EDLD 5362 Week 4 Assignment

New Kids On The Block: Classroom of The 21st Century Emily Poeppelman The “New kids on the Block” have arrived! Today children in the 21st century are brought up in a whole new world of bright lights (technology), where instantaneous gratification is a must! Students are thinking in different ways due to the resources around them, and in order for them to thrive classrooms must and will change. Nontraditional classrooms in 2018 will look different, sound different, communicate different, and assess different to ultimately produce higher achieving students. Classroom appearance In 2018 the typical classroom will have all the traditional pieces however, they will look more inviting to students with innovative design that encourages students to think outside the box. There will be one wall painted a color rather than all four white walls. This color is crucial to student learning as some colors can produce negative feelings. A good color for this wall is either a light blue or green. Blue has positive notation as it represents order, direction, and peace. Green also has a positive notation as it represent balance and harmony (“The Top Color”, 2013). These innovative classrooms will also have lightweight furniture that is easy to move to create learning communities to encourage collaboration between peers. Chairs will have bright colored cushions with wheels on them to encourage movement. In the back of the classroom there will be a focus fort where there are three yoga balls as well as one large white board to allow students to sit and brainstorm for future projects. There will be interactive whiteboards in the front of the classroom as well as plenty of wall space to display student work. Walls will also have large glass windows for students to look out to nature as well as write on for an alternative working space. Classrooms will also be hooked up with speakers in the ceiling to allow teachers the opportunity to have a “front row” microphone to aid in student focus and less discipline problems. Lastly, and most importantly classrooms will have the access of wifi encouraging students to bring in their own devices as well as having an electronic cart of laptops to assist students in their learning whenever necessary. Classroom Sound In 2018 classrooms will be more boisterous. Rather than the teacher providing numerous hours of direct instruction the students will be learning from each other by working in groups thus it will be very noisy. The sounds of nails tapping keyboards will also be a prevalent sound as students work to create presentations using video editing, prezi, ect. Jo Williamson and Traci Redish who wrote the ISTE’s Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards discuss the reason behind why students need technology in their everyday learning environment. In Table 3.1 it show the average time students use different types of technology on a daily basis. Williamson and Redish write, “this data suggest that today’s students not only desire but need engaging, media-rich learning experiences to maximize their learning potential” (Williamson & Redish, 2009). Using technology and group work will produce strong problem solvers as well as innovative thinkers for the 21st century. Communication Technology has opened a whole new door for communicating with students and parents. In 2018 teachers will be expected to communicate with students and parents through emails, text messaging, Google docs, twitter, and other social medias. There are several free programs teachers can use to text students including Remind 101. This gives teachers the option to communicate with students in a safe way by giving them quick reminders about the upcoming week (“Unmissable Ed-Tech”, 2013). This will allow students to be more accountable and communicate with teachers on an as needs basis, including, emailing and tweeting at teachers with questions on assignments. This gives students that instantaneous gratification they are so accustomed to with the Internet making them more willing to work. Assessment With all of these major changes within the classroom teachers are going to be extremely busy keeping up with technology, parent conferences, grading student work, collaborating with other teachers, the list goes on. Teachers need and will assess students online using programs such as Google forums and flubaro to grade the test or quiz for them. This gives students the instantiations gratification they crave and saves teacher time. Assessments will continue to formative and summative, however, both will be online. Having a formative assessment of simply polling students over specific concept that align with the state standards gives teachers and students instant feedback if the students comprehend the information. A great device that will be hooked up in all classrooms will be the Smart Response, also known as clickers. According to an article discussing the use of Smart Response systems written by the University of Minnesota describes the, “functionally, (of) the system allows students to respond to questions posed by an instructor, and allows instructors to view student feedback in real-time, thus allowing them to modify instruction based on individual student or group responses” (“University of Minnesota”, 2009). This will allow for students to achieve at a higher rate because they will instantly know at the end of a lesson what concept they did not grasp and what they need to go and look back over. In closing these “New Kids On The Block” are not leaving any time soon, they are going to continue to change, grow, and involve in their learning styles. It is the job of the teacher to change and evolve with them to aid in student achievement. In 2018 the blueprint of a classroom will be much different in terms of the way it looks, sounds, communicates, and assesses. References: The Top Color Schemes for a School Classroom. (2013, October 18). HubPages. Retrieved November 1, 2013, from http://teaches12345.hubpages.com/hub/The-Top-Color- Schemes-for-a-School-Classroom University of Minnesota. (nd). Student response systems. The University of Minnesota Office of Information Technology. Retrieved on November 17, 2009, from http://www.classroom.umn.edu/support/support-srs.html Unmissable Ed-Tech Trends for 2013 (INFOGRAPHIC) | SociableBlog. (n.d.). SociableBlog. Retrieved November 1, 2013, from http://www.sociableblog.com/2013/01/24/unmissable-ed-tech-trends-for-2013/ Williamson, J & Redish, T (2009). ISTE's Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards . Eugene, Oregon : International Society of Technology in Education .