I have always envisioned my classroom being a 21st-century learning environment since I learned about it in my undergraduate students at MSU. Although I have taken some steps towards this style of learning, I have not had the time and resources to fully implement it. As I finish up the master’s degree, I am equipped with more strategies, tools and time to fulfill this goal. When I think of what 21st-century learning is, I think of the four C’s: Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Communication and Collaboration. I would like to include these concepts into my own classroom, but there are some steps I will need to take in order to get there.

 

First, my classroom is not set up for this type of learning right now. When I think of communication and collaboration, I believe this needs to go outside of the four walls of our classroom, and students should be communicating with on a larger scale through technology. Therefore, I would like to set up a Donors Choose project to help fund technology in my classroom.

I would also like to transform my lessons so that they are laid out to include questioning, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and innovation. Due to time constraints, many of my lessons right now don’t include enough of these skills, but now that I am more familiar with the second grade content and have experience teaching, I would like to change that. One resource that I plan on reading to help me transform these lessons is a book called What School Could Be by Ted Dintersmith. This book shows what teachers all around the country are doing to create innovative classrooms and how to accomplish it.