The+Wrap+Up

The Wrap Up

Here at Kemm Middle School, we are very proud at the efforts that were put forth by both the teachers and students on Tech Day. It was very successful. Not only did students have fun, but they also reinforced important content standards as well as the 21st century skills they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Throughout their day, students used various technologies that we are proud to offer at our school. Students made good use of the Internet, cameras for capturing both video and digital stills, webcams, and produced their very own Glog. In addition to this technology, they also communicated and cooperated with each other as well as their teachers. KMS strongly believes in the views expressed by the organization called The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Our goal is to infuse the “four Cs” into our daily curriculum: critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation). Each Tech Day lesson plan was carefully created to include one or more of these skills. __ **Learning and Innovation Skills ** __ Among other content areas, students were exposed to creativity by utilizing the Picasso website in art class. They also used their creativity to conduct their very own workout video in p.e. In language arts, students used their communication skills and creativity to interview a fictional character via podcasts (which is a growing tool in the information world!). Critical thinking was expressed through their science experiment to identify mystery liquids. 

__ **Information,Media and Technology Skills ** __  Students were asked to find information in almost all subjects. For example, students in health class were required to use the Internet to find important facts about their subject area. Databases such as American Memory, teach students how to accurately find information. They are learning to filter credible information on the web, which is an important skill. In music class, students were able to combine two of their favorite out-of-school activities, music and technology, to better understand classical symphonies. They also were able to utilize various forms of hardware like cameras to exemplify their functionality in the techno-world.  __ **Life and Career Skills ** __ Today’s students must reach far beyond simple knowledge of a content standard. They must practice the skills they will need in tomorrow’s work force. Students showed great initiative throughout their subject areas. For example, students in math class were creating their own geometric shapes. They were able to individually explore the relationships with the shapes and angles and we are very proud of the effort each one put forth. Students also exemplified great social and cross-cultural skills within their social studies lesson. Using the social networking tool Skype, students were able to cross the state and connect with others. In Spanish class, students used their technology and use of the Spanish language to reach out to another classroom.

For more information, please visit: Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2004). //The partnership for 21st century// //skills-Framework for 21st century learning//. Retrieved July 9, 2010, from []