The Destination: Creative and Critical Thinking Collaboration Across Boundaries Cross-Cultural Understanding and Exchang

1. The Destination: • Creative and Critical Thinking • Collaboration Across Boundaries • Cross-Cultural Understanding and Exchange • Quest for Life-Long Learning • Continuous Integration of Current and Emerging Technologies

2. 21st Century Education in Reading Professional Development Curriculum & Instruction Standards & Assessments Learning Environments

3. Learning Environments Structures -Buildings -Classrooms -Flexible Schedules Cultural Environment -Homeroom activities -Clubs/Partnerships -Service -External Relationships Tools -Hardware -Software -District-wide initiatives Support -Expanded tech support -Integrated training -Emerging tech committee “To learn how to learn, you have to love learning-or you have to at least enjoy it…” (Freedman, 2006, p. 310).

4. Professional Development • Teachers embrace the need for continuous personal development • Teachers utilize a library of online tutorials and courses that provide PDPs and graduate credits applicable to content areas • Teachers attend conferences and access all available opportunities to learn about cutting edge technology • Teachers share and learn about technology through school, district and global web 2.0 tools • Teachers are chosen and trained to be technology leaders

5. Professional Development • Teachers need sufficient time to adapt to changing expectations • Teachers are motivated by self-directed PD • To provide time, a permanent sub can be provided to give monthly or quarterly “sabbaticals” so that a teacher can attend trainings, conferences, and have work time to interpret and incorporate knowledge into units • Teacher goals can be tied into these mini-sabbaticals

6. Curriculum & Instruction • Students engage in HEAT – • Higher-Order Thinking • Engaged Learning (online courses and self-directed study) • Authentic Learning (real world projects, writing for a global audience through blogs and websites) • Technology Use (including webliteracy skills) “Educators can harness the power of the Internet . . . to empower students to become more actively involved in . . . their own learning.” (November, 2008, p.3)

7. Curriculum & Instruction • Students develop creativity through the study of art, music, and literature • Students have been studying a foreign language since kindergarten • Students develop tolerance and appreciation of international cultures • Students use an online discussion area in every class

8. Standards & Assessments “Today, the defining skills of the previous era- the “left brain” capabilities that powered the Information Age- are necessary but no longer sufficient. And the capabilities we once disdained or thought frivolous- the “right brain” qualities of inventiveness, empathy, joyfulness, and meaning- increasingly will determine who flourishes and who flounders.” - ( Pink, 2006, p.3) Grades 6-8 Program Guide

9. Why Us? Our plan: • Connects current research and best practices in education • Brings together the necessary realms of emotional, content-rich and technological learning that middle school students need • Encourages participation from school, community, business and global interests • Can be realized

10. Bibliography • A School Decision-Maker's Guide to Student Technology Support Programs. (n.d.). A School Decision-Maker's Guide to Student Technology Support Programs. Retrieved December 5, 2009, from http://www.studenttechsupport.org/program_scope/index.cfm • Feeding Minds Fighting Hunger. (n.d.). Feeding Minds Fighting Hunger. Retrieved December 6, 2009, from http://www.feedingminds.org • Flat Classroom Project. (n.d.). Flat Classroom Project. Retrieved December 5, 2009, from http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/ • Free Flour. (n.d.). Free Flour. Retrieved December 5, 2009, from www.freeflour.org • Friedman, T. L. (2007). The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. New York, NY: Picador. (Original work published null) • MoMA | Visit. (n.d.). MoMA | The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved December 6, 2009, from http://www.moma.org/visit/index • Moodle Services - moodle.com. (n.d.). Moodle Services - moodle.com. Retrieved December 5, 2009, from http://moodle.com/ • November, A. C. (2008). Web Literacy for Educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. • PBL Research Summary: Studies Validate Project-Based Learning | Edutopia. (n.d.). Edutopia: What Works in Public Education. Retrieved December 6, 2009, from http://edutopia.org/project-based-learning-research • Pink, D. (2006). A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future (Rep Upd ed.). Boston: Riverhead Trade. • Richardson, W. (2008). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Second Ed ed.). California: Corwin Press Inc.,U.S.. • The League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling. (n.d.). League for Advancement of New England Storytelling. Retrieved December 6, 2010, from www.lanes.org • The LoTi Connection. (n.d.). The LoTi Connection. Retrieved December 5, 2009, from http://loticonnection.com/HEATframework.html • The Partnership for 21st Century Skills - Home. (n.d.). The Partnership for 21st Century Skills - Home. Retrieved December 5, 2009, from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ • Virtual High School Welcomes You! Academics-Catalog. (n.d.). Virtual High School Welcomes You! Welcome-Home. Retrieved December 5, 2009, from http://www.govhs.org/Pages/Academics-Catalog • Willingham, D. T. (2009). Why Don't Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.