5 practical ways to convert a traditional classroom into a flexible 21st century learning space
/1. Remove traditional furniture including all rectangular / square desks and associated chairs
2. Remove any whiteboard that suggests one ‘teaching’ location
3. Introduce ‘IDEA Paint’ on to as many surfaces as possible so that students and teachers can write in multiple places at the one time
4. Choose furniture that allows students to feel ‘at home’
5. Use mobile personal digital devices in a wireless environment
“Some sectors of human activity such as medicine, transportation and communications were transformed beyond recognition during the twentieth century. Compared with such megachange the practices of school have been virtually static. Seymour Papert 1995
Therein lies a challenge - accelerate that megachange in the classroom!
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Great tips for great teaching.
/1. Teach using your own knowledge and passion.
2. Have regular non-technology times - where the kids learn using themselves as the resource and tool.
3. Establish your own standards of community and interaction. Don’t rely on someone else or an external system.
4. Guide the students so that they become passionate, self motivated and engaged - without the need for any external reinforcement.
5. Regularly move away from the confines of the classroom space and place learning into different contexts.
Imagine if the process of learning became consistently absorbing - not confined to limited modes or places!
Three thoughts
/The only thing better that ‘ownership’ is ‘authorship’.
Recognize moments of brilliance from the experts in your midst.
Our role as leaders is to foster the ‘sparks’ that already exist in our midst.
