Must-have resource designed to assist K-12 educational organizations in planning out and launching their 21st century classrooms

Tutor.com connects students with live tutors online for tutoring in math, science, social studies, and English and is the largest online tutoring and homework help service around.  Tutor.com (with help from a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) is expanding its horizons to help teachers as well. 

Grants are being awarded to teachers to give them professional development and professional development models that will provide them with one-on-one support for math teachers this year.

Approximately 200 algebra teachers from selected schools will be able to access the service beginning in September 2011 and running through December 2012. Participating teachers will be able to connect with online teaching coaches for on-demand, one-to-one live help from Sunday through Thursday, 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. local time. Coaches will be standing by and will provide live help within minutes of a teacher request, Tutor.com says.

Research has proven that one of the most important factors in a student’s academic success is the quality of his or her classroom teacher. To maintain excellence in teaching, school districts must find new ways to provide the guidance and help that teachers need every day. But too often, professional development for teachers means sitting in a room and listening to a lecture a few times each year. Tutor.com believes that, to significantly move the needle on teacher effectiveness, schools and districts must provide new ways to support their teachers.

21 st Century Skills – What Are We Really Talking About?

I’ve come to find that the term “21 st century skills” is a little like “family values”.  We’re all in favor of the idea; we’re just not always sure what we mean.  To me, 21st Century Skills means: critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and innovation, adaptability, collaboration, communication (written, oral and blended and advanced media), media literacy, self direction and self assessment, and application of technology to learned skills.
The application of 21 st century skills requires context.  In order to think critically, we must have knowledge we can bring to bear to a process or problem. Academic content must be integral to the learning process.  Contrary to some recent debates on the subject of 21st century skills, it is not a question of skills vs. content. The challenge is to merge the two into engaging, relevant learning experiences.