Creation can be viewed simply as the act of producing, or causing to exist.  Construction is the building or assembling of an infrastructure. Construction is equal parts inspiration and perspiration. Construction calls on creativity as well as persistence, flexibility, and revision. Construction asks our students and teachers to focus on the power and patience employed during work process…and not just the final resultant work product.

on a film or a book and discuss it with others we are taking the original author’s creativity and remixing it in our own life, using it to extend our own ideas or to produce a criticism. Lessig (2005) says that every single act of reading and choosing and criticizing and praising culture is in this sense remix, and it is through this general practice that cultures get made. History shows us, for example, that remix isn’t specific to digital times but has always been a part of any society’s cultural development (see, for example, Pettitt’s analysis of remix in Shakespeare’s work, 2007). More specifically Lessig refers to a practice of creative writing within the school curriculum in parts of North America whereby students read texts by multiple authors, take bits from each of them, and put them together in a single text. This is a process of taking and remixing “as a way of creating something new” (ibid.: n.p.). At the broadest level, then, remix is the general condition of cultures: no remix, no culture. We remix language every time we draw on it, and we remix meanings every time we take an idea or an artefact or a word and integrate it into what we are saying and doing at the time. At a more specific level we now have digital remix enabled by computers. This includes, but goes far beyond simply mixing music. It involves mixing digital images, texts, sounds and animation; in short, all manner of found artefacts. Young people are picking this up on a massive scale and it is becoming increasingly central to their practices of making meaning and expressing ideas. Lessig argues that these practices constitute remix as writing for these legions of digital youth: When you say the word writing, for those of us over the age of 15, our conception of writing is writing with text . . . But if you think about the ways kids under 15 using digital technology think about writing – you know, writing with text is just one way to write, and not even the most interesting way to write. The more interesting ways are increasingly to use images and sound and video to express ideas (in Koman 2005: n.p.).Lessig (2005) provides a range of examples of the kinds of digital remix practices that in his view constitute “the more interesting ways [to write]” for young people. These include remixing clips from movies to create “faux” trailers for hypothetical movies; setting remixed movie trailers to remixed music of choice that is synchronized to the visual action; recording a series of anime cartoons and then video-editing them in synchrony with a popular music track; mixing “found” images with original images in order to express a theme or idea (with or without text added); and mixing images, animations and texts to create cartoons or satirical posters (including political cartoons and animations), to name just a few types.

Provide equal opportunity and access for all students to use ICTs that foster and improve learning

Pre-K

Open learning, also known as open education, can be defined as a set of practices, resources, and scholarship that are openly accessible, free to use and access, and to re-purpose

open education advocate

Make it a policy to always teach a new technology, with new literacies, to your weakest reader(s) first. This enables struggling readers and writers to become literate in this new technology before other, higher-performing students in reading. Those who struggle with reading and writing become literate in a new literacy before others and can teach this new literacy to others who are not literate with this new form. This is a powerful principle that positions weaker readers as experts

However, this does not nec-essarily mean they are skilled in the effective use of online information, perhaps the most important aspect of the Internet. Studies show that stu-dents lack critical evaluation skills when reading online (Bennet, Maton, & Kervin, 2008; Forzani & Maykel, 2013; Graham & Metaxas, 2003) and that they are not especially skilled with reading to locate information online (Kuiper & Volman, 2008).

Five online tools that encourage students to get hands-on experience with nature.

Encouraging Students to Be In Tune With One Another

Tuition is about $34,000 per student and roughly 25 percent of students receive financial aid or scholarships. None have special needs or require English-language-learner services; 100 percent are admitted to college, most to top-tier universities.

greatest effects on improving students' text comprehension

cooperative, problem-based learning has been shown to improve student engagement and retention of classroom material

Redefinition

Teachers in the substitution and augmentation phase can use technology to accomplish traditional tasks,  but the real learning gains result from engaging students in learning experiences that could not be accomplished without technology. At the Modification and Redefinition level, the task changes and extends the walls of the classroom.

three key components of teacher knowledge: understanding of content, understanding of teaching, and understanding of technology.

separating the three components (content, pedagogy, and technology) … is an analytic act and one that is difficult to tease out in practice. In actuality, these components exist in a state of dynamic equilibrium or, as the philosopher Kuhn (1977) said in a different context, in a state of ‘‘essential tension’’…. Viewing any of these components in isolation from the others represents a real disservice to good teaching.

onnected learning is realized when a young person is able to pursue a personal interest or passion with the support of friends and caring adults, and is in turn able to link this learning and interest to academic achievement, career success or civic engagement.

Access to specialized, interest-driven and personalized learning used to be difficult and scarce. But in today’s networked world, there’s no reason why all children should not have the opportunity to pursue connected learning.

orldwide, there is great focus on bringing Internet skills into the school classroom.

Figure 1.6. The Big Picture of a Design Approach

Can explain concepts, principles, and processes by putting it their own words, teaching it to others, justifying their answers, and showing their reasoning.• Can interpret by making sense of data, text, and experience through images, analogies, stories, and models.• Can apply by effectively using and adapting what they know in new and complex contexts.• Demonstrate perspective by seeing the big picture and recognizing differ-ent points of view.• Display empathy by perceiving sensitively and walking in someone else’s shoes.• Have self-knowledge by showing meta-cognitive awareness, using productive habits of mind, and reflect-ing on the meaning of the learning and experience.

The UbD framework promotes not only acquisition, but also the student’s ability to know why the knowl-edge and skills are important, and how to apply or transfer them in meaningful, professional, and socially important ways

Digital literacy is not about the skills of using technologies, but how we use our judgment to maintain awareness of what we are reading and writing, why we are doing it, and whom we are addressing.

Digital literacy would focus on helping students choose appropriate images, recognize copyright licensing, and cite or get permissions, in addition to reminding students to use alternative text for images to support those with visual disabilities.

Combined with 21C leadership Skills (i.e. critical thinking, collaboration, problem solving, creativity, communication), these digital-age skills help us live and work in today’s world

In my own experience I frequently come back and revise my six words as my career and life changes.