My 21st
century classroom (4th Grade)
My ideal classroom will have white walls. This seems plain
right? This is because I want almost every inch of the space covered with colorful
artwork of the students, posters reminding them of rules, or statements
promoting positive behavior. I also believe in order to keep students engaged
one must create an atmosphere where they are excited to learn and interested in
the material. Whatever way you go about this is up to you. I like the idea of
themes inside the classroom. For example, this classroom in Ohio
decided to come together and create a beach/island theme inside their
classrooms. This not only provides the students with colorful, exciting things
to look at all day, it also provides them with a lot of activities to do during
the day. The teachers also created various bulletin boards that correspond to
the beach theme. This is also an example of how my classroom will be organized.
Each board has a different subject/content area on it. By starting the children
off at the beginning of the year with getting into habits of using these
stations one can create a routine. It is very important to have kids get into a
ritual or routine because it helps them get used to the way things work and
thus allows the students to grow and become critical thinkers. This is a very
important skill in the 21st century. Organization also means having stations
and areas with labeled items, meaning there's a place for everything and
everything in its place.
Along with
the organization of the classroom is also the arrangement of things. I
am an extremely organized person when it comes to arrangement of various
things. Furniture must be placed in ways that will promote student learning,
student success, and student development. First it the teachers
desk, his or her desk should not be a place where they can bury
themselves somewhere in a corner behind it. A teacher in elementary school does
need lots of space for materials and such, but that does not give the excuse to
clutter their desks with a variety of, for lack of a better word, crap. The
desk should be placed somewhere accessible and not used all day long. Teachers
need to be actively up and moving around the classroom rather than planted in a
chair behind mountains of papers at their desk. The next furniture item is the students' desks. This article on classroom arrangement
supports the way I believe desks should be set up. Like in this article " most agree that the days of 30 desks lined in neat rows and facing the teacher's desk up front are long gone". Meaning that in
the 21st century a main component of the classroom is collaboration. In order to complete this students' desks' should be
arranged in groups that consist of two, four, or even six if you'd like. The
group size doesn't matter, that fact that they are working together on
assignments and projects does. I also believe that the desks don't have to stay
the same way all year. Collaboration is important, but so is individual student work. For lessons,
units, projects that require individuality the desks should be arranged in a
way that allows this to happen, but all
the while remembering you should have a clear and accessible view of each
child. Then we have chairs/couches/beanie bags etc.
These are a crucial part of the classroom. A classroom should have sitting
areas beyond their desks. These areas are most likely the reading areas. Every
elementary school classroom has one. Some have basic bookshelves and a few
chairs, some have creative corners like this one:
Or some have the ultimate reading area like this one:
When I say
21st century classroom what comes to mind? I'm hoping a bunch of things do, but
the main one I'm looking for is technology. This is the number one
factor that contributes to a 21st century classroom. My classroom will do
whatever possible to incorporate technology into it. Students will have access
to computers, laptops to be exact, tablets such as I-Pads, Interactive White
Boards, and new technology like this. With this
wide range of technology available to my students the possibilities are
endless. We can learn and discover much beyond the normal pen, pencil, paper
and book. The internet allows us to search for and find things that can enhance
our learning and enrich ourselves with information about subjects that are relevant to us. For
example, creating interactive lessons on the IWBs that will ensure student
participation, and active learning. It allows students to try new things and
use a more hands-on approach. Using I-Pads allows students to communicate with
other learners/teachers through Skype, or it allows them to use apps that support
lessons on math, reading or phonics. By students using individual laptops they
can complete research on a topic, create a method of presentation through
various websites and software, or get involved in what other students are doing around the
globe. Like I said, the possibilities are endless. Students have the ability to
use technology to their benefit to better their understanding of specific
content areas, and better their education.
Differentiation is a word that should be
used at every school meeting, every program that supports education, and used
in every classroom around the world. Differentiation is the understanding that
not every student, child, or kid is the same individual. It is the understanding
that every student, child, or kid learns differently and should be recognized
for it. The same theme or motif seems to show up quite often, this is the 21st
century meaning all old habits of before are no longer put to use; they are in
fact extinct. Pink Floyd does a great explanation of this with his song Another
Brick in the wall:
The idea here is conformity; every child is just the same, or as Pink Floyd says, just another brick in the wall. This is the only way teachers knew how to teach back then. There was no idea of differentiation where every child must be considered different from one another. There was no complexity of these so called "student profiles". Nobody thought to sit down and plan lessons according to the type of students they had in their classroom. Another detailed explanation of differentiation can be seen in this article. Now as you see teachers must create accommodations for their students. The likelihood of having a child that has special needs is pretty high. This means that we must consider every single aspect of teaching them inside a classroom full of differentiated students. We must create detailed student profiles that analyze the students lives down to how they learn best and what kind of home environment they live in. This allows us to create lessons around each student. For example, this teacher uses learning menus to create variety for each student: Another approach to differentiated learning that I strongly believe in is using different stations around the room that will ensure students' understanding of different material. With math for example, one station can be instruction with me, the teacher. Another station can be practicing with math facts using flash cards, or worksheets, or examples from the book. The other station can be a game of some sort. Students can use various materials to access games. Technology is a big part of this station. Students can use computers, I-Pads, board games, or these cubes:
I of course would be making sure every station is on task and
having no problems. After the allotted time for stations the students will go
back to their seats and as a whole class we will review the lesson together.
