A Vision of the 21st Century Classroom

Prior to entering the Faculty of Education at Brock this past September, I kept hearing this idea of “The 21st Century Classroom” bouncing around the halls at UofT, in the blogosphere and on various social networking sites and workshops. Its a pretty hot topic. I’ll admit that the first image that came to my mind is something straight from The Jetsons. Others have confirmed this with references to The Matrix or even Back to the Future. I tended to think only about the physical technology apparatuses that were present in “lucky classes” like headphones, digital projectors and SMART boards. I thought that the 21st century classroom merely meant being “plugged in” and having broadband connections or even sweeter, WiFi. I pictured kids sitting at their desks with bluetooth devices on and laptops in front of them. For some reason I pictured them wearing shades.

Then I learned about the 21st century fluencies and found out that the classroom isn’t just about being “futuristic” and decked out with all the bells and whistles that learning technology companies have invented (now who doesn’t love Livescribe and FrontRow and Kinect and SMART technologies? More on these guys later). I’ve come to discover that the crux of being a 21st Century Teacher depends more on the teacher and what he or she wants to have happen above and beyond strictly delivering curriculum within 4 walls of a publicly funded classroom 10 months out of the year than it does on the actual pieces of tech available in the classroom. A lot of it depends on the vision the teacher leader has for his or her students and the broader community in our fast-paced and ever-changing digital world.

As of this month, 11 years and almost a month of the 21st century have passed. So here we are, a decade into the 21st century, but are our classrooms where they should be? Are our teachers? Why does the 21st century still sound as if its a far off land? Who, ultimately, decides what the 21st century classroom SHOULD look like? Who should have a say? As educators in Ontario, we’ve got a wonderful curriculum to deliver. It has a LOT in it. We know we have a variety of learning styles and ways of teaching, so we need to know our students and become differentiated instruction experts. We, as educators are of course to be creative, organized and passionate with existing curricula, but what about the 21st century fluencies? We need to prepare these kids for the jobs of the future -the jobs that aren’t even created yet!

As leaders for our community (students, parents, fellow teachers, etc.) we need to expand our PLNs. collaborate and share our resources with our peers and be passionate about digital fluency. We need to team teach and offer PD sessions to one another and remove the fear.

We need to listen to our students and actively involve them in the process of learning. The assignments and lessons need to be varied, complex with pathways for success, challenging yet achievable, experiential, and meaningful. There needs to be student choice and we need to let them guide us at times. Even if this means letting them use their smartphones in class? I don’t know.

I’ve discussed just one arm of the 21st Century Classroom - the academic arm. There is still the cultural atmosphere of the classroom (TRIBES), technological integration (SMART boards please!) and the physical layout of the space left to address (bean bag chairs, desks on wheels, etc.) What ties these all together is the engagement, equity and individual focus on the success and achievement of 21st century learner.

An excerpt from Alfie Kohn’s essay What to Look for in a Classroom...And Other Essays. is a great starting point, but I am on a mission to create an extended, up to date table to build on this - incorporating things that make the classroom truly 21st century. What do you think the 21st century classroom should look like?