Learn Like a Pirate Chapter 7

This has got to be one of the most inspiring books I have read in a long time. I am sad to say that this book study is almost over.  Paul Solarz has written an amazing book that I recommend all teachers read at some point of their career. I know Student Led sounds scary but the way Paul Solarz has written and explained this concept, any teacher can implement this in their classroom in one form or another.

Well enough of my rambling, let's discuss Chapter 7, Twenty First Century Skills!

First I love all the quotes that he writes at the beginning of each chapter. This one is so inspiring!

He starts the chapter off discussing how he thought he had to teach, that the content standards were the end all do all of his teaching. But as he taught on, he realized that he needs to teach the kids how to communicate and work collaboratively and cooperatively. This is where the twenty first Century skills come in. Now many believe that these skills are all technologically based! This is not true. As a matter of fact, very few of these skills are technologically based!

There are pages upon pages of these skills in this book! I will only list a few. 

These are just a few of these skills! Knowing them is not enough! Teaching them and the students internalizing them is what our goal is. 

How do we do this???? 

1.Through feedback, positive, immediate, constructive!

2. Reflection- both teachers and students

3. Progress Report-  A report that gives the skills a score of 1 to 10. Great communication for parents.

4. Make Math meaningful- teach them perseverance, problem solving, many of the twenty first century skills are focused on in math block.

Our goal as educators is to create high functioning citizens that will be productive and successful in society. This can not be done by just teaching the content standards. We need to teach the twenty first century skills as well.

As usual, this was another informative and awesome chapter!

An InLinkz Link-up

Learn Like A Pirate Book Study

I am linking up for Chapter 6 of Learn Like a Pirate with The Primary Gal! This book just keeps getting better and better!

I love this quote that Paul Solarz wrote at the beginning of Chapter 6- Active Learning!

As we all know or at least should know is that our students learn best by doing. We as teachers need to make learning fun! Now when we say fun, we do not mean just do activities because we think they are fun. There needs to be lessons to be learned and material that is meaningful. 

When students participate in activities, they learn more and they are not afraid to take on other roles in the classroom. 

How can we s teachers make learning more fun? This chapter gives us many great tips!

1. Stimulate thinking with Simulations: Create experiences. Don't just teach about the Ocean- teach as if you are at the ocean. Be an oceanographer! 

2. Teach using Debates- Get them involved- let them show their passion! This will definitely increase their leaning of the topic!

3. Have a Fair- Science Fairs, Math Fairs, STEM or STEAM fairs- this is a great way to get them involved as well as their families

4. Project Based Learning- 

5- Integrate Technology

6- Readers Theater 

The school day should be fun for the students and for you. Always make sure that your lessons are active, meaningful and collaborative!

Click on the pirate to go see what some other educators have to say about this awesome chapter!

Learn Like a Pirate Book Study Chapter 4-Improvement Focus versus Grade Focus!

I am linking up with the Primary Gal for the Learn Like a Pirate book study!

This chapter really opened my eyes! I have for years thought about this topic. What should we be focusing on: Their Improvement and doing the best they can through our immediate and detailed feedback or their grade. I for one agree with Paul Solarz on this. I believe that a grade does nothing for the child. All it does is put a label on their learning. Learning should not stop because they got a grade. 

Grades are not meaningful, student improvement is! I would rather have a child keep working on a skill until it is internalized and they are able to apply it to all situations then have a child stop learning because they got a good grade or become frustrated because their grade was not where they wanted it to be.

People put too much stock into grades. They are not the true picture of a child's ability. Just because they score high on a test does not mean they have internalized the information and can use it in other situations, Isn't that the goal we are after?

Feedback is vital in student improvement but not just teacher feedback. Students should receive feedback from other sources. This is why e-portfolios are such a valuable resource to be using in your classroom. By implementing e-portfolios, students have an area that they can upload, create and share their work with a larger audience. These portfolios make it easier for peers to comment on each others work!

Here are some thoughts on Peer Feedback!

and now a few thoughts about e-portfolios:

So those are my thoughts and the big ideas I came away with from this awesome chapter! Click on the button below to go see what some other educators thought about this chapter!