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Inspiration

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Why is it that we all just shrug and think it is business as usual when we see graphs like the one below, presented at the New Tech Network 2014 National Conference in New Orleans (NTAC2014). Why are we okay with this? When are we going to get angry about this? Students begin their educational careers with curiosity and enthusiasm, and then they have it systematically beaten out of them to the point that only 44% of students in high school feel anything that comes close to what they had when they started school. This is outrageous! According to Katie Couric and the CBS report below, "A high school student drops out every 26 seconds; that's about 6,000 dropouts per year". (Also see CSBA Fact Sheet) We hear facts like these and yet we just keep doing business the same old way. It's time to get angry. It's time to demand a change. 

21st Century Learning: Will working with math apps at the kindergarten level be as effective as the traditional hands-on work with math manipulatives? How do we implement 21st century learning at the kindergarten level?

I was inspired to look closely at iPad efficacy and then more broadly at the implementation of project based learning and teaching 21st century skills because I wanted to be a part of supporting this new, or rather born again, paradigm of teaching. I believe strongly in a balanced approach to education. I believe that we need to give children both the content and the process skills that they will need to be successful in this new global economy. I also want to create life-long learners who are in love with learning in the same way that I am. I'm a voracious learner, and I intend to impart that attitude to as many students, and teachers, as possible. This is an amazing time in education, and we just might live to see the day when we look back at the time when kids "moaned about going to school" as something from the past. That's exciting!

Research

My formal Action Research Project looked at 21st Century learning from the lens of math instruction, and particularly, integrating iPad apps into the kindergarten classroom. I wanted to see if they would be as effective not in terms of motivation, but in terms of meeting learning goals and standards. 

Design Process

l used the ADDIE model which is a 5-step model for instructional stystems design. It stands for Analye, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate.

Support and Next Steps

I would not have been able to transform my practice in ways that I had not even envisioned for myself without the support of Napa Learns and particularly my new mentors and friends, Dr. Pam Redmond, Martha McCoy, and my fellow cohort members. People come into your life for a reason, and I hope that I can live up to all I have been taught and share their unwavering passion for equity in education.