Over 100 Innovative 21st Century Initiatives … Is There An Idea For Your School?

Welcome to a post dedicated to all of those  librarians, media specialists, and teacher/librarians. You probably are already aware that they are some of the most innovative and hardest working educators in the school. In this post you have the chance to see some amazing programs coming from school libraries and some other departments.  But first, in order to ensure you do not miss any upcoming valuable posts or other resources covering PBL, STEM, 21^st century learning, and technology integration please sign up for 21centuryedtech by email or RSS. As always,  I invite you to follow me on twitter (@mjgormans). Please give this post a retweet and pass it on. Also, feel free to contact me about any conference, in-service plans, or PD you might wish to include me in. (mjgormans@gmail.com). You can learn more at the Booking Link. Thanks – Mike Gorman (https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/)

Quick Note – Please feel free to join me for a free webinar this Tuesday (3/12) at 8:00 PM EDT entitled Students as Curators: Managing New Information in the Digital Classroom. Hope to see you there! Also, make sure you take a look at the prior post highlighting 125 ways to use Word Clouds (Wordle in The Classroom). A big thank you to all of those that gave it a retweet… it was widely read across the internet.

The Challenge – I was honored to be selected as a judge for this year’s $200K  Follett Challenge.  Over 100 educators took the Follett Challenge and I have had the unique privilege to read over applications and view some amazing videos. I know I learned a lot and was infused with some great 21st century educational ideas!  The Follett Challenge is a program that  rewards top-notch educators who are aligning their curriculum to teach 21st century learning skills. In the past the program only included libraries.  This year the program expanded to include entries from educators throughout all departments in schools that are designing programs that develop critical thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration between students and among educators.  I believe you may wish to take a look at some of these incredible entries in order to possibly come up with some innovative 21st century ideas for your school or district. Take a moment and click here… you will enjoy reading about the programs, watching the videos, and reading comments.  While you are there, vote and comment on some of your favorites. You might even help decide one of the winners! Voting does close on March 18.

After viewing and even casting a possible vote, you may decide to check out the website next year. The program dates for this year included an entry period of  Sept. 17 to Jan. 4, 2013, with winners to be revealed in early April 2013. Learn more about contest information and submissions along with this year’s prize information starting with two grand prizes of $60,000 in material.  Check out last years winners. The focus was to  demonstrate how to promote the value of the school librarian and their roles as advocates for information literacy and student engagement. You will find a video of each winner along with a white paper which just might help you out with some ideas for your school.

Thank you for joining me in this post dedicated to practical exploration of education in the 21st century.  I hope you found new information for use in your school and to share with other educators.  As always , I invite you to follow me on twitter (@mjgormans). Please give this post a retweet and pass it on to someone who will benefit.  To ensure you do not miss one of these valuable posts or other resources covering PBL, STEM, 21^st century learning, and technology integration please sign up for 21centuryedtech by email or RSS. Have a great week… enjoy the resources! – Mike (https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/)