Activities for Teaching 21st-Century Skills Without Technology:

Communication 1. Table-Top Blog: Start by having each student write his or her ideas about a topic (like they would on an online blog) on a piece of notebook paper at their desk. Have students leave their piece of paper at their desk and find a new seat. At their new seat, students read the original thought on the piece of paper and then respond by commenting, asking questions, or adding to their peers idea. Have students rotate around until each student has multiple points of view to consider. Once students go back to their original seats, they should have many perspectives to use to refine or reinforce their original idea.

Collaboration 2. Synthesis Summary: Students read the same text and summarize the text in writing in their own words. Students are then put in groups where they read each others summaries out loud. Together, they write a summary of the text using the collective ideas of the group.

Critical Thinking 3. Socratic Questioning: Foster students critical thinking by responding to all student answers with further questions. Treat all student thinking as thinking in need of further development. Stimulate student thinkingthrough thoughtful questioningto make connections to other thoughts, contexts, and situations. Probeask students to explain their thinking, connect to experiences, and provide background for their thoughts. Allow students the time needed to follow through with a thought and develop it deeply. Resist the temptation to give the answer in order to move on to the next topic, concept, or activity.

4. Games (Problem Solving): Well-designed games require players to solve a variety of complex problems,
some of which require standards-aligned learning and some that simply require general critical thinking and problem-solving. Consider a couple examples.Angry Birds (which also doubles in teaching perseverance), progressively gets more and more complicated. Each level adds newer variables and aspects to increase difficulty, leveraging effective gameflow. Your brain must evaluate, analyze, plan ahead, try new ideas and more to solve these levels. You can use reflection and other techniques to have students demonstrate and document their critical thinking skills.

Creative Innovation 5. Brainstorm Improvements: Have students start by brainstorming improvements to something concrete and tangible, such as their desks. They might brainstorm things like seat cushions, arm rests, foot stools, drink dispensers, etc. Ideas can be fanciful but must also be practical. Next, have students brainstorm improvements to places, such as school. They might brainstorm things like longer lunch periods, looser rules, shorter classes, etc. Finally, once students have the hang of it, have them brainstorm improvements to something intangible, like an idea presented by an author or philosopher. Connect this intangible to a skill or concept youre teaching. Ask probing questions (see above) about these improvements and have students apply their improvements to their own work when possible.

One of the biggest misunderstandings about games, and people who play them, is that games don't "teach" anything. It's assumed that there is no value in the experience. Hopefully, others can see that the skills utilized in games can be translated from the gaming experience to the real world through a skillful teacher. When you plan to teach and assess 21st century skills in the classroom, consider games as a valuable method for engaging your students.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/game-learning-21st-century-skills-andrew-miller http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2013/09/10/fp_barclay_skills.html

Some extra resources to teach 21st century skills Prezi.com to create multimedia presentations discoveryEd.com for video streaming dropbox.com for paperless storage of materials livebinders.com for paperless storage of materials sending professional emails using the internet for research Using a SmartBoard eScrapbooking- http://escrapbooking.com creating a podcast- http://www.gcast.com building a wiki completing an online survey- www. Surveymonkey.com creating a photostory writing a classroom blog assigning literature circles assessing and evaluating research sources interpreting media sources organizing information using a program such as Microsoft One Note incorporating the use of digital technologies in the classroom (PDAs, media players, GPS, computers, SmartPhones, etc.)