Key Components in 1:1 Classrooms

As we get into the meat of the school year, I started thinking about what are some hallmarks of great 1:1 classrooms.  Whether 1:1 or not, great classrooms may share some characteristics of best educational practice.  However, I have tried to focus on some of the characteristics that are key in 1:1 classrooms.

This statement stands on the premise that a 1:1 environment is inherently different from a traditional paper and pencil classroom.  If you don't agree with that statement then you might disagree with a lot of what I write.  The world continues to change at an accelerated rate and 21st century learning environments are different.  Not only are they different, the continue to change and transform.  So what are some major ways 1:1 classrooms are different from a traditional classroom?

Asynchronous vs. Synchronous

Ironically, although this is probably one of the most poignant changes taking place in the 21st century, it is one that seems to be one of the slowest to be recognized by all stakeholders in the educational process.  Learning is no longer limited to the 8 to 3 school day.  It isn't limited by the classroom location.  Students can learn anywhere at any given time if they have the resources to do so.  In Korea, we are blessed to have tremendously fast internet and wireless access available nearly everywhere.  We also have a plethora of mobile devices that can truly support learning for our students in a variety of modes and mediums.  With trends such as the flipped classroom and blended classrooms, education is just beginning to take advantage of asynchronous tools.  Information on the internet waits for me until I'm ready for it.

Digital Containers

The physical homework tray at the back of the room has given way to the Moodle course, wiki, or website.  Teachers in a 1:1 setting must have a digital container for their class.  This container does much more than collect student work.  It is a hub.  It links to resources.  It facilitates collaboration, dialogue, and communication.  It creates a home base that brings learning together and tracks progress.

Focus on Product

Yes, I know traditional classrooms do this too.  However, 1:1 classrooms dismally fail to achieve the very goals of being 1:1 if they do not get this philosophical pillar in place.  It is not about the laptop being a word processor or just a word processor.  It is about students creating a product so their learning is meaningful to them.  (For more on this, you might want to examine Bloom's Digital Taxonomy.)

Display Student Work

Students desperately want to have an audience.  Students may like their teacher but that isn't really the audience they are looking to please.  They want to share their work with their friends and even family.  Sometimes this is inside the school and sometimes it is outside.  High achieving 1:1 learning environments find ways to celebrate and display student work to a valued audience for the students.  It gives them pride to have their work "published"and inspires them to go above and beyond on their own.

Classroom management and common vocabulary

If a teacher has poor classroom management, it will only get worse in a 1:1 setting.  Give students engaging projects and know when it is time to close the lid and get students off the screen.  The laptop is only one tool available for learning.  It is not the sole avenue of learning.  If this is an area you are working on, I suggest developing common vocabulary across the school such as...lids down, quiet on the set, hands up (no typing), share screens, freeze...just to name some examples.  When teachers set clear expectations that are commonly known in every class, it makes it easier for both the teachers and students.

These are just some of the ideas that stuck out to me.  What is missing from my list?  Are these on the money?  What is your experience?

Fighting Back the Chaos

Today's world is full of information overload.  Perhaps it would be accurate to say application overload in some cases.  As we move from device to device or application to application, maintaining some semblance of organization is critical.  Yes, critical.  I'm not an organization freak as those around me will attest, but having some idea of how to organize information and resources is important.  We constantly run across websites we want to refer back to later.  We identify resources that are useful to share with others.  We also access certain information from different browsers or applications.  For example, I have about 3 different applications for twitter just on my laptop which I use interchangeably.  Then we move from our laptops to our iPhones to iPads etc.

CC Information Overload by Jorge Franganillo (Flickr)

We are not always on the same device so how do we make the "cloud" (internet based applications and storage of resources) work for us?  If we do not have a plan, chaos will take over and we will just miss out on resources buried in an overwhelming pile of stuff.  We need to help students with this skill too. I'll outline some of my own personal strategy to fight back the chaos.

I am always surprised how many people don't use bookmarks (see my previous post for more on bookmarking).  I have all my common sites in my toolbar.  This makes them easy to access anywhere.  I use Xmarks to sync all my bookmarks across all my devices.  This also makes them accessible by logging into the Xmarks site when on a public computer.  Although Xmarks can do other things like sync passwords and such, I use it solely for syncing bookmarks across devices and browsers.  It has an install plugin for almost any browser on any platform.  I have upgraded to the premium and find it worth every penny but a free version is available.

