Who are the teacher's in the 21st century classroom



       

      Through my EDUC 4P27 course I was required to follow three teaching blogs that represented a 21^st century classroom. The three teacher’s that I followed were Aviva at http://adunsiger.com/,  Kristen Widden at http://www.mrswideen.com/2015/02/using-brainpop-ipads-and-padlet-to.html, and Mrs. Bright at http://teachbrightly.blogspot.ca/. Each of these inspiring teacher’s work within primary classrooms and have truly embraced what it is to be a teacher within the 21^st century classroom.

   What do I mean by the have embraced what it is to be a teacher in the 21^st century classroom, well I have a few pictures that can further explain what these teachers are doing.

 

 

    This first picture is a good representation of a teacher within the 21^st century classroom because it is important that we as educators are not being the only source of information. With this being said we have to guide our students learning, but not restrict them in regards to how they come to learn or see the information that they are learning. The three teachers that I followed devoted their teaching practice to guiding their students, rather than directing their every move and you could really tell that the students wanted to learn and were able to even offer the teacher new knowledge. I think this is very important for me to keep in mind as a future educator preparing to work in a 21st century classroom because I know personally that I do not have all the answers in the world and together my students and I can discover and learn about the world around us.

 

    This second picture goes through different 21st century literacy skills that teachers are working with students on within the classroom setting. After reading Aviva ,  Kristen Widden, and Mrs. Bright blogs from recently and even over the past year it was quite evident that these teacher's were incorporating 21st century literacy skills within their classrooms. In each of these teacher's classroom the teacher's were having their students inquire, they allowed students time to create, connect, use technology, and make mistakes. On these teacher's blogs they even posted their students work and then inquired or posed question to get their readers interested and thinking about their own teaching practices. For instance, Aviva posed a question regarding one of her students pieces of art, she questioned what are idea of the painting was.

 

    If you just look at the art piece without thinking of the process, you may think that the student has just created a mess, when this is not actually the case. As a lot of work had gone into what that student had done. I think this is not only a good example of thinking broader about children's learning within the 21st century classroom, but also about teaching in itself. From my own personal experience sometimes the neatest and best laid plans are not the ones that work or most effective. For instance when working at my summer job as a camp counsellor, sometimes my activities would come of in the same way that this picture does when you look at it for the first time (like a mess or uncoordinated), but this did not mean that it was not organized or laid out and happening exactly how I had planned it to. With this being said, I may have had several activities going on to keep every engaged with something that they wanted to do, but I knew exactly what was going on and where all my campers were and how they were engaged. I think my experience and the painting  really say something about teaching in a 21st century classroom because it displays how 21st century may not seem as structured as learning that occurred in the past (with the teacher standing at the front of the classroom and the students all sitting at their desk), but it allows the teacher and students to be engaged in a way that helps and allows everyone to take part in the teaching and learning experience.  

    This third picture sums up the last aspect that I came across when looking at Aviva at  Kristen Widden,  and Mrs. Bright's blog which is that not all their lessons or 21st century plans  worked out the way that these teachers had hoped. Sometimes these teachers even admitted to giving up one year on certain activities they thought would be great within the 21st century classroom because they just weren't working.  Even so, the lessons that worked and didn't work helped these teachers rethink their teaching practices in a way that would better how they brought up certain concepts. As a result, when these teacher's did seem like they had given up on certain teaching strategies, it was not as clear cut as it seemed because most of them reworked the strategy and would try it again in a different way in the next year. Specifically, Kristen talked about "Genius Hour" which is a time designated for students to inquire and do an assignment of that they pick. When Kristen started "Genius hour" it was very hectic and even though the students looked forward to doing Kristen had to stop doing it  because it was to hard to manage. When the next year came along Kristen had taken time to revamp "Genius Hour" and she changed it into "Wonder Workshop" which took place every morning for a half hour. the adaption that Kristen made in the program which made a huge difference was that she went into more depth to teach her students about doing research. Making this little change made a big difference, but if she didn't realize that the "Genius Hour" wasn't working she wouldn't have been able to take the mistakes from then and make it into a learning experience.
    As a result of connecting with Aviva ,  Kristen Widden , and Mrs. Bright's blog I am able to come to terms with who the teacher's of the 21st century classroom are, which is everyone within the classroom. With this being said, in my classroom it is really important for me to not only be teaching my students, but for my students to be teaching each other and me as well. I also have realized how important it is to incorporate the 21st century skills within my classroom, even though it might not always seem well organized, may be difficult, and will challenge me to work through many obstacles. Despite all of this I can not wait to get into the classroom and inspire and be inspired by my students!

Katie

It is not the end, it is just the beginning... Lifelong Learning!

As I approach the end of my undergraduate degree, some may think that I am almost done with my education, but this is not the case. Just because I am ending one chapter of my learning experience doesn’t mean that I am done learning in general.

