Critical Exam of Current Teaching Practices

My Philosophy on Teaching Skills in the 21st Century Classroom

Laura E Marroquin

Fall 2014

I believe that the teaching of thinking skills in a 21st Century classroom is essential to the

learning and development of students in every grade and every subject. The classroom

environment that I would like to find myself teaching in is on the subject of health. Some

schools have health and physical education combined and some do not. I currently do not have a

classroom that I am teaching in but I hope to get there one day. Either way, this course is a prime

course to be able to integrate thinking skills. The use of teaching skills in a classroom such as

health would come in handy greatly because of the type of subject matter that Health entails.

Health is really a topic that students at this age generally talk about amongst themselves; the

opposite sex, illegal substances, weight issues, food issues, puberty and everything else that goes

along with growing up, so why not implement that into lessons. I want to be able to enrich my

students with making my classroom a safe, meaningful, real world environment, have the

students working collaboratively, and having them use technology to enhance their learning. All

of that combined would improve their thinking skills in a 21st century classroom.

One instructional strategy that I would like to use in my classroom is

simply called The Survey. Ive been mulling over this idea in my head for

quite some time and its something that I really want to do. Every week, I

would have the class access a computer individually and take an online

survey based on the topic that I would be teaching for the week. Once the

consensus is in, we would go over what the class thought and then go over
percentages of what every Health class as a whole thought. We would then

proceed to have a discussion on the thoughts or actions based off of what

everyone chose. This is a great idea because the discussions will all be

based on the answers that the students themselves gave from the survey. It

will be self-guided with me as the facilitator but essentially, the students will

be the ones that are motivating themselves. Another reason I really like this

idea is because it can give me a sense of what is really going on in my

students lives. This touches on the real world situations that I want to

incorporate into my classroom. It also helps to know that if you are one of

my students, you are not alone in what you may be going through in your

own personal life. You are just like every other one of your peers. I also

believe that this could form new friendships, create new perspectives, and

start getting the students to open up their minds. Another great thing about

introducing surveys is that this will give the students a chance to start

thinking about developing their own survey which is an assignment I would

like to implement. They can use technology to find creative ways to not only

create their survey but to introduce the topic they would like to do their

survey on. Once the surveys have been given, they can incorporate other

thinking skills into this project such as problem solving skills, math and logic

skills for coming up with percentages and maybe create some charts or

graphs. There is so much that students can do with this topic and I will go

more in depth with it when I start discussing Bloom s Taxonomy and LoTi.

Patricia Alejandra Lastiri in a lesson plan I found on a website called, And the
Question Is... Writing Good Survey Questions states, The ability to ask

questions is critical to learning, and well-framed questions elicit better

answers that further understanding and dialogue. However, learning to ask

the right questions is a difficult skill to develop. In [the] lesson, students

learn how to create effective questions by examining survey questions and

creating their own survey on reading habits.1 This lesson speaks of critical

learning as well as higher level thinking skills. For content standards it

touches on reading skills, effective listening, comprehension and

collaboration. Also, they will be incorporating technology standards of the

digital age such as research the topic they want to know about, select and

use different types of applications, operating a CPU, presentation,

uploading/downloading, becoming a part of an Health class online

community among other ideas.

Provided below is a quick lesson plan on my Survey Project.

Grade
6-8
Level(s)
Content Area Health/Physical Education

Time line 2-3 weeks

Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills,
and strategies do you expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum
areas and subject area benchmarks? )
Content Standards 4.8.1 Apply effective verbal and nonverbal communication skills to
enhance health.
4.8.3 Demonstrate effective conflict management or resolution strategies.
2.8.1 Examine how the family influences the health of adolescents.
2.8.2 Describe the influence of culture on health beliefs, practices,
and behaviors.
2.8.3 Describe how peers influence healthy and unhealthy behaviors.
2.8.4 Analyze how the school and community can affect personal
health practices and behaviors.

Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or

possible products)

Students create a survey from a topic/theme discussed in class from the semester/school

year. They will evaluate the results, come up with solutions (if any are needed), evaluate

statistical data, and create a presentation on the findings.

Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would
students care or want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students
thinking about the topic or generate interest about the topic? What questions can you ask
students to help them focus on important aspects of the topic? What background or prior
knowledge will you expect students to bring to this topic and build on?)