I also use Dropbox.  Lots of different applications allow you to use Dropbox to access information across devices (see more info here).  I find this is a valuable tool for having files and information easily synced across multiple devices.  It also makes a backup always available in case a device is lost or stolen.

I like Instapaper for reading articles later.

For example, I typically check my twitter network on my phone which regularly gives me useful links and information.  I have several methods to deal with this information.

1. I have created a free account with Instapaper.  I have added this bookmark applet to my toolbar on my browser which allows me to just click on "Read Later" and it is saved to my account.  Instapaper can be accessed on my iPhone or laptop easily.  It tracks what I have read and I just archive after I have finished.  I always know what articles are yet to be read.  
2. I often just skim my Twitter and don't do extensive reading.  So I email myself a tweet at my gmail account.  I have setup a filter that automatically removes it from the inbox and labels it so I can review it later.  Filters are powerful and often underused email feature.  This also makes it easy to search tweets I want to find later.
3. I can use my Diigo account to bookmark certain links right in my phone.
4. Xmarks makes a lot of this simply because it syncs my bookmark applet for Diigo and Instapaper across browsers and my phone.

Lastly, I also highly recommend RSS feeds.  I use Google Reader to keep up with blogs that I follow.  It is easy and accessible on my phone or laptop.  

How do you keep your life organized between browsers, applications, and devices?  Do you have other recommendations to share?

Bookmarking

I am always surprised how few people use bookmarks and I believe we need to be more proactive in teaching students to use this effectively. I use 2 tools to meet my bookmarking needs.

First, I use my local laptop to bookmark items that are private to me.  That might range from financial institutions to travel resources.  These are things that I save for my own personal reference.  I do use Xmarks to sync bookmarks across browsers and devices (I'll write more about this in my next post).

Secondly, I use Diigo to bookmark a fair amount of material that I want to find later.  It seems the bookmarks on my computer are more static and ones I use over and over.  The ones on Diigo are usually things I want to reference and search out later.  The other aspect of Diigo is the social bookmarking aspect. Although I can choose what is public and private, most of my bookmarks are public.  I have created several lists where I just add links.  I am pretty diligent about tagging so I can effectively search for these resources later.  Adding links to Diigo is easy on both my iPhone and my laptop.  It is also my way to share some of what I find for those that want to follow the list.

I have the following Diigo lists to which I actively add links as I come across them:

• 21C Libraries: I place links to how libraries are changing and adapting to a 21st century context here.  This is a relatively new list for me.
• 21st Century Schools & Education: This is a broad category that relates to a lot of topics that I write about on my blog.  It is probably my most active list.  I like to bookmark good articles and such I find here.  I don't necessary agree with everything I bookmark, but it allows me to archive stuff in one place.
• Cool Tools: This is just for software and applications I find that seem neat.  Some are for me to look up later and pursue further reviews.  These aren't always ones I would recommend.  It is like a brainstorming space or a post-it note to check out later.
• Japan Earthquake Links:  I created this one to compile some resources I found and that might benefit students on the recend natural disaster.
• Leadership: I like to post general leadership links here.

Diigo has some other cool features like posting highlights and sticky notes onto websites.  Some teachers find this valuable to help students as they are reading and research information.  I personally don't use that as it isn't my purpose.  It might be useful for some classroom teachers, particularly in conducting some webquests.

Do you use bookmarks?  Do you use different apps to accomplish your goals?  Feel free to share your ideas in the comments.

Motivation

Daniel Pink was also a keynote speaker at the recent Apple Leadership Summit. His focus is on business and he said people do 2 things at work: pitches and projects. In relation to this statement, he made two further comments. First, very few things are 100% right or wrong in the real world outside of standardized tests. Secondly, not everyone agrees on solutions.

In his most recent book entitled Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Pink challenges some assumptions of what motivates people. He says money is a motivator. He also notes that greater rewards improve performance on routine, automatic tasks. However, even when “rudimentary cognitive skills are required,” performance drops with greater external rewards. His argument rests on science that says we aren’t motivated as much as we would like to think by the carrot and stick approach.

