April 13, 2020: 21st Century Skills
The Monday Letter: April 13, 2020
Hello, Parents of Algebra 2/Trig Students!
In the last ten-to-twenty years or so, there’s been a buzz among the educational leadership in our Independent Schools that includes
the incorporation of “21st Century Skills” into our curricula. Often these skills include skills such as working on larger projects or activities that prepare students for grant
writing, working in groups, communicating effectively, making presentations,
and problem solving under stress.
These
last couple weeks, I can’t help but feel as though my students are really truly
learning and expanding previous definitions of “21st Century Skills.”
While I believe the young people today
are well versed in media and tech skills, they’ve learned new skill sets that
include adapting to new technologies and communicating in groups on line. They’ve learned how to trouble-shoot,
problem-solve, and stay calm at the same time.
(I could say “I’ve” instead of “They’ve” also!) My students have 5 or more different windows opened on their
computers at the same time just for math
class and many have no trouble moving between the windows, sharing space on their screens
and making comparisons all while adjusting to technology and math ideas they’ve
never used before. Some students (like me) are still developing these skills; now these skills feel like 21st Century Skills.
When we look back upon these few weeks of
learning during this time of crisis, I believe we will see that this is an era
of expansive, exponential, and simply fantastic growth. This new learning about which we will marvel most (when looking back upon this time) is not necessarily learning that involves traditional math topics like
Trigonometric Proofs (which we will move into this coming week), but involves
the new tools, strategies, juggling, and mindset that we are forced to develop
to keep ourselves moving forward.
However, as a person who enjoys mathematics and is tickled
by a beautiful proof, I hope to instill some of that joy in the people whose
images appear in small rectangles on my screen.
I’ve re-written our schedule of topics nearly daily, as ‘things’ come up
and as adjustments are made. We are
modeling trig functions, we are completing algebraic manipulations on
trigonometric expressions. We are
juggling ideas about trig (5 basic identities, 3 Pythagorean, and a bevy of
rules regarding algebraic manipulations) not dissimilarly to how we juggle
those 5 different windows on our computer screens. I invite you to watch a
video or two (or more) that I’ve made and asked students to watch; I encourage
you to ask your sons and daughters about their tasks in math class or about how
our daily class is going. I think you’ll
see that I try to schedule the time such that something different happens every
10-12 minutes, if not sooner. I have
edited my 10 minute videos to stop every now and again to make an extra note or
insert a multiple choice question. While most students have said these stops in
the video really help them stay on task, one or two students think of these
interruptions as, “annoying.” Instead of a "check" to be sure the student "gets" the information, these students see the flow of the lesson arrested. I appreciate and enjoy the fact that they recognize and appreciate the flow of a classroom experience. But I'll still keep doing the "checks" because those are important, too.
Today, in our 75 minute class, we were so involved in our
project with sines and cosines, that the first time we looked at the clock
there was 4 minutes left to the class. That
doesn’t happen often (ever?) in a traditional classroom --- usually after 20
minutes, we become conscious of the pressure of the chair on our backsides
which draws us to the clock on the wall.
There’s so much to do and so much that’s entertaining about our current
style of electronic classroom that we are not drawn to the clock.
I hope you are well and see growth and new maturity in the
teenagers who share your space. I hope
you all stay healthy and happy during this time together. I hope you find new activities and interests
that strike your fancy and will make your lives more colorful and interesting
in the years to come.
Should you have any comments, questions, or concerns, please
do not hesitate to reach out to me by email.
Kindest and Warmest Regards,
Jean Mariner, Algebra II/Trigonometry Instructor.
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