21st Century Classroom

When thinking about constructing a classroom you have to think about color, arrangement, organization etc. and what is going to work best for the type of class you have and the age group of the students. You also have to think about what level your students are at, what kind of learners they are and how you are going to effectively teach them.

 When looking up different studies I found that children between the ages five and eight do not work well with black or plain colors but prefer warm and bright colors such as red, orange, yellow and violet. In this case I would paint my classroom yellow and have red, orange and violet accents around the room like chairs and tables and different things hung on the walls such as posters and student projects. 

There are a couple different ways to arrange a classroom, whether it's rows or groups you have to make sure you have easy ways to move around the room. The arrangement of my classroom will be in small group tables of four or five with students that have the same learning styles. I will do this so the students can help each other and understand each others reasoning, also so if one group does not understand a lesson it will be easy for me to know how to explain it to them as a group instead of having to explain to each individual in order for their understanding. Shown above is the classroom layout I will use.

When I think about the organization of my classroom I need to have daily routines. It is important for children to have routines because they do not have a lot of control in their lives so it gives them organization, stability and comfort. In most cases this will promote better behavior of the students. In my classroom I also will have stations such as a house station, block station, computer station, etc.

Technology is a big thing in the classroom today including IWB, computers, iPads, etc. In my classroom I would have an IWB (interactive white board) so that students could be actively involved in activities. Researchers have found that students gain sixteen percentile points when using this tool therefore it is very beneficial for the students. The study also showed that in some cases students did better without the IWBs because it was not properly used by the teacher. In this case I will make sure to get the right training with this tool so that my students will excel when using the IWB. In my classroom I would also have a few iPads, just four or five and have them at a station, students could use an app to trace the alphabet or their spelling words. They could practice math, science and do a lot of other activities also. I think this would be a good way for students to learn because it is a fun way to do school work. Computers will also be in my classroom for learning games and research that needs to be done. I think that technology is a very beneficial tool in the classroom, especially in an elementary classroom and that is why I am choosing to use a lot of it.

 


I will have to make accommodations for my students that have exceptionalities. That includes students with special needs and students that are above their grade level. Most classrooms are very differentiated which is just that, students who are not at the same levels and learn in different ways. For the students with disabilities I will look over their IEPs and I will also have a meeting with the special education teacher to see what needs to be done differently for this students and to see what their triggers are. I will also find out their weak and strong subjects, from there I will decide whether I need to use RTI or just alternate assignments and activities for the student. Things I could do for this student would be additional time on work, make a large assignment smaller, double the amount of time for tests or in some cases an oral test would be appropriate. For the gifted students I would not give them additional work or make them move on to more advanced subjects but I would have them take an activity more deeply.

As a teacher I will make sure to always have a PLN (professional learning network). I will do so by keeping my professional twitter account and collaborating with other educators on it. I will also keep my blog updated and use feedback and other peoples blogs to help me grow as an educator.

I will use community of practice by using Skype on the IWB with other students from different places so my students will be connected to all kinds of children. We can also Skype and chat online with people from the community to learn about what is happening in our town or to learn about things that are relevant to the lesson we are learning. I will chat with professionals using twitter and share the conversations with my class.  I will keep parents connected by emails, open houses and conferences.

There is so much to consider when constructing a 21st century classroom. At the end you need to make sure the students are benefiting from everything you are doing. Whether it is the color of the room, the way you are teaching or how they are seated in the classroom.