My Dream Classroom

One of the blogs I read is David Warlick's "2¢ worth". In a 2012 blog post has asks great questions to consider when designing an ideal classroom, in the context of why the classroom of tomorrow might look different than the one that most parents knew. At his suggestion I am creating a page on this blog and I will keep updating that based on budgets, faculty feedback and new options that come along.

My Dream Classroom
The classroom I have is very close to my dream: it is a lab that serves as a hub of learning for the elementary school. The laptops in the lab are similar to ones on carts that move between classrooms so practices learned in weekly lab visits are implemented in the classrooms across curriculum areas. Through wireless access to the Internet we explore information sites, communicate using blogs, Skype and videos. Teachers and students work together to create relevant learning experiences about science inquiry, geography, economics, cultures, and connecting math & literacy to other learning. Students use digital cameras and Flipcams to review their group collaborations and to create digital stories. I hope to get the place where we have projectors in every room so that teachers count on being able to bring Internet content into the classroom and display student work. As we are able to purchase document cameras teachers can use student writing, drawings and 3D objects projected for learning. I'm testing an Ipevo document camera as an affordable alternative to those from Elmo and others. I love it when students who have moved on to the Middle School or the High School come to the Elementary School to help students with design programs like Scratch and multi-media projects. Elementary students are learning the skills of collaboration, communication and creating content, and developing literacies needed for the 21st century.

As David Warlick asks us to consider, this is the... "classroom I want, the classroom our children deserve, the classroom that our future requires."

Posted April 2010.

Now it's March 2013 and I have very different ideas about what that classroom should be. My views on  classrooms have broadened and I think students' views on learning space have expanded as well.