 Social networking is the new buzzword. According to a recent online article titled, 20+ mind-blowing social media statistics revisited: Facebook currently has in excess of 350 million active users on a global basis. Six months ago, there were 250 million active users....meaning around a 40% increase of users in less than half a year. At the current rate, Twitter will process almost 10 billion tweets in a single year! LinkedIn has over 50 million members worldwide. This means an increase of around one million members per month since August 2009. There are more than 3.5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, etc.) shared each week on Facebook. What Does This Mean for K-12 Educators? The statistics are staggering. There is a good chance that you recently created a blog, updated your Facebook account in the last 24 hours, or sent a photo to a friend or relative using your phone or computer. Ten years ago, it was difficult to share information with teachers in the same school. Web 2.0 and online discussion boards are making it possible for a middle school science teacher in Colorado to connect with a middle school science teacher in Canada, Florida, Puerto Rico, and Ohio without attending a state or national conference. Ongoing professional conversations can improve teaching and learning and teachers can impact students well beyond the walls of their classroom. What Social Network Sites Are Available for K-12 Educators? This is a short list of resources and online communities that educators can navigate and join. When blogs started appearing on the Internet, they were typically one-way communication or message boards. The sites below allow you to be a full participant and you can even steer the direction of the conversation. You can post questions, share your teaching strategies, and connect with other professionals. http://englishcompanion.ning.com/ English Companion Ning by Jim Burke Nings have borrowed the tools of Facebook and MySpace—the ability to post a personal profile, upload media, and have multiple asynchronous and synchronous conversations—while allowing for the customization around a particular subject. http://www.classroom20.com/ Classroom 2.0 Ning http://ncssnetwork.ning.com/ National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Ning http://ascdedge.ascd.org/ ASCD EDge http://www.allthingsplc.info/ Professional Learning Communities Social Networking and Learning Communities Social Networking enables teachers to accelerate their professional development and to connect with their friends and colleagues more frequently than the annual conference. While there are obvious benefits from attending state and national conferences, social networking allows educators to stay connected. What Social Networking sites do you recommend for K-12 educators? Please share your thoughts regarding Social Networking for educators and your thoughts on participating in these virtual learning communities. About This Site: K-12 Curriculum Development was designed to encourage teachers, administrators, curriculum coordinators and others to share ideas, discuss recent books about curriculum, share tools for supporting the work of teachers and administrators, and foster an online professional learning community. This week, I had the privilege of attending the National Staff Development Council (NSDC) Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. At the pre-conference, I attended a full day session with Ken Kay, President of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Kay asked the following question: Are we intentional about teaching 21st century skills? This question is much more difficult to answer than "Are we teaching 21st century skills?" The follow-up question K-12 curriculum developers need to ask is "Which skills are we teaching and how does our school and school system measure progress towards predetermined goals?" Other Key Questions shared by Ken Kay: 1. Will students leave our school district with skills that add value to their employer and to the workforce? 2. What skills will we need to teach students in order to help them "add value" to their employer or to the workforce? 3. How do you take a school system that is teaching core subjects/content and help the teachers make the transition to teaching 21st century skills in the core subject areas? 4. If you decided that students need to become 'globally competent,' what steps would teachers and administrators need to take? 5. What is the current reality in our school district? Do teachers say they are teaching 21st century skills? Is an assignment in the computer lab still considered a lesson which reinforces 21st century skills? Do teachers reinforce skills as students move upward through the school system? Additional Resources for K-12 Curriculum Development: Route 21 - Resources for 21st Century Skills Route 21 - Rubrics and Implementation Tools The MILE Guide: An Online Self-Assessment Tool for Schools and Districts West Virginia Department of Education - Teach 21 21st Century Curriculum 03/27/2009
Parents often ask, “What are students learning in schools? How is today’s high school different from the one I graduated from? Are the schools preparing my child for life and work in the 21st century?” The guiding mission of the North Carolina State Board of Education is that every public school student will graduate from high school, globally competitive for work and postsecondary education and prepared for life in the 21st Century. | AuthorSteven Weber is the Director of Secondary Instruction for Orange County Schools in Hillsborough, NC. Weber has served as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, and state department of education consultant in Arkansas and North Carolina. He consults school systems in aligning their curriculum and in unpacking curriculum standards.  ArchivesMarch 2010 CategoriesAll |
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