Knowledge - The Third Design Principle revolves around the idea that any design we create has to be situated with authentic activity.  The concepts we discussed in our third class all revolve around learning through ordinary activity of our culture.  Situated Cognition is learning through situations in our society.  ABCS is Authentic Activities - the ordinary practices of a culture, Building Knowledge Activities - connecting the learned facts to meaning, Construction Activities - moving from knowledge to understanding involves performances of understanding, and Sharing Activities - allows for testing the understanding in a public arena. AeCTS is Authentic Problem - problem solving, decision making and learning activities embedded in an authentic problem, Clear Outcome - the end public product and the criteria, Process/Thinking Skills - talking about the thought process and sharing, and Software Skills - the tool used and scaffolding the activity.  

All of these concepts are being adopted in LCPS through our Vision 20/20.  The mission is to empower all students to make meaningful contributions to the world    The strategic goals are:

1. Develop knowledgeable critical thinkers, communicators, collaborators, creators, and contributors

2. Cultivate a high-performing team of professionals focused on our mission and goals

3. Deliver effective and efficient support for student success

The concepts we are learning in class speak to the first goal and are being taught and stressed throughout LCPS, as well.  The professional development I receive from my district and this class are helping me be part of the second goal.  The third goal is the hardest of all.  

Learning about how to educate 21st Century Learners inspires me and makes sense.  I want my students and my own children to make meaningful contributions in our world and have the skills to do so.  But my buy in is there.  Now, it’s up to me to do my part, deliver and implement these ideas.  Things have been done the same way for so long, that the change has been easy to start but slow in gaining momentum.  Educators are so busy meeting the expectations of the district and school administrators, the parents and most important of all, the students, that any kind of change is difficult.  Change means more time, energy and commitment.  It would be easy to ignore and maintain business as usual but my buy in is too strong.  Everyday, when I walk into my school building, I pick one thing I can do within that day to make progress toward the goals.  Yesterday, I had a planning meeting scheduled with my second grade team.  My goal walking in that day was to incorporate authentic activity into our planning session.  I wasn’t sure what ideas the team would come up with or if they even had anything but I was going to try.  By the end of the meeting, I coached them through and they came up with a plan to have their students create an informational presentation for the school and their parents about their field trip to the zoo.  Their field trip is in November and that gives us plenty of time to scaffold how to use Google slides as the tool.  We are still in the planning phase but the idea is there and it is an example of using the content as the means and not the end.  I’m excited to see how this goes for the teachers and especially for the students.