A New Classroom Model

When our school began our 1:1 computing project, teachers had lots of questions:

• How will my class change when everyone has a computer?  
• How should my class operate on a daily basis?
• What kind of assignments should students do? 
• How do students "turn in" assignments?  

These are all legitimate questions that should be addressed by EVERY teacher as we enter the 21st Century.  The rapid influx of computers brought these questions surging to the surface for teachers and administrators alike.   One thing was for sure, we didn't buy 350 Macbooks so we could continue the same education we had in the past.  Things needed to change.   We needed to move our pedagogy and assessment into the 21st Century.  We are all at different stages of change.

Before school started, my collaborator Joey Till stumbled upon a progressive teacher named Mark Barnes.  Barnes developed a new model called ROLE--Results Only Learning Environment.  ROLE "is a system of education that uses project-based learning and evaluates students' mastery of learning outcomes, based strictly on the results, rather than the methods used to get to the results". No worksheets, no tests, NO GRADES!  Yes, you read that right.  Assessment is done through narrative feedback--conversations with students.

Barnes and progressive educators have inspired Joey and a few other people I work with to abandon tradition.  This year I have yet to give a quiz or test and my students are learning more than ever.  How do I know?  I talk to them.  When students finish an activity, we sit down together and evaluate their work based on the requirements of the activity.  They assess their own work and assign a grade we can both agree on.  I ask them content questions to make sure they know it.   My next post will go into greater detail about my grading process. 

Explore Discover Create

Ideally, we would like our students to deeply absorb what they learn in school, but let's be honest, students will probably forget much of the content they learn regardless of our methodology.  The same is true for adults; if we don't use it, we lose it.  Retention of content is definitely not the main goal of my class, but retention is important for connecting ideas and applying knowledge. 

Teachers need to design activities that allow students to explore, discover, and create.  This type of learning promotes retention and intrigue--a far more important goal.  Bloom's revised taxonomy (2001) listed "create" as the highest level of learning and understanding.  At the very least, we should allow our students to design a project format or develop the essential questions. 

This type of learning can never be accomplished using inauthentic worksheets and textbooks.  At best, this promotes brief memorization.  At worst, it threatens to alienate our students from a genuine interest in learning--a serious danger to education and society.  We need to create learning environments that excite students to explore and discover our amazing world and create something authentic and unique.  This way they internalize the content, so it means something to them.  This is how we create life-long learners; this is an ingredient to a 21st Century education. 

Moving Away From Tradition

Since I was in college, I have been warned against traditional education.  'The textbook is only one resource', 'don't use worksheets everyday', 'don't lecture for 50 minutes', etc.  For me, the next logical step was to never use textbooks, worksheets, or traditional lecture.

The traditional resources, methods of instruction, activities, and assessments are obsolete in the 21st Century classroom for several reasons.  The Internet provides infinite resources that makes textbooks look prehistoric.  The current generation of students absorb information in different ways.  If students are learning differently, it follows that they should be assessed differently.  The job market requires creative critical thinkers, not industrial manufacturers.  Education should be as authentic as the demands of today's society.  When the answer to any question is 2 clicks away, why should we make our kids memorize loads of information? 

What is the right way to teach in the 21st Century?  I don't know yet; that's what this blog is about, but if you are still teaching the same way you did 20 or even 10 years ago I'm pretty sure that's NOT the right way.  Why can't teachers put together their own content?  Why can't students?  Why not make your classroom into laboratory of learning.  Experiment and share!

The Beginning of the Experiment...

This blog is about 2 years in the making.  About a year ago, a small group of teachers and administrators began a grassroots movement to move our school into the 21st Century and go 1:1--every student with their own computer.

We decided to go with Macbooks because of their battery life, durability, and creative power.  We went from having 2 computer labs to every student with their own computer.  To say its been a revolutionary year would be an understatement.  We have definitely revolutionized the technology in our building, but now we are moving to more important revolutions.

Giving a student a computer does not equal a 21st Century classroom.  Some teachers are now experimenting with progressive pedagogy and assessment methods.  My close friend and educational consigliere, Joey Till, has been a leader in the massive move from the traditional classroom. 

We are so excited for the future.  Our classrooms are our educational laboratories.  We are looking for educational scientists who want to teach, learn, and explore.  This blog will be dedicated to our adventures in education, experimenting in different types of pedagogy and assessment.