Twenty-First Century Learning in Action at Chi-Hi

We've heard of the 4 C's of 21st century learning. If you haven't, don't worry, you can Google it. I heard words just like that from an encouraging English teacher this week. Knowing what the 4 C's are is easier than incorporating them into a 15-minute class activity, but Pam Bowe did just that in her English 9B class.

Collaboration- students worked in groups of 2-3 to read a section of an article on theaters through the ages

Creativity - students found an image to represent the information they read. They added it to a visual timeline.

Critical Thinking - students had to summarize their part of the article into three main points; determine an appropriate date for the timeline based on all of the given temporal information in the article, like which century it occurred.

Communication- after working in partnerships and adding events to a collaborative visual timeline with the other groups, partners shared responsibility for presenting their findings orally to the class.

None of the students had used Timetoast, a visual time lining tool, before, so they also discussed and problem-solved some technology work flows while experiencing the content.

And, there you have it: an activity based on common core state standards that incorporated the 4 C's of 21st Century learning. (And, I heard through the grapevine two other teachers are going to try this activity in their classes as well).