After responding to a bunch of people's posts on the Kiva article on Saturday, I finally remembered that we were each supposed to use that article to spark a reflection on what teaching and learning would look like in a 21rst-century classroom. Oops, now I've already said most of what I would have said in my own post, in my comments on other people's posts.

To summarize briefly without repeating everything: The thing that most struck me in that article was very similar to what Joe and Steve wrote about -- that the ultimate goal is not primarily for us, the teachers, to use "cool tools" to present content in more and more interesting ways; it's for them, the students, to engage in authentic real-world projects that are made possible by web 2.0 tools.

I think that's very cool!! Other than wanting to find and read about lots of neat examples, my biggest question, at this point, is how teachers make sure to truly teach the "incorporated" standards TO MASTERY, as much as possible for ALL STUDENTS. I have, sometimes, read accounts (of both online and offline projects) where it sounds like teachers are sort of "checking off" standards that they have "covered" through the projects. I'm interested in how you build in enough practice for the average and weaker students to master the incorporated concepts and skills, without interfering with the energy of the project or undermining students' belief that the project is the reason for focusing on those areas in the first place.