Council on 21st Century Learning :: Promising Practices

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Promising Practices Video Segments

The Promising Practices project started in 2009 with eleven video clips demonstrating how teachers conduct learning In and For the 21st century (shown at the bottom of the page). Those vignettes were captured in the urban Colorado school districts of Aurora, Denver, and Colorado Springs. The clips have been featured as "Video of the Day" by eSchool News. During the 2010-11 school year Academy 20, Adams 12, Brighton, Centennial, Colorado Springs 11, Littleton, and St. Vrain districts joined the collaboration and we have begun to post their contributions here and on C21L’s Vimeo website. The project has been supported in part with funding from the Colorado Department of Education, Enhancing Education Through Technology grant program.

Video Title List

01 Teacher Collaboration& 21st Century Skills
02 Self Direction
03 Studies in Student Collaboration
04 Invention
05 Information Literacy
06 Critical Thinking
07 Inquiry Quest

08 Student Perspective on Inquiry Quest
09 21st Century Writing & Publishing
10 Video Streaming Lessons
11 Student Collaboration: 2 Middle Schools
12 Student Communication In & Out of the Classroom
13 Promoting Student Independence

Click here for more videos: Classroom Implementation of 21st Century Learning

	Video	Description	Featured School

01	Teacher Collaboration & 21st Century Skills http://vimeo.com/31471328	Teachers discuss how to support students' 21st century skills and how they collaborate with peers to enhance student learning. Focus on Reflection, Collaboration.	Academy School District 20
02	Self Direction http://vimeo.com/31466876	Third grade Language Arts teacher and the school librarian infuse a research project on endangered animals with opportunities to learn 21st skills of self-direction and information literacy. Focus on student progress-monitoring and self-assessment techniques.	Academy School District 20
03	Studies in Student Collaboration http://vimeo.com/31470368	Critical thinking, collaboration, and information literacy are incorporated into student investigations of probabilities and presentations of findings in digital formats.	Academy School District 20
04	Invention http://vimeo.com/31465463	Third grade students recreate or reinvent a folktale or fairy tale, presenting their work in book, puppet, or PhotoStory form. Focus on student collaboration, thinking tools, and use of creativity rubric. Address Colorado standards of collaboration, self direction, creativity, innovation.	Academy School District 20
05	Information Literacy http://vimeo.com/31464123	Teachers discuss information literacy in the age of information abundance -- what it is, why it's important, helping students acquire it, how to assess for it.	Academy School District 20
06	Critical Thinking http://vimeo.com/31413878	Teachers and high school students discuss using critical thinking skills to delve deeply into literature and prepare for and conduct a trial. Educators discuss the teacher as coach and facilitator of learning, helping students think about thinking, project assessment, student peer reviews, reasoning.	Academy School District 20

07	Inquiry Quest http://vimeo.com/29410687	District-developed Inquiry Quest provides a project for 8th graders to do in-depth research about a global issue. Teacher conducts daily formative assessment. Topics in video: Socratic Seminars, critical thinking, evaluating information sources, information literacy, inquiry, problem solving, thinking about alternative ways to find the information they seek.	-Niver Creek Middle School- Adams 5 Star School District
08	Student Perspective on Inquiry Quest http://vimeo.com/29349200	A student and his father talk about all the stages of developing an Inquiry Quest project, culminating in a video presentation. Focus on parent supporting the learner, critical thinking, reasoning, information literacy.	-Niver Creek Middle School- Adams 5 Star School District

09	21st Century Writing & Publishing http://vimeo.com/29766609	Teachers and students discuss writing in the 21st century, including awareness of digital publishing to a global audience. Students seek divergent opinions, think deeply and critically, linking their ideas to supporting sources, create visual reports. Use: EasyBib, Diigo, oral recordings, blogging with CoverItLive, Webspiration, Wikispaces, exchanging work with peers, and live video feed of student fishbowl discussion with virtual guests, including author Daniel Pink.	-Arapahoe High School- Littleton Public Schools
10	Video Streaming Lessons http://vimeo.com/29765717	Elementary teacher uses a web camera and Ustream to record and archive all mini lessons in reading, writing and math -- engaging students, parents, substitutes and her peers. The practice encourages student ownership, accountability. Focus on information literacy and self-direction.	-Franklin Elementary- Littleton Public Schools
11	Student Collaboration: 2 Middle Schools http://vimeo.com/29592001	Sixth grade students collaborate regularly, with threaded discussion about their reading and broaden their audience for their writing to their peers. Use: Google Lit Trip, Google Maps, netbooks for reading and researching. Focus on reflection, critical thinking and reasoning, information literacy, collaboration, self-direction.	-Goddard & Powell Middle School- Littleton Public Schools
12	Student Communication In & Out of the Classroom http://vimeo.com/29592860	Fifth grade teachers collaborate daily to reach each student in their classes. The day begins with an email or video about the day's lessons; when one is teaching, the other monitors the backchannel. Use: CoverItLive, netbooks for reading and research, VoiceThread to post on pages or blogs. Focus on reflection, information literacy, collaboration, self-direction.	-East Elementary- Littleton Public Schools
13	Promoting Student Independence http://vimeo.com/29766144	Elementary teachers show ways they encourage independent learning by asking 5th grade students to lead lessons in collaboration with peers and 2nd grade visitors. Students videotape each other explaining math terms and post their explanations in a math glossary. Use: class wiki, Scholastic Webhunt, Google Docs, netbooks for reading, CoverItLive, achievement badges. Focus on reflection, information literacy, collaboration, self-direction.	-Runyon & Centennial Elementary- Littleton Public Schools
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The video segments (each 3 - 5 minutes in length) capture the rationale and strategies for implementing 21st century learning. Used in conversations with colleagues, the videos provide a tool for professional learning and planning. Combined with C21L's assessment tools, the videos enable practitioners to compare their own work and planning to those presented.

Learning In the 21st century uses the tools, media, and cultural patterns of this era.

Learning For the 21st century aims at targets (skills, habits of mind, knowledge) that learners need to thrive in this era. See Learning In & For the 21st Century for more discussion of this topic.

CDE The videos show teachers creating learning experiences for students that help to develop the 21st century skills cited in Colorado’s academic standards. In addition, teachers describe the learning goals they are pursuing and the strategies they are using. C21L will continue to add videos to the collection. If you are interested in contributing, or you have a promising practice to nominate, contact Stevan Kalmon.