                Both of these picture explain exactly what I am talking about when it comes to me not being done learning. These quotes show that even though I am going to physically be done learning in a formal setting, I do not know everything that I need to know about the world around me.  With this being said, there is still so much I need to learn about the world, myself and my teaching. While reflecting deeper on these quotes and the idea of lifelong learning that Aviva Dunsiger presents in her teaching blog, I was able to come to terms with the idea that in life we tend to think that we need to get to a specific end point and sometimes when individuals are so focused on the end they forget to focus on the present and the importance of what they are doing and learning now.

                Thinking back to my last blog where I posted about the child who had no motivation to learn maybe this is where I was going wrong, as I tried to encourage him to want to learn for his future. Maybe what I should have done instead is tried to motivate him to learn for now and every day of his life. I think this is important because we need to connect students to the here and now, rather than just having them focus on what their end goal is. This does not mean that I do not think it is important to have goals, but I think that in classrooms we need to make sure we teach our students how to make goals, while not getting caught up on the idea of just reaching the goal and forgetting about all the lessons and experiences they have gone through to reach their goal.  So, maybe I should have talked more to this student about why the concepts we were talking about were important for him now and how he could apply them in his world today, while communicating and working together to learn.

                With all this being said, what does everyone think about showing students that you are not perfect and do not know everything as the teacher. Or stepping back and allowing yourself to learn from the student? How important do you think it is to open up communication with your students, in order to help them with their journey and their ever changing destinations? 

                I believe that it is important to show students that you as the teacher do not know everything and you are going to make mistakes too. I think that when teacher’s show their students that they are still learning too, they can teach their students about lifelong learning and let them know that throughout life they themselves and their students are going to have experiences that shape and reshape the path and the goals in which each individual has. I also feel that it is important to open up a good line of communication with students and truly listen to what the students are saying they want and need because both the students and teacher can learn from each other.

                As a result of my reflection of the idea of lifelong learning, I have come to terms with the fact that I myself and my students are going to continually be learning and experiencing things that are going to change our ideas of different concepts. I also realized that none of us our perfect and we all have to be willing to listen and learn from each other. So, in my future practice I want to model and teach my students to reach for their goals, while also enjoying and learning from the experiences they have now and every day in their future.

 

The Complications of Having 21st Century Learning Student Centered

Early last week one of my professors for a course that I am taking on education in the 21^st century wrote a post on her blog about a new way of teaching. She referred to this as the culture of learning. This professor (Dr. Susan Drake) stated that within the 21^st century classroom we are trying to create an environment where students “learn because they want to learn.”

While reading professor Drakes blog I began to think about my experience working with children in the classroom setting and I realized that having children learn because they want to would be very beneficial, especially for those students who are very self-driven, but I came a bit concerned about the students that just don’t care.

For instance at one of my placements I encountered a student who had absolutely no desire to learn. Even after we explained the importance of education for the child’s day-to-day life and after trying to put the lesson into terms that the child could better relate to, the child still refused learning saying that it was not important for what he desired to do in his future. The child explained that he wanted to be a cook at a local restaurant and went further to say that he did not need to know his basic math or language skills to do this. He had the impression that he would just walk in and get a job without any prerequisite skills.

The situation above was very frustrating for me as a future educator because I tried to explain the importance of learning math and language for the child now and in the future in many different way, but the child just refused learning and was set in his way of thinking that he does not need school or an education for his future.

I believe that through the experience with the uninterested in learning child it is difficult for me to look at creating an environment where children “learn because they want to” because there are some children that just do not have the motivation or desire to learn, even when the lessons are geared or altered for them.

So, is there any other strategies that anyone has to get students to want to learn? Is it actually feasible to think that all children want to learn (especially when we have such a strict curriculum)? Would we have to make a big educational shift if we transferred from learning for grades to learning because you want to?

I’m not sure what the answer to these questions is. I don’t even know if there is a right answer, but I do know that I would love to have a class that learns because they want to. I’m just not sure that we can say that every child wants to learn though, especially when it comes to learning the set up Ontario Curriculum. Thus, I think setting up a classroom where children learn because they want to is a great idea, but I’m not sure it is practical without making changes to the education system and the curriculum that is set in place right now, as all students may not understand why they must learn this way.

 

Knowing Yourself

Throughout the discussion about the 21^st century literacies last week it became clear to me that in order to be able to effectively teach children the 21^st literacies skills within the classroom, teachers need to be aware of themselves and their students. This is a main theme that came up within the literacy discussion especially as one of the literacies is to be critical. With this being said, students and teachers need to think critically about what they are saying and learning, so that they are getting a better understanding of the lessons being taught.

Relating this to my experience in the classroom I am able to see that it is important to know yourself and own beliefs before beginning to teach a class because I have seen all the different value and background that students bring into the classroom. Also, in my opinion students are not only learning within the classroom, they are also teaching. So, teacher’s need to be open to learning from their students and knowing who they are in comparison to what each student needs.