Let’s take a quick look at the tech-savvy teacher operating in the future (near future!)
It’s Monday morning, another day and another fun week in the classroom with tech support.
Ms. Apple (Psst! That’s you!) walks into her classroom, quickly fires up her laptop, and checks out the daily news show and podcasts that students will soon be watching. She then proceeds to check the school’s web community where there are some announcements and where her students have been busy all night finishing up their online activities.
She answers some of your questions about an upcoming project and addresses a parent’s concerns about her son’s math grades. The mother is away on business in the southern US, but she has been monitoring her son’s progress in the school’s password-protected virtual community.
They were assigned as homework a journal, a science quiz, and a crossword puzzle in French. Ms. Apple reviews brands and feedback on activities quickly and efficiently without changing pages. She smiles when she realizes that the students space glossary has grown to over 100 words. The morning news show will feature the return of the space shuttle, so this may pull in some extra space words. She reviews the latest entries and approves their posting on the website.
As the school day begins, a student who loves working with technology comes in early to set up the classroom projector, digital whiteboard, and electronic tablet. He tests the equipment and student response systems to make sure they are ready for the day’s work. Meanwhile, the teacher uploads various digital lessons, Power Points, and websites that she will use throughout the school day.
Students enter and participate in the school opening exercises that are played on the schools multimedia system. The words of the national anthem appear at the bottom of the screen while images of their country’s landscape and images of their history appear on the classroom monitor. After the hymn, a popular figure delivers an uplifting message recorded on the screen to give students a positive start to the day and lessons they will remember for a lifetime.
The class begins with a ten-minute synopsis of world and national events presented in a student-friendly format. After a brief discussion and activities related to current events, students prepare to discover more about their world from people their own age. The class connects via video link with their digital pen pals on the other side of the world and begins a student-moderated discussion that allows both classes to ask questions and gain a human perspective on their pen pals’ country by correspondence that will help them in their next projects.
Once the online conference is complete, each student writes a formal letter to their pen pal and sends it via school email. Some students attach their animated short film they created in computer class, while others submit video skits they performed in drama class and uploaded to their personal hard drives.
As noon approaches, the excitement begins to build as students prepare their questions for today’s special virtual guest; a real astronaut. Several other classes across the continent link to a video conference with the astronaut to hear about the training he underwent and the science he did while in space. Once they’re inspired and briefed by their new hero, they continue working on their space websites that they’ve been developing for the past few weeks.
A few enthusiastic web design students decide to put their skills to the test by entering a youth web design contest sponsored by a multinational technology company. The students are so engrossed in the project that they spend their lunch breaks and weekends trying to win the grand prize.
After lunch, the teacher has students answer questions using their electronic student response systems to get instant feedback on the student’s understanding or lack of understanding of the previous day’s lesson. After a quick scan of the test results, the instructor loads a few pages from the previous day’s lesson to give students any necessary clarification.
Now that the teacher is sure that the class has a good understanding of yesterday’s lesson, he introduces the new topic using video, interactive software, electronic whiteboard activities, and constantly monitors their understanding using student response systems. Once the lesson is complete, students complete their assignments and a pair of students review the lesson again using a visual software program.
At the end of the day, the class decides to add to Wikipedia. They have been updating information on the history of their town. A student has brought an old history book belonging to his grandmother that will help the class find new information for his entry.
This is how the day and the year continue in this classroom supported by technology. Interactive lessons, professional online presentations, lectures, hands-on activities, and digital assessments are used in an engaging, efficient, and effective format. The only question that remains is… are you heading towards this type of classroom?