What+Students+Need+(Want)+for+21st+Century+Classroom?

This page will be used to share resources, polls, and articles that describe what students need or want in the 21st century classroom. Classrooms are about the teacher and the student, the relationship between the two is an important part of the learning process. On this page, let's look more closely at the relationship and the needs that students that result in them being engaged in learning.


 * < **Description of the Resource** || **Link to website or file** ||
 * < This is an article that appeared on Edutopia's website. It deals with the technology age and what students are looking for in their classrooms. What changes in the classroom tend to engage students in the learning process? || [|Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner] ||
 * < This article introduces us to a teacher from Park Tudor School in IN who experiments with a variety of technologies to help students connect with the material in English class. The articles talks about the IKid. "According to Blackmore, today's brains are shaped by various information streams -- sometimes referred to as memes -- constantly popping and sparking and competing for attention. This new generation of digital learners -- call them the MEdia Generation -- take in the world via the filter of computing devices: the cellular phones, handheld gaming devices, PDAs, and laptops they take everywhere, plus the computers, TVs, and game consoles at home. A [|survey] by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that young people (ages 8-18) mainline electronic media for more than six hours a day, on average. Interestingly, many are multitasking -- listening to music while surfing the Web or instant-messaging friends while playing a video game." I enjoyed this article, especially thinking about how technology can help the classroom experience. || [|Synching up with the IKid]

[|DyKnow Software] ||
 * < Here is a great example of a school that has made a TOTAL commitment to integrate technology into all aspects of its program, from sports, PE, math and physics. They show how to apply technology in history classes as well. This short video and article are worth exploring as a model for incorporating technology into the 21st century classroom.

media type="custom" key="3110072" || [|Full Circle: A commitment to High Tech in Mississippi] || by Marc Prensky
 * **Adopt and Adapt: Shaping Technology for the Classroom, 21st century schools need 21st century technology.**

His article is interesting, especially the way he structures it and the issues he addresses within the article.

This is an interesting article well worth the time. It gives us a map for where we started and where we are going. Transformation of teaching and learning with technology will only happen if we do "new things in new ways." || [|Adopt and Adapt] ||
 * 1) Dabbling--he writes about dabbling in the technology era but not really changing the classroom.
 * 2) Doing old things in old ways--using technology applied to the classroom and solving the same old problems the same old way.
 * 3) Doing old things in new ways--moving from the world where we used manipulatives to illustrate situations for students, now we can use sophisticated software.
 * 4) Doing new things in new ways--transforming the way we teach and learn by using new things (wikis, blogs, probeware, etc.) to approach problems (learning) in new ways.