Pay people enough so money isn’t an issue. Pink says the important aspects of motivation are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Autonomy gives people choices on how they engage a project or problem. People want autonomy over their time, task, team and technique. Although Google is perhaps the most famous example of what they call 20% time where employees can work on anything they want during 1 day a week, it has been in existence well before Google. Pink argues that mastery comes with progress and people need feedback to progress. Annual performance reviews don’t cut it. Lastly, Pink talks about purpose and the need to understand why we are doing certain work. (By the way, Pink gives many more examples of the research in his presentations and book.)

Pink argues that we need to incorporate autonomy, mastery and purpose into our workplaces as well as our schools. We need to help students understand why they are learning certain topics and doing particular tasks. They need feedback so they can progress towards and attain mastery in certain skills. They need more time spent on the why instead of the how.

Did you catch it? If you are regular reader of my blog, you might of noticed that we just went full circle over the course of the weekend conference. We started with Simon Sinek talking about the why. We progressed over the weekend and Pink ended the weekend talking about motivation. And a vital component of motivation is the purpose...or the why.

We need to have a clear why. We need to communicate it over and over again. It needs to be repeated frequently and intertwined with the culture of our institutions. On an individual level, we need why in our lives to give us direction and purpose. The why helps us know what we want to master and how to make the most of our autonomy. The why helps us know who we are and what we are about. Do you know what motivates you? Do you know your why?

The Future of the Publishing Industry

I mentioned in my last post how Apple is changing the publishing industry. Dr. Bill Rankin has blogged about the future of the publishing industry and also spoke at the recent Apple Leadership Summit. He compares the current information revolution to the advent of the printing press. If current trends continue, the information on the internet will double every 15 minutes by 2020. It is critical that students be literate on how to filter and find relevant and accurate information when they need it.

Rankin goes on to talk about the future of books on mobile devices. He says that books will be social, customized for the reader, augmented (know where I am with location-based info), and collaborative works that are interactive and media rich. He goes on to describe them as mobile in our pockets and portable between multiple devices that remembers what you have read, even on different devices. It is a transformation of reading and literacy as we know it. Some people disagree or just don’t like it. Many of these things are already in development. I’m not sure it is much of a choice at this point. Ready or not, here it comes.  All that said, I'm not sure it is a zero sum game, meaning that just because reading may transform, the current traditional book will disappear.  I see it more as additive at this point.

I like this video from IDEO on the Future of Books as it describes what could be in the future. What do you think? Is this something that excites you or scares you?




The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.
Meet Nelson, Coupland, and Alice — the faces of tomorrow’s book. Watch global design and innovation consultancy IDEO’s vision for the future of the book. What new experiences might be created by linking diverse discussions, what additional value could be created by connected readers to one another, and what innovative ways we might use to tell our favorite stories and build community around books?

No More Excuses

It may not be comfortable, but educators have to be savvy enough to quit buying the 2.0 version of the dog ate my homework.

A blog post by Alain Meyer entitled "A New Era of Homework Excuses" caught my attention.  He talks about how students take advantage of teachers and their ignorance when it comes to technology.  Technology becomes the excuse for whatever a student has failed to deliver.  I think he has a point.  We allow students to take advantage of us in our attempts to extend some grace.

CC Aaron Jacobs

I recently sat down at lunch with a student who had failed to give a presentation the previous day for the teacher sitting next to her.  She forgot her laptop that day.  Really?!?  We are 1:1 laptop school.  How do you forget your laptop?  I questioned her further.  I asked her if she really had the presentation done.  Of course, she said, yes.  I questioned her further about what the timestamps on her files might tell me.  She dodged the question and we had a laugh, moving on to other conversation.  I have no doubt that she took advantage of the extra time to work on her presentation to say the least...and probably didn't have it ready to begin with.

While in college, I've worked for hours on a paper and then lost a half day's work.  Did that change the due date?  Nope.  Work faster, stay up later, and make it better the second time around. The other day I was working on a document and lost it (due to my own user error).  That work did not suddenly go away. I had to redo it and still make my deadlines.  It's the real world and although grace is nice, we need to push students away from excuses and toward responsibility.  I suppose having them take responsibility for their own learning is a major goal here.  Life doesn't always wait for the planets to align.  Sometimes we get curveballs at the worst possible times.