I want them to think about the things they may be going through or if they know someone

who is going through something and apply it to this lesson. I think that will make the surveys

more genuine and perhaps even get their peers to take a look at what may be going on in their

own lives. Maybe there are friends out there who dont even realize what is going on with

themselves personally and this will get them to start asking questions.

Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and
resourcesonline student tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates,
assessment rubrics, etchelp elucidate or explain the content or allow students to interact
with the content? What previous technology skills should students have to complete this
project?)
 Students will be using a variety of digital tools and resources for presentation of their

project. Since these students are 6th-8th grade, the computer skills will probably be minimal but

enough to get the job done. They will do research on their topic to get good ideas on the kinds of

questions to ask.

Instructional Plan

Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation
for this lesson? How can you find out if students have this foundation? What
difficulties might students have?)

This project is done towards the end of the semester/year so students will already have

the knowledge they need under their belt to be able to produce a quality survey on a topic already

discussed and tested on.

Management (How and where will your students work? Classroom, lab, groups, etc?

The students will work in small groups of about 4-5 per group in and out of the classroom.

Instruction and Activities (What instructional strategies will you use with this
lesson? How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your
role? What are the students' roles in the lesson? How can the technology support
your teaching? What engaged and worthwhile learning activities and tasks will your
students complete? How will they build knowledge and skills? Will students be
expected to collaborate with each other and others? How will you facilitate the
collaboration?)

The students will be placed in groups according to their learning levels. I will give each

group a topic from the lessons we have already learned about within that year. I may have each

group pick from a hat on the topics already learned. The myriad of topics will include mental

health, nutrition and fitness, sexual health, and substance abuse. They will begin by discussing

how they want their survey to look. (All surveys will be multiple- choice for more accurate

results). They will also need to go back into their previous work to look at the topic more in

depth to see what kind of questions they would like to ask. They can use previous surveys as
well if they would like a reference. Research about the topic online is also highly encouraged.

They need to ask themselves what they want to know about the general public. Are they

targeting a certain demographic?

Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various
learning styles and abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with
others? How will you provide extensions and opportunities for enrichment? What assistive
technologies will you need to provide?)

I would suggest to the students that they could split up their main topic into different

sections. For example they could split mental health into topics such as suicide, anxiety, anger,

depression, coping mechanisms etc. Physical health could be split up into exercise, hygiene,

nutrition; sexual health could be split up into reproduction, diseases, prevention of diseases and

pregnancy. This will encourage students to do right by their group. They can work

collaboratively and independently.

Closure and Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect
upon their work? Will students be asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself?
What will be your process for answering the following questions?

Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?

In what ways was this lesson effective?

What went well and why?

What did not go well and why?

How would you teach this lesson differently?)

I think that the biggest issue I may have with this lesson will be the issues and topics

surrounding this project. Im not sure how my students are going to feel about asking heavy

real-issue questions to those outside of their class. I believe that my students themselves will

feel comfortable within the group/classroom because these are things weve been discussing for

the whole semester/year; but to take these discussions to their peers outside of the safe-zone may
inhibit them a little bit. I want them to know that they are within a safe environment while

taking this class but Im a bit apprehensive on how other adults (especially parents) will take this

project. Another thing I would like to see this lesson have is to have more of a problem-solving

approach. I think that if the teacher got ambitious, she should have the students take what they

find from the surveys and problem solve to see how they could either reach out to the students or

give scenarios on what people could do to prevent some of the issues surrounding their topic.

Here are the Rubrics

Group Planning -- Research Project : Health Survey Multimedia project

GROUP
Category 4 3 2 1
Ideas/Research Researchers Researchers Researchers Researchers
Questions independently independently identify, with some identify, with
identify at least 1 identify at least 1 adult help, at least considerable
reasonable, reasonable 1 reasonable adult help, 1
insightful, ideas/questions to ideas/questions to reasonable
creative pursue when pursue when doing ideas/question
ideas/questions to doing the the research. s to pursue
pursue when research. when doing
doing the the research.
research.
Delegation of Each student in Each student in Each student in the One or more
Responsibility the group can the group can group can, with students in the
clearly explain clearly explain minimal group cannot
what information what information prompting from clearly explain
was needed by s/he is peers, clearly what
the group, what responsible for explain what information
information s/he locating. information s/he is they were
was responsible responsible for. responsible
for, and what for.
he/she did for the
multimedia
project

