Integrate Technology: Our students are Millennial Learners! The millennial generation has grown up with computers and other 21st century communications technologies; they are digital natives! They expect a high degree of technology integration. Be confident of your skills! View a student-produced video profile of today's millennial learners. Lead with 'Hands-on" Activities...and Authentic Learning Experiences...Engage and Excite : Most Millennial students, do not like being lectured to. Instead, they are accustomed to multi-tasking, teamwork, collaboration and activity. Don't just tell (lecture) students; show them and lead them to discovery too! Build 'Hard Skills' and also Academic Standards into Lesson Plans. Constructivist Lesson Plans, like the 6Es focus on the 'doing'. This requires real skills to be demonstrated Technology allows real-time tracking of student progress on skills and standards. Use e-Portfolios as a tool to connect student projects with lesson plans and the competencies and standards of learning required to succeed. Nurture Involvement: Build learning communities around authentic learning experiences, such as creating lesson plans or the activities from them builds a sustained support network. By encouraging participants to teach others by using technology the learning community becomes a valuable resource, not just a 'made up' activity. Students today are technology "natives", as opposed to their teacher "immigrants" As teachers become facilitators, they escape the bottleneck position. And, retention soars as students teach each other. Connect with the Real World: Technology allows students to breach the wall dividing school and the world of work. This may include partnering with businesses to engage their workforce with educators. This enables authentcity in learning. In this mode, students may be empowered by being recognized as experts. Career Bytes interviews are an excellent way for students to understand these connections and build their skills at the same time. Share and Publish: Demonstrate what is learned by doing as opposed to simply testing; By publishing you document findings and present work. Finished projects can become components of Best Practices and models for others to learn from. Scientists publish; students and teachers can publish too! |