As educators, we continue to integrate more technology in the classroom.  We need to hold students accountable.  I'm not advocating losing all understanding and graciousness with students. We just need to use it a little more sparingly and hold ourselves accountable for some learning in this area.  It may not be comfortable, but educators have to be savvy enough to quit buying the 2.0 version of the dog ate my homework.

Fun PD

GSIS was privileged to have Kathleen Ferenz come in for 2 days of professional development for faculty. She is an Apple Professional Developer that has worked extensively in many areas of technology integration including both the Apple, Google, and Library of Congress worlds. She was a great resource to have and a pleasure to learn from. For me, it was thrilling to see faculty engage in PD that was fun and brought smiles to their faces. Teachers walked out the door with something they could use in their classroom next week and apply to unit development in coming months to transform their classroom. Immediate engagement, short term applications, and long term impacts. I like this model for PD and have sought to implement it with sessions that I lead.

Transformation. It's about taking a classroom and making a vibrant learning environment that embraces the tools available as a 1:1 classroom. 1:1 classrooms are different. It's not just doing some tasks digital instead of on paper. I'm not sure the education community gets this point. I see many people think they are excellent tech integrationists because they do the best paper based tasks on laptops. It's so much more than that...

Thanks, Kathleen, for a great couple days of PD with our faculty!

The ES Mobile Lab

We are very blessed to roll out a mobile lab in the GSIS elementary school this year. We piloted laptops with 5th graders last year through a 1 laptop to 2 students ratio. Although this was a significant step forward, the teachers quickly desired a 1:1 ratio for students and laptops. This year, we have implemented 1 full cart with 21 laptops in the 5th grade, which is shared between 2 sections.

Due to space needs, we also replaced the aging Windows desktop PC lab with a mobile cart of 26 laptops for grades PK-4. We are excited about the opportunity teachers have to bring the laptops into their classroom and let all students access and learn with technology.

GSIS is getting to be the first ones to experience and utilize this resource in our system. As TCIS moves to the new campus, they will be implementing a similar mobile cart as their lab will not be present in the new building in Techno Valley. We hope to further expand the mobile labs to have more carts shared between fewer classes so students and teachers have greater access in the future.

A Container for your Classroom

What's your container for your classroom? Now, let me first say that I think Jeff Utecht writes articulately about this with examples in his Thinking Stick blog post titled What's your container? That being said, he has probably helped popularize this terminology and idea in the region more recently but the concept and term has been used for some time.

I've been in many conversations here at the beginning of the year with teachers trying to decide what they are going to use as a container for their classroom. The meaning of container is how they are going to contain or hold together the content for their classes. This idea of a container brings coherency to instruction that may point to links all over the web, Google App files, or digital interaction just to name a few. It becomes one place where important materials related to instruction can be located.

CC Sealand Florida by Louis Vest

For some people, I think the term hub is more fitting. A hub is a centerpiece where other things spiral out. For some, all they need is one place to get students and then they point them all over the web to other resources. They need a location to store and organize all their links. They have no "stuff" because everything is on the web somewhere else with various Web 2.0 sites. Containers can act as hubs but in some ways imply more substantial content being posted on them.

To give an example, Moodle could be a container. It can link to whatever you like on the web but it is extremely useful for interaction such as discussion forums, dividing the class into groups, and posting files. Google sites or one of the wiki services can act as a container to hold files and "stuff" in a similar way. At the same time, a wiki can just be a hub with links and embedded code from other sites. A diigo list or a Google doc with hyperlinks might just act as a hub. A blog may act as either one.

So why is it important to distinguish the difference between a hub and a container? It's probably not. It is important is to clearly know your purpose and what you want to accomplish before you select a tool. Doing a blog because "everybody's doing a blog" is hardly a good reason. How will your container enhance, support, and engage students in learning? Think through what you want to do with your container/hub and consider how it can interactively engage students in your content. Then, select the best tool for the job.

Do you have suggestions for a container that you'd like to share? Post them in the comments.

Gadgets

It is easy to get enamored with gadgets. Tech rumors abound with speculation of the iSlate or whatever they will call the Apple tablet. New software apps come out all the time. It is easy to dissolve into following the glitz and trends, losing sight of the goal. So what is the goal?

