Description of the Ideal 21st Century Classroom

Scarlet Sink The Principalship Fall 2013

Our species continues to evolve and adapt to new challenges and ideas. Because the last 150 years has dramatically moved our societies from agrarian to industrial to communications based workforces, our children are evolving at a faster pace and learning to do and process more than previous generations. Students today grow up with

technology that is changing rapidly. While their parents adapt and learn the technology as it is invented, this next generation of students is immersed in the technology. If you imagine technology to be like learning a foreign language, its better to learn the language at an early age so you think in the language. Students must become discerning agents of technology, ferreting out the discrepancies and inconsistencies and understanding information presented to them. 21st Century classrooms must provide students with three critical elements of learning. First, collaboration between peer groups and cultures ensure that innovation will occur at a global level rather than locally. Next, adaptability to new challenges and issues means that individuals will embrace challenge. Last, solutions based learning formulate a willingness to face challenges with positive attitudes towards successful outcomes. The 21st Century classroom will embrace the evolving abilities of our young minds and have them reach to the boundaries of their capabilities in ways previously unimagined. This entails immersion in technology for creating, communication skills and problem solving strategies to create a successful career (Partnership for 21st Century Skills). Thomas Friedman, Salmon Khan and Tony Wagner all support these ideals in their published works. In order to provide adequate 21st Century learning for students, teachers will need to adapt to the minds and learning styles of their students. Creating

connected classrooms that allow students to thrive in creativity, to connect to other philosophies and to solve authentic problems. Rote memorization and busy work must be removed in order enable students to thrive in their particular interests, allowing students to drive their learning in the direction of choice. Collaboration becomes a critical aspect in learning. Thomas Friedman, The

World Is Flat, discusses how students now compete for jobs in a global market. Students must learn to work with their peers in the classroom, but must also be prepared to work on a global team in the work force. Some industries, like animation, build teams with individuals across different time zones. Allowing work to progress on a 24-hour per day basis. In other companies, individuals from other cultures have arrived in the US to work on teams developing new patents in face-to-face teams. This means that students need to be prepared to communicate in real life and virtually with individuals from varied cultures and backgrounds. Students must be prepared to understand and empathize with different views and ideas in order to maintain positive work flow. Adaptability must also be taught. Developing a willingness to move away from the traditional methods of creativity drives innovation. Students must learn to identify and implement new technology or skills in their problem solving process. The best way to ensure this creativity is to have teachers who also adapt, adopt and integrate new ideas in the classroom. Having students encounter obstructions to progress or scheduling allows them to develop real time skills for adapting. Learning that Mistakes are portals to discovery (James Joyce) helps students embrace challenges and modify actions. The results are citizens who embrace challenge, brainstorm ideas and follow through with thoughtful results.

Collaboration and adaptability combined create the final piece to the successful 21st Century classroom; solutions based learning or life skills. Without the previous skills, positive resolutions to unforeseen problems cannot be created. Students must learn to identify, consider and implement solutions to authentic problems. Endless worksheets dont foster the research, trial and error or thought processes necessary to successfully solve problems. Because of the demands of collaboration, adaptability and solutions based learning; teachers roles must shift from lecturers to facilitators of learning. Salman Khan summarizes this in his quote, In the ideal classroom, the teacher is either spending all their time doing deep interventions with students on a one on one basis or facilitating true interactivity labs, simulations, projects. Access to technology assists in

connecting students to other classrooms around the world, allowing collaboration to being on a global level. Teachers can step back and watch as students determine best courses of action while working with peers from diverse cultures and philosophies. Students can begin to formulate designs for how they successfully arrive at solutions while gaining equal access to other ideas from around the globe. Administrators must embrace these changes and facilitate growth for teachers in technology understanding and implementation in the classroom. Long range plans for implementing and integrating technology authentically in lessons need to be placed. Students must experience hands on learning with rapidly changing technology. Smart

boards might provide students with an experience touching technology, but does not afford the opportunity to create with technology. Educational leaders and teachers must learn new technology as it comes available to the public and make plans to

implement them into the classroom.

Problem/project based learning provides

opportunities for students to collaborate, adapt and find solutions. Moving teachers from lecturing instructors to facilitators of experiential learning will assist students in acquiring necessary 21st Century skills.

Resources: Friedman, T. (2007). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York, New York: Picador. Kahn, S. (2012). The one world schoolhouse: Education reimagined. New York, New York: Twelve. Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Retrieved from: http://www.p21.org/about-us/p21-framework Wagner, T. (2012). Creating innovators: The making of young people who will change the world. New York, New York: Scribner.