Analysis Organizes and Organizes Organizes Conclusions

Survey synthesizes evidence to reveal evidence, but the States a
Findings evidence to reveal important organization isnot conclusion
insightful patterns, effective in that is a
patterns, differences, or revealing logical
differences, or similarities important patterns, extrapolation
similarities related to focus. differences, or from the
related to focus. similarities and /or inquiry
is unrelated to findings.
focus

SURVEY Rating
Category 4 3 2 1
Purpose is stated Purpose is stated Purpose is stated Purpose is not
Purpose
clearly. somewhat clearly. vaguely. stated.
Questions are Questions are
Questions are very
crystal clear and somewhat clear Questions are
Clarity of clear and a person
a person would and a person confusing and
questions might have to ask
not have to ask would have to ask ambiguous.
for clarification.
for clarification. for clarification.
Every person Most people would Few people would No one would
Choice of would be able to be able to choose be able to choose be able to
responses choose from the from the from the choose from
responses. responses. responses. the responses.
 The selection of The selection of The selection of The selection
graphics, line graphics, line graphics, line of graphics,
styles, and styles and styles and line styles and
arrangement arrangement arrangement arrangement
Layout
options enhances options mostly options sometimes options do not
the layout and enhances the enhances the enhance the
meaning of the layout of the layout of the layout of the
survey. survey. survey. survey.
All essential Most of the Some of the One or fewer
questions are essential questions essential questions essential
Content
properly are properly are properly questions are
addressed. addressed. addressed. addressed.
Numerous
All words are
Most words are Most words are spelling
spelled
spelled correctly. spelled correctly. errors.
correctly.
Grammar, Grammar, Grammar,
Spelling/ Grammar,
punctuation, punctuation, punctuation,
Grammar punctuation,
spacing and word spacing and word spacing and
spacing and
usage are mostly usage have some word usage
word usage are
appropriate. errors. have a number
appropriate.
of errors.
Easy to use and Difficult to
Choppy, but gets
Utility pleasant to look Easy to follow. follow and is
the job done.
at. jumbled.

PRESENTATI
ON
Category 4 3 2 1
Presentation Well-rehearsed Rehearsed with Delivery not Delivery not
with smooth fairly smooth smooth, but able to smooth and
delivery that delivery that holds maintain interest audience
holds audience audience attention of the audience attention often
attention. most of the time. most of the time. lost.

Content Covers topic in- Includes essential Includes essential Content is

depth with knowledge about information about minimal OR
details and the topic. Subject the topic but there there are
examples. knowledge appears are 1-2 factual several factual
Subject to be good. errors. errors.
knowledge is
excellent.
Sources Source Source Source Very little or
information information information no source
collected for all collected for all collected for information
graphics, facts graphics, facts and graphics, facts and was collected.
and quotes. All quotes. Most quotes, but not
documented in documented in documented in
desired format. desired format. desired format.

Content Covers topic in- Includes essential Includes essential Content is

depth with knowledge about information about minimal OR
details and the topic. Subject the topic but there there are
examples. knowledge appears are 1-2 factual several factual
Subject to be good. errors. errors.
knowledge is
excellent.

Organization Content is well Uses headings or Content is There was no

organized using bulleted lists to logically organized clear or
headings or organize, but the for the most part. logical
bulleted lists to overall organizational
group related organization of structure, just
material. topics appears lots of facts.
flawed.
Oral Interesting, well- Relatively Delivery not Delivery not
Presentation rehearsed with interesting, smooth, but able to smooth and
smooth delivery rehearsed with a hold audience audience
that holds fairly smooth attention most of attention lost.
audience delivery that the time.
attention. usually holds
Everyone had a audience attention.
part
Workload The workload is The workload is The workload was The workload
divided and divided and shared divided, but one was not
shared equally fairly by all team person in the divided OR
by all team members, though group is viewed as several people
members. workloads may not doing his/her in the group
Everyone vary from person fair share of the are viewed as
presented. to person. work. Not not doing their
everyone fair share of
presented. the work.
 This lesson hits on all stages of Blooms Taxonomy. The students take the knowledge

that they have gained over the semester/ year and apply it to their topic. They will exhibit

comprehension by explaining what their topic was, their survey and the questions they asked,

and what they were hoping to find out through their survey. They demonstrate application and

analysis when they illustrate what theyve found through the use of percentages they have

calculated from their survey. They will put together a presentation identifying what they found

and proceed to discuss their findings. They will also interpret what they think their findings

mean. Where they surprised by their findings? Where there ideas that they came up with to help

the issues of their peers?

