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