These are posters, made by 3rd graders. As far as
third grade work goes, there is not really anything remarkably wrong with them.
However, if we put on the lens of creating 21st century learners, a
whole lot starts to be wrong. Sure, they could have done them on a computer, or
typed the text, but let’s go further. The assignment was to create an advertisement
to encourage people to vote. A fine assignment. Step back and let’s look at
this through a 21st century lens. Who is the target of your advertisement?
I would assume people who are eligible to vote, and are not voting. This raises
the question of authenticity of assignments. If posters are created and hung in
the hall of an elementary school they will be mostly seen by children, so not
really reaching the target audience. This gives the impression of doing an assignment,
simply for completing an assignment. One of the keys of creating 21st
century classrooms is having authenticity to the work, giving the assignments
meaning. If student’s have a reason to complete the assignment that is
authentic, they care more about the work. If an advertisement had to be created
to encourage people to vote, and actually be seen by the eligible voting
population, creativity is forced to take over. I am willing to bet that
students will come up with ideas like YouTube videos, A series of Tweets, commercials,
the list goes on. Now their work has purpose. They could actually influence
someone to vote. So the product being digital is not what makes it an example
of 21st century teaching and learning, it is the idea of authentic
work that has meaning and purpose.
