Why is the way we are teaching today not working, and what are the main reasons it must be changed? Teaching today is not working because like everything else in our world, it is an outcome-oriented, not process-oriented, endeavor. Standardized tests are only the symptoms, not the root causes. As long as the goal ofContinue reading “Chapter 10: Why is Teaching not Working?”
Category Archives: Literacy is Not Enough
Chapter 9: Global Citizenship
How do the roles and responsibilities of being a global digital citizen affect our decisions locally, nationally, and internationally? Digital citizenship has the paradoxical effect of allowing people to show their true selves to the world at the same time it provides many incentives for people to lie. Truthfully, as a digital citizen, you shouldContinue reading “Chapter 9: Global Citizenship”
Chapter 8: Virtual Communication in the Classroom
What are some other ways global virtual communication can be used as a classroom tool for learning? Virtual communication in education massively exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools were shut down and students were quarantined at home. During all this chaos, educators worked to stay on mission. I think the future of education will lookContinue reading “Chapter 8: Virtual Communication in the Classroom”
Chapter 7: What is 21st-Century Literacy?
How would you define literacy in the 21st century? How would you define modern-day collaboration? Twenty-first literacy should be divided into public production literacy and private consumption literacy. Production literacy needs to understand how large masses of people use technology because messages need to be made to fit the audience. One example of this understandingContinue reading “Chapter 7: What is 21st-Century Literacy?”
Chapter 6: Creativity is Prohibited
How is the current educational process prohibiting creativity? How does standardized testing prohibit it? A teacher at my school has a little post-it note on his desk with the mantra “If you can’t measure it, it didn’t happen.” I respect him a lot and think he’s one of the best teachers in our school. ButContinue reading “Chapter 6: Creativity is Prohibited”
Chapter 5: Facts and Opinions
Why is it increasingly important for today’s students to be able to differentiate fact from opinion and exam data for underlying meaning and bias? This is a pre-COVID question. The example of “myth-information” presented by Crockett et al. stressed the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide (2011). In 2022, this example feels quaint and charmingly harmless. WeContinue reading “Chapter 5: Facts and Opinions”
Chapter 4: Applying the 6 Ds
What challenge or problem could you apply the 6 Ds to in your life right now? I want to apply the 6 Ds to the problem of helping my students score well on their Cambridge AS General Paper exam, specifically the argumentative essay section. Standardized tests may not be the most effective assessments of 21st-centuryContinue reading “Chapter 4: Applying the 6 Ds”
Chapter 3: Additional Skills for the 21st Century
What additional skills can you think of, above and beyond those mentioned in this chapter, students will need to succeed in the 21st century? The most important skill students will need is flexibility and the ability to retrain. The world has changed a lot since Literacy is Not Enough was published in 2011. The numberContinue reading “Chapter 3: Additional Skills for the 21st Century”
Chapter 2: Digital literacy compared to fluency
What is the primary difference between literacy and fluency and why is it important to consider in regard to our children’s educational structuring? Literacy is knowing how to do something while fluency is being able to do that something automatically. I first encountered this idea in Stephen Krashen’s Principles and Practice in Second Language AcquisitionContinue reading “Chapter 2: Digital literacy compared to fluency”
Chapter 1: Demonstrating Preparedness
What must our children do to measurably demonstrate their preparation and readiness to leave school and go into the world to work, live and play? Before students do anything, society and educators need to clarify what skills are necessary to succeed in the real world. I have defined the skills that I think are theContinue reading “Chapter 1: Demonstrating Preparedness”
The Keasy Depot 