Well, that depends on you. If it is a hobby, then maybe the latest and greatest is for you because it's fun. However, may be it is about how technology can make you better. Better at what...well, anything. I like to see ways that use technology tools as just that...tools. The other day when I was in a grocery store, I need a food item translated to Korean. My iPhone allowed me to download a translation app and get it translated immediately for the shopkeeper in the store. I call family members on Skype and talk on the computer without the cost of long distance phone calls. Those are examples of technology working for me. I have seen people lose hours of time to Facebook and other attractive but overall pretty meaningless surfing. (Please note: Facebook can have value--it is up to the user what the value is and how it is used so I'm not anti-Facebook.) Technology can be a distraction. The point is this...

If you are just following ever-changing technology and gadgets, you may be working for the technology. Let the technology work for you. Even in having fun, use stuff that benefits your life and others. Look for ways to benefit what you do or transform what you do. Let the technology work for you rather than vice-versa. I like the new shiny objects too but don't get lost in the hype.

Multimedia in the Educational Environment

In my previous post, I mentioned the role of multimedia in the educational environment. Teachers expect students to do different types of projects than they used to do. And in turn, students desire to do more complex projects for their teachers. Shifting a poster board presentation onto a PowerPoint slide was one step. However, now students and teachers are engaging in projects such as podcasts, movies, animations, slideshows, etc. that contain dynamic content. In Korea, we have huge billboards running TV-like advertisements. Multimedia is the norm.

Not all projects are best as multimedia projects. The goal of student work is a key ingredient here. Teachers want students to attain certain skills and standards in their work. Students need ways to display their understanding. In many cases, multimedia gives a much more rich, deep demonstration of understanding than other options. When applied in this context, multimedia helps students demonstrate their understanding more clearly to their teachers. So, overall, multimedia has changed expectations and changed the types of assessments students encounter in their academics.

The Apple platform is the professional grade standard for multimedia. KBS, one of the main Korean television stations, is not alone in the world of broadcasting to use Apple for their editing and multimedia needs. Whether it is editing photographs, creating feature length movie animations, or editing live television shows, it is common to see Apple computers in graphic environments.

The average student or teacher does not use these advanced applications. However, the iLife suite is useful for the more common multimedia functions. iPhoto organizes photos easily and can create slideshows and convert them into movies in minutes. iMovie allows even beginning users to edit movies in ways that look like quality products. GarageBand can be used to create podcasts or record music and audio. All 3 of these applications work together and integrate easily with one another. As these tools make quality products easier and quicker, more time can be spent on the content and the depth of understanding.

We do not want to just do multimedia because it is "cool." We want to use multimedia because it engages students in powerful ways and allows them to demonstrate an understanding of the curriculum in a clear and effective manner. Apple supports this multimedia environment more effectively than the Windows platform. (Again, I am not saying it cannot be done on a Windows machine, it is just easier and works better on the Mac.) In addition to be designed for multimedia, designers and creators of such programs like the iLife suite specifically consider how educators can use the software in its design. Education has long been another niche besides graphics of Apple and their partnership with schools all over the world continue to demonstrate their commitment in this area.

I teach, therefore you learn...or do you?

I recently ran across this video... Aside from the content, it also gives some tangible examples of using images in ways to create "hooks" or illustrates concepts with images as opposed to words, which I advocated in my last post.


I teach, therefore you learn... or do you? from José Picardo on Vimeo.

Listening Skills in a Visual World

At what point do visual representations undermine listening(auditory) skills? Listening skills are important. By producing visual presentations, am I undermining the development of that skill? These questions are good and I had the opportunity to reflect upon them recently thanks to a question from a colleague.

At first thought, it seems easy to say these skills are mutually exclusive. Are we not emphasizing one over another? However, I don't think that this is the case. Visuals should not reduce auditory listening. Visuals should be a "hook" for the learner/audience to make the concept being talked about more vivid and easier to recall. Hopefully, the visual brings out some relevant relationship for an unusual way to think about the idea or reinforce the verbal description. If an audience can remember an image, it is much more likely they will remember a concept.

For example, in some presentations, I have recently used this visual:

CC Prescott Pym (Universal Playground)

I picked it up off of Flickr via Creative Commons. It gives some vivid imagery in relation to our students, our world, and our future. I like it. It may not work for everyone but can say more than the words I type. The image provides a hook to a concept I want to articulate.