I would put this project at a 4a. Classroom instruction supports purposeful learning

aligned to the content standards and there is evidence of content-related higher order thinking.

Even though the topics that the students are going to be presenting are very real world, the

students will not be taking this outside of the school so there is no two-way collaboration with

any experts (unless the students want to have some outside help or advice). They will be fully

engaged and self-directed but not necessarily a whole lot of problem-solving. We can also

expand this project and turn it into a collaborative effort with students from another state with a

completely different demographic. Students can exchange results via the internet and maybe

even have a discussion via satellite with other schools. They can discuss each others results by

comparing their percentages. Questions they can ask are, were they surprised with the results?

What did they think the results would be within their own school? How about results from

the other schools? This would also be a great starting point for a nation-wide project. Imagine

all of the statistics that could be collected on what American teenagers think and how they feel!

Think of what we could do once all of the data is collected. We can tailor our curriculums to the
demographics of our area and focus on the biggest problem we may have in our area. We can

ask ourselves what needs to be emphasized. Whats the issue that needs to be addressed more

than other issues? This supersedes the classroom, it is real-world, innovative, and authentic,

and it includes the use of current digital resources such as social networking, Skyping, emailing,

producing percentages and statistics, presentations; students would be producing a product,

solving relevant problems, and it all uses higher order thinking. I think I just talked myself into a

LoTi 6 for this project!

I believe that there are many ideas and lessons that we can expand on

with the use of technology, real-world issues, and collaboration with our

peers in a 21st Century classroom. The lesson that was discussed in this

paper expertly shows ways we can incorporate all of that and more into

something that started out as just a simple small group project. Taking a

look at the flow chart below called the LoTi Sniff Test, we can see how we

can build on our lessons to promote higher-order thinking in the digital age.
http://www.loticonnection.com/index.php/more/framework
 Jr High Health is a real world class within itself. I am hoping that this will teach my

students how to interact with others, build social skills, enhance their knowledge to be able to use

all through their lives and get them thinking about how they can take this learning experience

with them the rest of their lives. Working collaboratively with others helps students check

themselves by bouncing ideas and comprehension from their peers. This also opens them up to

see that there can be more than one right answer. Melanie Link Taylor from Southern California

2012 says, kids lead each other to great small group discussions. This gives the quiet ones a

chance to express ideas and knowledge when the teacher has constructed the collaboration

groups appropriately. Making the course real-world will also enhance student thinking skills.

We must make sure that the lesson is going to be able to enhance students learning by making

the lesson authentic and meaningful. Assess the students level of learning, age group, and

subject being taught. What is it that the students can identify with? Start with a question to get a

dialogue going. What is it that the students will be able to take with them as they get older? We

need to make sure that our classroom is full of relevant information to ensure richness in the

students learning. Using technology is the third thing discussed in this reflective paper. The use

of technology is growing in this new generation every day. As teachers, we owe it to our

children to teach them how to incorporate real world technology into their learning experiences.

Technology together with real world lessons and collaborative learning will take the 21st Century

classroom to a whole new level. There wont be anything that students wont believe they can

learn.
 References

Lastiri, P. A. (n.d.). And the question is... writing good survey questions - ReadWriteThink.

Retrieved November 7, 2014, from http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-

resources/lesson-plans/question-writing-good-survey-1084.html?tab=1#tabs

Level of teaching innovation framework [Framework resource].

(n.d.).http://loticonnection.cachefly.net/global_documents/LoTi_Framework_Sniff_Test.p

df

Taylor, M. L. (2012, December 10). How collaborative learning leads to student success. [Article

comment] Retrieved December 14, 2014, from http://www.edutopia.org/stw-

collaborative-learning-college-prep