Speaker Spotlight: Heidi Hayes Jacobs
When it comes to designing and implementing effective "curriculum that marries pertinent ideas and purposeful practice," Heidi Hayes Jacobs has been doing just that for almost three decades. She has also openly questioned whether students are engaged in real 21st century curricula or just recycled content. In her ASCD books, The Curriculum Mapping Planner and Curriculum 21, Jacobs asserts that schools are lagging in their responsibility to provide focused, updated curricula to drive subsequent learning outcomes.
"I often wonder if many of our students feel like they are time traveling as they walk through the school door each morning," Jacobs writes in Curriculum 21. "As they cross the threshold, do they feel as if they are entering a simulation of life in the 1980s? New essential curriculum will need revision—actual replacements of dated content, skills, and assessments with timely choices."
In a recent two-part interview with Visual Thesaurus, Jacobs points out that literacy instruction must make changes to recognize dramatic changes in students’ technology use. And she insists that "Web 2.0 applications, or any uses of digital tools, should come through the curriculum door."
- Read Part One: Making Literacy Instruction Work
- Read Part Two: The Challenges of the 21st Century Classroom
Jacobs is a key presenter on curriculum and instruction at ASCD’s Summer Conference in Orlando, Fla. from June 22 to 24. But she also welcomes real-time questions and comments from educators around the world on Twitter and ASCD EDge.
Is your school practicing a 21st century curriculum?