The idea here is conformity; every child is just the same, or as Pink Floyd says, just another brick in the wall. This is the only way teachers knew how to teach back then. There was no idea of differentiation where every child must be considered different from one another. There was no complexity of these so called "student profiles". Nobody thought to sit down and plan lessons according to the type of students they had in their classroom. Another detailed explanation of differentiation can be seen in this article. Now as you see teachers must create accommodations for their students. The likelihood of having a child that has special needs is pretty high. This means that we must consider every single aspect of teaching them inside a classroom full of differentiated students. We must create detailed student profiles that analyze the students lives down to how they learn best and what kind of home environment they live in. This allows us to create lessons around each student. For example, this teacher uses learning menus to create variety for each student: Another approach to differentiated learning that I strongly believe in is using different stations around the room that will ensure students' understanding of different material. With math for example, one station can be instruction with me, the teacher. Another station can be practicing with math facts using flash cards, or worksheets, or examples from the book. The other station can be a game of some sort. Students can use various materials to access games. Technology is a big part of this station. Students can use computers, I-Pads, board games, or these cubes:
In order to grow as a professional
and learner I must remember that there is an entire community of learners and
professionals on the web. They are called the PLN. A PLN is everything
from social networks like Facebook and Twitter, to anyone you interact with. To
keep myself constantly learning and absorbing more about education I will use
various tools on the web. I can use everything from Twitter where I can ask
questions and opinions of others, to Skype, where I can visually connect with
other learners and professionals. I can use, search, and create blogs to use as
a tool in my classroom. The PLN is such a broad term for what you can actually
do with it. There are so many websites and places to go to learn and interact
with other learners.
Lastly, I
must remember to always keep the students connected to other students, their community,
and professionals. The only way to do this is by using what? I'm sure your
thinking technology right? Technology is the main source where one can access
all these things. Students should always have the opportunity to interact with
people other than their classmates. This can be done by introducing them to
programs like Skype, where they can visually see what other learners/professionals
are doing like this video:
Although this is geared towards college, It still makes me wonder why can't it be used in elementary/middle/high school? I also think Twitter can be used in the classroom. By Twitter I mean MY Twitter. I can use my professional Twitter account for communicating with other teachers around the world. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions and post comments about certain topics. We can also collaboratively use blogs to create topics that are relevant to what we are doing in class. Basically we will be using the PLNs that I discussed to interact with others on the web. The last part of this is including parents into my classroom. This can be done several ways: Parents will be given my E-mail, Twitter name, Blog URL, and access to any resources we use throughout the year. Parents will be encouraged to stay connected with the classroom and their children. They should feel free to ask any questions, have comments concerning anything they may have, give feedback, and participate in any chat or conversation we may be having. It is imminent that parents know what their children are learning, doing, participating in, and how they are interacting with. If a parent is active in a child's life then it is more likely that child will stay interested in what we are doing.
My 21st century classroom:
The classroom designer that I used can be found at lakeshore
Although this is geared towards college, It still makes me wonder why can't it be used in elementary/middle/high school? I also think Twitter can be used in the classroom. By Twitter I mean MY Twitter. I can use my professional Twitter account for communicating with other teachers around the world. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions and post comments about certain topics. We can also collaboratively use blogs to create topics that are relevant to what we are doing in class. Basically we will be using the PLNs that I discussed to interact with others on the web. The last part of this is including parents into my classroom. This can be done several ways: Parents will be given my E-mail, Twitter name, Blog URL, and access to any resources we use throughout the year. Parents will be encouraged to stay connected with the classroom and their children. They should feel free to ask any questions, have comments concerning anything they may have, give feedback, and participate in any chat or conversation we may be having. It is imminent that parents know what their children are learning, doing, participating in, and how they are interacting with. If a parent is active in a child's life then it is more likely that child will stay interested in what we are doing.
My 21st century classroom:
The classroom designer that I used can be found at lakeshore
No comments:
Post a Comment