Teaching with the 4 C's

I have made a very conscious effort to increase my thoughtful implementation of the 21st Century Skills into my curriculum. True, every teacher will offer creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication within their curriculum, often without trying, but I wanted to make sure that I am focusing on these skills in purposeful ways.

Anyway, we completed our big reading projects for our Fall Battle of the Books recently. Students must read at least 4 books from a list of 12 within about 2 months. The book list is varied in terms of interest, genre, and ability, so most students find at least one book that they absolutely love. Our final reading projects were very open-ended. The only requirements were that students presented a summary of the most important plot points and a description of the main characters. Students could choose to work individually or with 1 or 2 friends. They could also present the information in any way that they wanted. I was so excited for presentation day!

While there were still a high number of Google slideshows, there were also some extremely creative skits, songs, drawings, and even a video game using Scratch! (We had recently completed our Hour of Code with Code.org and one student definitely found his passion!)

My teacher goal of 2017: more student choice and more open-ended assignments to foster the natural growth of 21st century skills.