Back to my focus, if we post less text and more images/media, then more listening is required, not less. Note the stark contrast to straight powerpoint presentations...typically heavy on text. Text-heavy powerpoints can undermine presentations as much as enhance. People become extremely dependent on the words on the screen--they listen less and read more. Why not hand out a sheet with the text and just let them read it if that is the goal? Some would rationalize this because students listen and write it down themselves as a kinesthetic way of learning. Although true, it seems to me that they spend more time making sure they "write" down the right things than understanding the concepts/content.

We need to find ways to use more images and multimedia to engage students and make the content memorable in place of text powerpoints. If we can do this effectively, it seems to me the images require more listening to make the connections and derive the content. However, I don't want to seem naive and say this is easy. It isn't. This is something I am working on in some of my PD work with teachers. It takes time and it is a skill which develops with use, practice, and effort. Effective teaching is not easy.

Let's note an exception...there is a value in helping ESL students by having more text visible. That doesn't necessarily mean less images, but more text may be interspersed. For ESL students, much of their learning extends to language learning and having a language rich environment. Their learning is more than just getting the content. However, images are invaluable to them as they use it for context and depend on it for understanding, perhaps even more than those without language limitations. For ESL students, they may not understand the oral language...again, they need to practice and do it, but in smaller chunks. For them, it is not the listening skill that is so weak as comprehending what is being said. Again, balance is needed.

Listening as a mental discipline. Effective visuals can be a way to engage and "appeal" to students to perform the discipline of listening in some non-painful, enjoyable ways. At the same time, a discipline takes effort and sometimes there is no way around it.

What do you think?

Common Craft

Simple is good. And in some cases, it may even make you a living. Common Craft does just this. These individuals make video explanations of more complicated ideas and try to simplify into ways anyone can understand. You can get many of their videos on Youtube or Google video in addition to their website. If you have questions about some of ideas like Web 2.0 or various tools, this is a good resource to check out for some simple explanations. They do extend beyond tech topics...such as saving money in plain English.

Do you think your students could take some complex ideas from any subject area and make them simple enough for anyone to understand? Aside from demonstrating understanding by their explanation in their own words, it requires effective communication skills...

Literate about what?

I love to read books. My love of books started when I was in elementary school and I am glad it has been stuck with me as I have become a parent and progress through my 30s. I started with fiction. I read classics such as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia and hundreds of pages of lesser known works. The pages of books took me to far away places and I experienced adventures that were not possible in my real life. Good books were of great value and I savored reading them on the first reading because it only happened once. Reading books a second time is okay...but you already know what happens. I love that first read of a good book! As I go back to my childhood and think of these first reads, my imagination is rejuvenated.

Imagine with me for a minute. What if a book could talk? What if I could read a book and it could speak to me? Certainly Gandalf or some other magician could make that happen. What if I could ask the book questions? What if I could ask "why" when I did not understand a plot twist? What if I could pose questions and even predict what will happen next in the book? What if I could pull out characters and create side stories of events that happened in the book but were not explored? For example, what happens to Frodo after he gets on the Elven ship to leave the Shire? How many people have imagined various endings to that story? What if my book could talk to me and tell me what others that have read the book before me think? What if I could share my thoughts with the book? What if I could tell what I liked and did not like in the book? What if...what if...what if...?

What if the first read of a great book happened with a "talking" book? Wouldn't that be a rich and savory experience? I can only imagine...or can I?

The 21st century has allowed us to embark on a wonderful journey. We have so much information and so many tools available to us. And in many ways, the interactive nature of Web 2.0 allows us to do exactly what a talking book would permit us to do. It allows us to define unknown words. It helps us pronounce things. It gives us explanations of characters and events. It allows us to comment on, well, anything from a picture or movie to a news story. And more than all that, it allows me to express myself to others that interact with the same story. Whether it is a story, event, news article, editorial, obituary, image, movie, or audio file, I can interact in rich, engaging ways that a classic book can never give me. For example, will you comment on this blog? Will you share you thoughts and reflections transparently with others? If you choose to do so, does it make the ideas become a conversation starter as opposed to the conversation itself? Will you engage? As adults, we are often hesitant.

Now, for some, I have just committed a terrible travesty in my comments on a book. Please, forgive me. But a book is intensely personal. The 21st century is intensely engaging. I love both. But...21st century literacy is different.

In order to effectively educate ourselves and our students in a changing world, we must be literate...in a new way that is sometimes uncomfortable.