My 21st Century Classroom

 

Hi! My name is Victoria Bille and I am a student at Edinboro University.  I am majoring in Early Childhood/ Special Education.  I am a non-traditional student:  I am 35 years old, I am married (almost 13 years-whoot!whoot!), and I have 2 beautiful children.  Many people have asked what inspired me to become a teacher and why I waited so long to enroll.  I tell them I have a son with Autism and if it weren't for him, I would have never realized what my calling was.  Working as a parent volunteer in his classroom made me realize what I wanted to be when I grew up and his teacher urged me to go to school because she said I have a gift with working with kids with special needs.  So here I am in my third year at EUP.
For this project, I brainstormed to make up my ideal 21st Century classroom. I hope you enjoy the journey and please fill out the feedback form I've provided.  Thanks and enjoy yourself!


MY 21st CENTURY CLASSROOM


I am a teacher in an Autism Support Classroom grades K-5 in a rural community.  There are 7 children in my classroom, 4 boys, 3 girls.  All of the students have been diagnosed with a
disorder under the Autism Spectrum. Along with Autism, 2 students have Down's Syndrome, and 1 has a physical disability.  This is the layout for my classroom.  Students in a special education program all have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) which means creatively individualizing each students lesson to fit their needs and keep them interested in learning.

I made the layout of my classroom to be easily accessible to all my students and parents.  If a parent were to request to come visit in the classroom, there will be plenty of room.  My classroom will be very structured and organized.  Every child will have a desk labeled with their name and also a place to put their belongings (coats,backpacks, boots, etc) also labeled with their name.  As part of my morning routine, the students and I will meet on the oval rug for morning greeting and to go over the schedule for the day.  Morning greeting then proceeds to morning seat work and lessons.  My classroom will have students of all ages and therefore the kidney shaped table will serve as the lesson station.  Depending on the lesson, I will also use the SmartBoard to enhance the lesson I am teaching to the specific student(s).  As the day progresses, I will teach my class as one group at the group discovery table to work on fun activities such as crafts. 
I believe that learning takes place at school as well as in the home.  I will provide the parents of my students with my email address, cell phone number, as well as the hours they will be able to contact me at the school. 

Parents may have many questions and concerns about their child and I want to be able to instantly contacted if the need arises.  I will welcome any emails, text messages, and phone calls from the parents at any time.  I want the parents to know that their child,being my student, is just as important to me as their child is to them.

MEET BRAEDON~


He is one of the 7 students in my classroom. Braedon has very limited used of his hands.  For his lessons, I use the SmartBoard because it has a touch screen feature. Because of the diverse disabilities my students have, I must adaptations for them to be able to participate and learn. 



I believe that effective teaching comes from collaboration with other educators within the school as well as world wide.  To find other methods and lessons to teach my students and connect with other teachers, I will create a blog  and share my experiences and situations.  Blogging is an excellent way to share or ask for other suggestions with other educators who have had the same experiences.

My classroom will have computers that the students will have access to.  I will use websites that provide educational games that my students can play during a designated time frame during the day.  I will also help my students create a Wikispace that be used to share our ideas and publish the students work. 



YouTube is also a valuable resource for educators.  I will utilize YouTube in finding videos that my students can watch that will enhance the lesson I will be teaching.  

Physical activity is a must in any classroom.  Although many people may think that video games are mindless entertainment, I believe that they can be useful.  With the new game consoles, like Wii and Xbox 360, kids are no longer just sitting on the couch with a controller.  Games like Wii sports and Kinect Adventures on Xbox require physical activity to play them.  I will make use of these during free play to get my students up and moving.  Since one of my students has limited use of his hands, I will utilize the Xbox Kinect because no controller is needed, it uses a person's body movements to navigate and play the game.


I hope you enjoyed a tour of my 21st Century classroom.  I used my experiences with raising my kids and working as a parent voluteer in my son's Autism Support Class to come up with ideas when I have my own classroom.  I believe that I took a risk by incorporating many new technologies into my classroom than what were available when I was in school, especially with wanting to incorporate a video game console into my classroom.  I have gained alot of insight of what it takes to set up a classroom that has endless learning opportunities.  I have learned that teachers not only have to be creative with their lessons, but also with the organization of the classroom itself.  This project has help me to let my creative mind grow and it has also helped me to realize that any object can be used as a learning tool.



Bibliography

Crie, Molly. "Using Blogs to Integrate Technology in the Classroom." Teaching Today. Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, Oct. 2006. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.

Website with teaching tips and resources for educators.

 

Jones, Dan. "Making Lessons Come Alive in the Classroom with the Xbox Kinect." Edutopia. The George Lucas Educational Foundation, 1 June 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.

Blog about how students and teachers can benefit from using an XBox 360 game console in the classroom.

 

 "Wikis." Web2tutorial. Tangient, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.

Web tutorial outlining Wikispaces. Picture.  Also has information on blogging.

 

Wylie, Jonathan. "Mobile Learning Technologies for 21st Century Classrooms." Scholastic, Helping Children Around the World to Read and Learn. Scholastic, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.

Information on new technologies for the classroom and many useful links for further research.

 

"YouTube for Schools : Special Educational Videos on YouTube." Picture. Weblog post. Madras Geek. Madras Geek, 2012. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.

Blog about YouTube used in education.