Senses** || **Westminster's PLC** ||
 * Critical thinking || Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes: global awareness, financial and economic literacy, civic literacy, health literacy || Design ||  ||
 * Problem-solving || Learning and Innovation Skills: creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem-solving, and communication and collaboration || Story ||  ||
 * Collaboration || Information, Media, and Technology Skills || Symphony ||  ||
 * Written and oral communication || Life and career skills: flexibility, adaptability, initiative, self-direction, social and cultural skills, productivity and accountability, leadership and responsibility || Empathy ||  ||
 * Creativity ||  || Play ||   ||
 * Self-direction ||  || Meaning ||   ||
 * Leadership ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Adaptability ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Responsibility ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Global awareness ||  ||   ||   ||