Teaching the 4Cs with Technology: How Do I Use 21st Century Tools to Teach 21st Century Skills? (ASCD Arias)

I really enjoy this book. It's short and brilliant! It helps to develops my teaching skills.

A compact and concisely written book that will serve as a handy reference book. Educators who are challenged to supplement the 3Rs with the higher level 4Cs (critical thinking, communication, collaboration,creativity) will appreciate this book. The premise and formula are quickly outlined. The remaining pages discuss how technology can be integrated and enhance the student's learning experience of the 4Cs. The authors' ideas, list of resources, and readiness to communicate via published email and a survey site is a fitting example of technology augmenting and redefining education. A good informative book on an important topic.

Finally received my book and already have several different ways I plan on helping students build their critical thinking and creativity. The book also has ideas for collaboration and communication, following the subskill areas from the P21 organization, but the ideas I learned the most from was in the creativity and critical thinking sections (which is why I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars). The quotes at the start of each section of the book are thought provoking and really gets you to think about the importance of the specific 21st century skill. Everyone is talking about technology in education, but not many are showing examples for teachers on how to use technology to teach specific skills or how to connect with the Common State Core Standards. This book does both. I love that amazon has a digital version that is half the price since I am on a teachers' salary!

As a busy teacher, I appreciate resources that provide me ideas I can implement right away into my classroom. What I especially liked about this book was how the subskills used came from the P21 framework. If I wanted to ensure my students are "reasoning effectively" found under critical thinking, there are tech strategies and activities directly associated with this. I tend to use the same ideas over and over again, and another reason I like this book, is because it gives me a variety of ways I can try something new. I like the action plan in the back of the book and how I can download this from Google Drive. The authors model what they are saying in the book by having a wiki, documents in Google Drive, and forms created in Google forms to extend the learning outside this compact book.

A great quick read that a busy teacher will enjoy. One of the greatest benefits of the book is that it is written with precise language that prepares the teacher to communicate with peers and parents as well as plan for meaningful instruction.