Thursday, January 31, 2008

A 21st Century Classroom


What does a 21st Century Classroom look like? About ten minutes before lunch today, I looked around my classroom. I grabbed a pen and paper and walked around the room recording what students were doing.
  1. Three students sitting at a laptop using Audacity to edit a podcast they made for literature circles.
  2. Two students adding titles and descriptions to Morpheus Fortuna's Flickr page.
  3. A student typing his blog entry on "What is Project S.C.A.T.?" (Stop Contamination at Trinity)
  4. Three students quietly reading newspaper articles to research for Project S.C.A.T.
  5. Two students using laptops to research the history of the Trinity site (taking notes in Microsoft Word.)
  6. Two students looking up Trinity stock prices on Yahoo Finance and recording in a table on a wiki page.
  7. Three students down the hall using an iPod and Tune Talk to record an interview with a teacher whose father died from asbestos exposure.
  8. Two students sorting through printed material and dispersing to students according to topic.
  9. Two students researching the chemicals Trinity dumped on our school's neighboring lot.
  10. Four students using laptops to research and record websites and small blurbs on a wikipage
  11. Two students saving pictures to network folder
I rang the classroom bell to let students know it was time for lunch and I heard a collective groan as students slowly pulled themselves away from their work.

Do you think that's what a 21st Century classroom is supposed to look like?

12 comments:

Tracey McGrath said...

Congratulations and great job on your first blog post! I loved how involved your classroom is with integrating technology tools to encourage creative and critical thinking. I look forward to reading more about your 21st Century classroom in the future!

Anonymous said...

Nice, concrete and tangible examples of what a solid 21dt Century classroom could look like!

Kristin Hokanson said...

21st C or not,I don't know WHAT it is called, but it is the kind of classrooms I want....no will continue to DEMAND for my own children...kids groaning when they leave their work...you GO GIRL

ehelfant said...

This is great stuff. Its what we are trying to do at our school.
Thanks for sharing.
Do you have a twitter account? I'll follow.

mmkrill said...

I wish more teachers could describe that level of learning happening in their room. Amazing - your students must love coming to class. It makes me wish I was 10 again!

Mrs. V. said...

Wow! Solid examples of authentic learning..totally want to follow you and your journey. I have similar experiences in my classroom, and would like to here more about some of the things you mentioned in this post. Keep sharing!

Linda Nitsche said...

What an exciting place to be. Engaged, thinking, learning, experiencing, exploring real world problems...you really are a STAR!

Samaber said...

It looks great! I can't wait to see how you develop it!

RedHeadEd said...

Jan - back in November, you sat in on my "nickel tour of Web 2.0" at TRETC. I thought then that you might have downplayed your accomplishments when you shared what you were doing with your students. Now I know that is true - you have to do a session at TRETC 2008 - lots of other teachers need to hear about how you're improving teaching and learning. Thanks for sharing...Kevin

Caren said...

I appreciate your continued successes with your class and technology. I have shared many of the great things you are doing with fifth graders. My district is beginning to venture into technology and the 21st Century.

Ms. Kline said...

My last comment was either lost in cyberspace or this is a duplicate. This is amazing work by both teacher and students - you can be very proud! Sonny is my favorite character ... amazing debarking abilities set him apart from most toddlers:) Ms. Kline, Frazer principal

Southern Girl said...

I think this is wonderful. To have students engaged and enjoying what they are doing is a task in and of itself. This is a great example of why all classrooms need to have computers available at all times instead of scheduling sporatic times in a computer lab. Great job!!