One thing that Yvonne mentioned right at the end of the panel discussion is really resonating with me. Enough that it probably warrants a podcast as well as a blog entry. She mentioned that at tech conferences, she usually feels as though she’s preaching to the choir. Talking about how things should be to a group of people that already agree, who see many of the same issues in the same light. It’s not a new thought, but for some reason that idea has bounced off of a few brain cells and has my mind buzzing.
I’m still blogging about how more teachers and students should blog. I intend to put my money where my mouth is and to try to get students and teachers at my new school to be online and active. I want to see them collaborating with other students around the world, not just as part of a special project but for their nightly homework assignments!
The thing is, I’ll be reaching a very small part of the educational community at large. Don’t get me wrong, getting my school going would be an incredible accomplishment in itself (changing the world one life at a time) but we also need to address the thousands of schools that may not have an advocate pushing their school forward. How do we reach those teachers and those students? If we haven’t moved very far in 20 years, what are we going to do differently to ensure that we do move forward in the next 20. More of the same is not an option.
I don’t believe that blogging is the answer, nor is podcasting, nor is vidcasting. I do believe that teaching students new ways to learn and collaborate with people worldwide is. Blogging will come and go. The ideas that blogging represents (reading, writing, publishing, collaborating, creating conversations) will stay on.
I think the biggest issue standing in the way just might be the traditional teaching model. It’s easy to say that, but what I’m not sure about is what should replace it. One teacher standing in front of the classroom with 20 passive learners just doesn’t make sense on any level. It used to be efficient. It isn’t any more. It’s more efficient to teach students to take charge of their learning and then to guide them along the way. The learning is more in depth on a number of levels. In particular, it becomes more authentic.
So let’s boil it all down to the most basic question: What should the 21st century classroom look like? I’m not talking about what technology will they have, but rather what would an average day look like? What will the learning model be? And considering that we’re in the 21st century now, how do we create that today?
I’d love to provide some answers, but the more I think about it, the more questions I have. I wish there were time for more round table discussions.
What should the 21st century classroom look like?
Not a classroom at all. Forget about the walls, the teacher and the 24.5 kids. Why would we lock students in what amounts to a prison when we have the technology and the knowledge to deliver learning to them wherever they may be, whatever they may be doing?
Think beyond the classroom. Think beyond school. Think of young citizens taking their place in mainstream society - what roles do they play, what supports do they have, what protections are in place? How do we communicate with them, how do they communicate, how do they express themselves, how do they excel?
Do it yourself roundtables. (Isn’t that what we are doing with our blogs already? Ok, yeah, it’s a very small number of people in the conversation.)
I had a killer view of 21st Century Learning this past week. My family dropped “off grid” for a week and spent time at YMCA Camp Du Nord in Ely, MN. It’s a YMCA sponsored “family style” camp burried nicely in the woods.
1) Camp counselors took kids a few hours each day in “age groups” and did some great activities with the kids.
2) One evening a local expert on wolves came and talked with both adults and kids. Fascinating animal.
3) Music, arts, crafts. All centered around an appreciation/respect of the environment.
4) There’s a family living/working in the camp, homeschooling their 4 children along the way.
What a learning opportunity. 24/7.
Well, how much difference is there between now and 25 years ago? Fifty years ago? Seventy-five? Well, there used to be only 11 grades instead of 12. Still in classrooms, still have about the same number of kids per class, pretty much the same old same old. Slight changes? We have added technology to the mix, but still have textbooks, paper, crayons, gone though are Big Chief tablets and pencils the size of Lincoln logs. Not sure if that’s progress, but Big Chief tablets are probably not politically correct.
Hard to say where we’ll be in the 21st century, but aren’t we there now?
Re: What should 21st century classroom look like?
Fantastic questions, but also the questions of a philospher (and believe me when I say I don’t mean that in a negative way at all). But in a very practical way we have schools right now. Whether we should or not is almost irrelevant because we DO have them, those are the cards we’ve been dealt. So if you were able to take over a school tomorrow, a school with 400 kids ranging from Kindergarten through fourth grade, a school with X number of classrooms, and X budget, how would you change things? In a very realistic way, what could an eighth grade classroom look like besides the way it does now?
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