Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World »

What year are you preparing your students for? 1973? 1995? Can you honestly say that your school's curriculum and the program you use are preparing your students for 2015 or 2020? Are you even preparing them for today?

With those provocative questions, author and educator Heidi Hayes Jacobs launches a powerful case for overhauling, updating, and injecting life into the K-12 curriculum. Sharing her expertise as a world-renowned curriculum designer and calling upon the collective wisdom of 10 education thought leaders, Jacobs provides insight and inspiration in the following key areas:

Content and assessment-How to identify what to keep, what to cut, and what to create, and where portfolios and other new kinds of assessment fit into the picture.

Program structures-How to improve our use of time and space and groupings of students and staff.

Technology-How it's transforming teaching, and how to take advantage of students' natural facility with technology.

Media literacy-The essential issues to address, and the best resources for helping students become informed users of multiple forms of media.

Globalization-What steps to take to help students gain a global perspective.

Sustainability-How to instill enduring values and beliefs that will lead to healthier local, national, and global communities.

Habits of mind-The thinking habits that students, teachers, and administrators need to develop and practice to succeed in school, work, and life.

Curriculum 21 is the ideal guide for transforming our schools into what they must become: learning organizations that match the times in which we live.

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction Heidi Hayes Jacobs 1

1 A New Essential Curriculum for a New Time Heidi Hayes Jacobs 7

2 Upgrading the Curriculum: 21st Century Assessment Types and Skills Heidi Hayes Jacobs 18

3 Upgrading Content: Provocation, Invigoration, and Replacement Heidi Hayes Jacobs 30

4 New School Versions: Reinventing and Reuniting School Program Structures Heidi Hayes Jacobs 60

5 Five Socio-Technology Trends That Change Everything in Learning and Teaching Stephen Wilmarth 80

6 A Classroom as Wide as the World Vivien Stewart 97

7 Making Learning Irresistible: Extending the Journey of Mabry Middle School Tim Tyson 115

8 Media Literacy: 21st Century Literacy Skills Frank W. Baker 133

9 Digital Portfolios and Curriculum Maps: Linking Teacher and Student Work David Niguidula 153

10 Educating for a Sustainable Future Jaimie P. Cloud 168

11 Power Down or Power Up? Alan November 186

12 Creating Learning Connections with Today's Tech-Savvy Student Bill Sheskey 195

13 It Takes Some Getting Used To: Rethinking Curriculum for the 21st Century Arthur L. Costa Bena Kallick 210

References and Resources 227

Index 237

About the Editor and Contributing Authors 245