The New and Improved Classroom

 Student Learning Outcome: 3- Sense of Inquiry

Description of Artifact: After reading Teacher as Architect, this piece looks deeper into the importance of the teachers role in the classroom, in student engagement, and cultivating student learning.

Artifact Alignment: The teachers role in the classroom is much deeper than teaching kids fractions and historical events. We are there to solve issues in the classroom, create a authentic teaching and learning experience, and encourage students to engage in their learning. As a teacher we must understand that students have the capability to create a learning environment that will better suit them for their own futures, and we have to trust them to do so.

Future Goal: I hope that students in my classroom are given everything they need in order to reach their absolute best academically and personally. Each student has their own unique abilities and challenges and we have to adapt to all students so that a classroom can be created to better serve them all.

Sense of Inquiry Reflection: The artifacts presented in this section show the importance of encouraging all students in inquiry in the classroom and solving for educational problems by presenting solutions. In order to have a successful classroom where students thrive, a teacher has to ensure proper classroom management, classroom organization, accommodation, and a place for student voice to be heard. I learned a lot about what my job will be in creating a classroom where all these factors work together cohesively. Classroom organization and management has to be the foundation for everything else mentioned in this section because without it, you cannot have a classroom that works well in the environment that is presented.

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For centuries, we have focused on a classroom of learning where the teacher inputs information to the students, and the students regurgitate in order to meet state standards for testing. We have finally made a shift in moving towards something better for ourselves as teachers, our students, and the community as a whole. As mentioned (often) in Teacher as Architect by Shawn K. Smith, society is continuously asking the education system something new, there is always a new ask. Societies ask for the agricultural age was focused on creating good male workers and females who can care for the home and the children, and teachers were to deliver to what societies needs were. Now in the 21st century, society has a new ask for up-and-coming teachers: to teach students to be strong collaborators, innovative designers, citizens, creative minds, and technology advanced students. This is something different compared to what we have ever been asked to do in our classrooms, but we must buckle up and serve to societies new ask, as we always have. 

In the book, Teacher as Architect, a lot of the content goes through how we can become these amazing teachers who are educating students on how to become successful in 2040. This quote sums up exactly what our classrooms and teaching need to look like.“We believe it is possible to use standards as our roadmap, but to generate tasks and activities for students thinking past rote memorization and retrieval.  Today’s classrooms must cultivate students’ natural curiosity and provide opportunities for students to synthesize and create. Teachers must be explicit in their planning to use open-ended questions, pose problems that have more than one solution, or present real-world simulations that students will respond to” (p. 59). In order to reach this perfect goal for societies new ask, we as curators must understand how we can make this a reality in our future classroom. 

Let's start off by what you need to know. In order to make sure that your classroom environment and curriculum reflect your students, there are many things you need to know as a teacher. First you need to know how to create a curriculum that of course meets learning standards, but also allows your students to grow in their imagination and knowledge simultaneously. You must be able to set aside the traditional thinking of only going by what the state requires you to teach. Going outside the box and reaching into your students mind will make sure that you create a classroom environment where your children will grow. 

In order to make the above quote a reality in your classroom, you must understand that growth comes from failure. The first year of teaching modern learners will not look perfect for you or the students, but from the mistakes that you go through you can learn a lot for your next class and continue to learn and grow through failures. You must also understand that you aren't perfect! You won't be able to reach every single child in the way that you hope to, but you have to be able to “be explicit in your planning to use open-ended questions, pose problems that have more than one solution, or present real-world simulations that students will respond to”. Inviting these students to be vulnerable in a classroom may not be the easiest thing, but you have to understand that there must be something that they hold a passion for and you just have to dig deep to find that passion. 

Teachers must be able to adapt. Adaptation is everything in the perfect classroom. Creating an environment where “classrooms must cultivate students’ natural curiosity and provide opportunities for students to synthesize and create” is not an easy thing to do, or else we would have all mastered it by now! We have to be able to adapt to each student's unique needs in order to give them those opportunities for creating and synthesizing. Teachers must also be able to teach at anywhere and anytime to achieve this classroom goal. Take everything in your daily lives and bring it to students in a way where they want to ask questions and know more about something. We must customized plans based on students learning profile, as well as network students together with technology so that they may be advanced in technological skills. 

We have to have this shift towards the new ‘ask’ because the world around us is forever changing. We have to be able to switch and adapt to teach children for whatever the world invents. For example, there was a large shift whenever the laptop was first invented because students and society were expecting that in the education system. We are constantly growing and changing, and with that our classrooms and teaching needs to change as well. We will be in a place where we are teaching students for jobs that they will work at in 2040, so yes they need to learn about technology, collaboration, and creativity because learning through memorization is not cutting it anymore. 

There are many learning models and pedagogical theories that support this shift that we are making in education. The first being flipped/blended classroom model. This allows students to grow in their creative abilities, push for peer collaboration, and foster design and leadership within students. Another model that support this shift is project/problem based learning. This allows for students to have that freedom in their classroom to learn about things that spark joy, while still meeting standards that are required for the state. Lastly, Gardner's theory states that each child has a specific way of learning in which they learn best, and we must figure that out and use it to our full advantage. Let children explore different ways of learning and watch their minds flourish. 

I strongly believe that this new shift will do us really well in education. Students spend nearly 7-8 hours a day in our schools, so why would we confine them to a desk while we spit information out at them? We must allow for students to be creative and generate some amazing things because they have the ability to do so.