Zernone-21st+Century+Learning+FP

The Project

 * 1) Describe (in 2-3 paragraphs) your beliefs about learning in a 21st Century classroom.


 * The type of learning that my students are engaging in is vastly different than what I experienced in the 20 th century. Today’s students are used to a fast paced society where information is at their fingertips instantaneously. Students are accustomed to easily finding answers to the questions they have using the vast amount of technology that is available to them. Therefore, my teaching has to accommodate for this type of student.


 * In order to meet the needs of my students, I have to tap into their interests and talents which primarily focus on technology. Students of the 21 st century have access to the internet and most of my high school students have their own cell phones. I can use this information to implement a more technology based curriculum in my classes. These students spend a large part of their day using this technology to access social media, watch videos, listen to music and communicate. Instead of battling against this, I want to use this to my advantage in my classroom.


 * Finally, students of the 21 st century expect quick results to their assignments. In past years, getting feedback to students seemed to take forever. With today’s technology, this is no longer the case. Teachers can receive information from students via formative assessments and offer quick feedback. This will not only help the students understand what they did well and what they can improve upon, but allow teachers to understand what concepts need to potentially retaught.

2. Identify an ecosystem element in which to develop in depth in your classroom. Share how this element connects to your belief statement.


 * In order for me to meet some of the goals I have to support my beliefs from above, I would like to implement the "Flipped Classroom" idea into my curriculum. This will be especially important for my AP United States History classes where time is always an issue. Because this is a highly rigorous course where students are expected to read either out of their AP textbooks and/or from supplemental material. I would then have a discussion based on the material with the class. By using the Flipped Classroom concept, students would essentially be watching a video lecture of me perhaps using Knowmia or a TED talk or lecture from iTunes U discussing some of the main ideas and concepts I would normally have covered in class allowing for us to 'dig deeper' into these concepts while in the classroom. It would allow us to utilize our time more effectively while saving us time. I would incorporate other modes of technology such as Twitter or Edmodo where the students would respond to a set of questions based on their at home assignment. This feedback would allow me to tailor the class the next day based on where I felt the students needed the help on. Students would therefore be utilizing technology that they are comfortable with not for the sake of just using technology, but to gain information in an alternative way. They would be providing their understanding of the concepts to me again using technology and I would, in turn, use that information to create the next day's lesson.
 * Another ecosystem element I envision using to develop my classroom further and help foster a 21st century learning environment would be Edmodo. This software targets a lot of the characteristics of the 21st century learner and allows for instant communication and feedback for students. It also is very 'user friendly' which allows both me as the teacher and my students to use it it without any major complications. This software would allow students to communicate with one another even if they were not in the same class period. For instance, my 5th hour Global Issues class could still communicate on a topic with my 4th hour Global Issues course or with other Global Issues courses taught by other instructors. We as educators can utilize this software to have the students gain a deeper understanding of the ideas of the course while utilizing a means of communicating that these students are more accustomed to since it looks and feels a lot like Facebook and Twitter. In addition, students can go to different places in the discussion that they might not have reached in the 40 plus minutes of class time. Another important positive of this means of communication is it would allow those students who did not offer their viewpoints in class because of time or because of their lack of confidence to contribute to the discussion via Edmodo. Another component of Edmodo that I would like to implement would be the ability to use the "poll" or quizzes features to gain information from my classes.This could be used as a formative assessment at the beginning of class to replace some of the bell ringers I use. I can see it also being used as a formative assessment after class where students could respond to some questions in order for me to gauge their level of understanding which would in turn help me see the direction I needed to go for the next set of classes. Edmodo would also be beneficial for my classes because it could serve as a class portal. I should be able to store files, implement assignments and quizzes and provide other necessary materials students would need for the course. This is relevant in that it it directly focusing on the 21st century skills students are using currently and will need to refine as they are moving on to other facets of their lives. By using this portal, I am allowing students to access the class materials from home or even from their smartphones. In this manner, students will no longer need their folders or textbooks to complete the assignments. Furthermore, the students would be able to "turn in" their assignments to me bypassing the ever popular, "I forgot it at home." excuse. Using this program feeds into the way that students are using technology and communicating which may allow for a higher completion rate of the assignments in my class.

3. Develop 2-3 artifacts that show evidence of your work in implementing this element in your classroom. Here are some of the artifacts I created and hope to use this coming semester...enjoy and give me your feedback please!

//**Artifacts #1 and #2: Using Edmodo, I communicated a message to my class on the left. In this way, I can not only get my message across, but the students can respond to me as well as communicate with one another as seen on the artifact on the right. This is very similar to the social networks students are using (twitter, facebook) and is very visual feeding into some of the 21st century skills**//.

//**Artifact #3: This is an example of a great feature on Edmodo where I can place files students need and can access using their computers, iPods, iPads or smartphones. This will alleviate the problem students have if they are not at home and still need to access the file.**//

4. Anticipate your success indicators as a result of your focus on this ecosystem element. What other elements may be impacted?

To gauge my success in implementing the ecosystem elements mentioned above I would have to monitor the students use of these various programs as I implement them. I would most likely monitor their use of Edmodo by observing who is logging in and how often, I would also be able to see how often they would be using Edmodo and viewing the videos of the flipped classroom by attaching some sort of reflection or processing component. These types of assessments would allow me to determine the effectiveness of these elements of the ecosystem and whether or not the students are truly benefiting from my use of this technology or if it is just another "step" in the process. I would like to check in at the end of the first semester after implementing these elements with students to see what feedback they have on these pieces of software and technology. This will give me a good idea if these are really useful or not from the students' perspective. Using this information along with the results from their formative and assumptive assessments will be great indicators for me.