Deidre's Question

I met Deidre Donovan at the ASCD Conference. Deidre is a high school history teacher in Burlington, Vermont. As in many other cities, her school is increasingly diverse with a wide range of ethnic and socioeconomic groups. She didn’t say much during my presentation but later, I happened to sit next to her at Carol Ann Tomlinson’s presentation on 21st Century Skills and Differentiation.

I could tell that Deidre was trying to balance these diverse ideas when she asked me “Is it possible to do both: To prepare all students for 20th century tests while building 21st century skills? We talked for a while about the idea of “wrappers”. This is the extension of 20th century learning with complementary 21st century skills.

For example, when teaching about genetically modified food, include a debate with teams of farmers, scientists, and consumers to build in digital literacy and collaboration. For a unit on Spanish food vocabulary, have students create a descriptive restaurant menu that includes previously learned adjectives with newly learned foods in a creative (digital or traditional) wrapper. In a unit on styles of poetry add peer editing and publication technologies to make products visible. Then hold a “read aloud” day. Consider using a variety of assessment such as rubrics, progress logs, and reflective self assessment.

Deidre contemplated how to use this is her history class. She realized that a unit on Middle East history was a great opportunity to create a graphic organizer comparing historical and current events and creating a brochure for students, teachers, and parents to build understanding on how the past is influencing the present. She brainstormed possible 21st century skills such as analysis, synthesis, technology, and collaboration that could feasibly be added on. We finished our conversation by brainstorming how she could give a traditional test and add a comparative graphic organizer as a wrapper.

Please give it a try and let me know how you used these ideas.