My 21st Century Classroom

Welcome

This is my "This I Believe" project. I consider this a tribute to some of the amazng teachers who have guided me throgh my high school career, as well as a reflection on what I want to achieve in m own teaching career. You can expect to see three of the most influential teachers in my life, as well as representations of the values and knowledge they have bestowed upon me, all while listening to my best NPR impersonation annd an 8-bit symphony. If you want more insight on this video, including the creation process behind it, I direct you here , and if you prefer a physical copy of the "script", I have that as well.

Now that I have shared a bit about my beliefs as a teacher, we can now delve right into the actual walls of what will be my 21st Century Classroom.

My Classroom

This is the general layout of what i will hope to be my 21st Century classroom, for a high school English class. It should be noted that the green dots represent the advanced students, the blue represents the average students, while the reddish dots represent those who require additional help. I have assembled my classroom in such a way that resembles this, while also promoting collaboration and communication, student centered learning, , and transparency This layout will most easily promote collaboration and communication because it will allow students to work closely with other individuals   on the same intellectual level and focus on the task at hand. Furthermore, with me, the teacher at the center, I will be able to assess who needs help when and distribute my time accordingly. This makes the classroom focused on student-centered learning. If I were standing at the front of the room talking, I would be the focus, but in my 21st Century Classroom, all eyes are on the kids. There will a lot less rattling on on my part, and a lot more individual (and cooperative) discovery on their parts. Lastly this layout will try to promote transparency, which here means open to technology. The couple of computers in the back of the room are the main pushers of this component. They will be there for those who have no internet connection or have forgotten to watch my videos for class that day. (There will be more on this transparency in the following sections.)  

Rituals and Routines

I think what will set my  21st Century class apart from the rest, will be the heavy emphasis on flipping the classroom. My classrooms layout was heavily influenced by this decision as will be my Rituals and Routines. An average "Flipped" day will go as followed. Students will watch a video on a given literature subject, story, theme, etc. (There will also be time at the before and after school to access this content, as well as a few minutes during class for special cases, i.e no internet) The student can comment either on the video itself, or in a special forum I will create with questions or insight. I will answer some questions and adjust my lessons to better address student concerns. The following day the class period can now easily be spent focusing on students needs (honors, average, and stragglers alike) and I will be able to help each individual section achieve the goals that I have laid out and they have laid out for themselves. Sometime later in the week, I will give them the next topic we will "flip".  This process will probably only happen 1-2 times a week, depending on my ability to make a second video for the week.  This new spin (or flip if you want to be punny about it) on the classroom promotes inquiry-based learning, authentic assessment,  as well as the themes already presented in "My Classroom." Inquiry-based learning is at the heart of the flipped classroom. Without the questions the students pose in response to the video (as well as in class), the project in and of itself would not work.  Authentic assessment is also is also at the focal point of my flipped classroom because I will take the questions and use them to judge what each individual as well as the class as a whole requires of me. This not only allows me to assess student needs, but what parts of the class and my teaching style work and what needs to be fixed. 

Instructional Glimpse

In would like to take a lesson in compliance with PA Educational Standards  1.6.9.A (Grade 9 English 1- Speaking and Listening), but take it in a more technical route. After students would write an essay on a given work, theme, etc. (which they would normally read in front of the class,) they would instead create a Video Podcast. They would present their podcast in front of the class, first talking a bit about their essay, video and how the two connect and were made. The rest of the class would then be able to ask questions following the presentation. While not every presentation would be addressed this way (the regular old "stand in front of the class and recite" routine would still be present), its something I would definitely like to test. I found in creating my "This I Believe" essay, not only was I more confident in my speaking (A gift I would like to pass on to my similarly shy students), but I was also flourishing my words and reciting in a much more prosaic manner. This would allow both myself and my students to see what every individuals speaking voice could be like at full potential. 

My Technology Integration

What I really would like do as part of my flipped classroom, and what i consider the coup de gras of the entire experience, would be the video assignments. I would consider myself something of a YouTube and vlogger junkie (Toby Turner and the Vlogbrothers immediately come to mind) and I would really like to implement something similar to "20 Minutes or Less" into my classroom. (In terms of format, not schedule.) Basically, I would create a video breaking down a particularly difficult theme in literature or help students look at it in a new way, and upload it to YouTube. Students could then give me their You Tube screen names and then I could search for their names in the comment section to compile the lesson plan. (This would also be a valuable way to take attendance on the video so i know who is watching.) Not only will this connect student and teacher in and out of the classroom, but if done in the right way, would be beneficial on a global scale. Since the videos are on You Tube, many students in other classes could use them for their own English classes, and eventually other teachers could possibly use them as a fun, instructional tool. Experts in the field and students alike would also be able to create video responses to add additional insight as well. I would also eventually like to encorporate sections of the video to either promote inventive accomplishment of my own students or classes from all over, as well as relevant "guest hosts" if the project took off well enough.

PLN

I will definitely try to continue to learn and grow in my Personal Learning Networks, both as a learner as a teacher. As a learner, I plan to continue to use sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to just absorb everything I can about the world around me, paying special attention to things related to education (especially English education) that stand out to me. As a teacher however, I plan to take things much further. Like I said I would love to use You Tube to create videos for my classroom detailing helpful insight and additional content on my lesson plans. I also would love to incorporate Podcasting into my classroom, either as additional content, pseudo-audio books, or even as essay assignments as previously mentioned. I also think that a Facebook page or Blogger would make a great hub for my students to access all the necessary information, or for me to simply share what content I have found.   

Annotated Bibliography

"Podcasts." This I Believe. Web. 07 May 2012. <http://thisibelieve.org/podcasts/>

"Classroom Architect." Classroom Architect. Web. 07 May 2012. <http://classroom.4teachers.org/>.

Gimbar, Katie. "Why I Flipped My Classroom." YouTube. YouTube, 02 May 2011. Web. 07 May 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aGuLuipTwg>.

"The Flipped Classroom Infographic." Knewton.com. Web. 7 May 2012.


"Pennsylvania Standards." Clear Standards - View Standards by Subject Area and Grade Level or Course. Web. 07 May 2012. <http://www.pdesas.org/Standard/Views>.


"SourceFed." YouTube. YouTube. Web. 07 May 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/user/SourceFed?ob=0>.


Green, Hank & John. "VlogBrothers." YouTube. YouTube. Web. 07 May 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers?ob=4>.


Turner, Toby. "Tobuscus." YouTube. YouTube. Web. 07 May 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/user/Tobuscus?ob=0>.