What Does a Learner-Active, Technology-Infused Classroom Look Like?

Once you know the underlying principles of the learner-active, technology-infused classroom, you can better understand what it should look like. No teacher can be expected to transform a classroom overnight. The following indicators represent an optimal environment. Parents and educators should view this as a guide, determine where they are, and set goals for continued growth and refinement.

The teacher creates a structured environment for learning. This requires that time is spent preparing transdisciplinary thematic units and problem-based activities that will provide students with the best opportunities to learn. It's no longer enough to stand in front of the room and tell students about a concept or skills. Teachers need to carefully design instructional activities that will allow students to work with the concept or skills in meaningful ways so that they deeply process and truly understand the material. In this way, retention is attained.

The teacher sets high expectations and provides encouragement and support. Teachers establish grading criteria (in the form of a rubric) up front so that the students know what is expected. Teachers do not allow students to hand in unacceptable work, but instead help them to see how it could be made better as they are working on it. Teachers support students and help them learn the skills they need to achieve to this high level of expectation. The student is not alone in the quest for academic achievement, but is supported by the teacher and by classmates. The teacher, through actions and words, creates a climate of partnership. The teacher never sits behind a desk having students file through, as though to be the "supervisor." Rather, the teacher becomes a facilitator of learning, asking the student a variety of questions on various levels (from comprehension to metacognition) to enhance learning.

Teachers help students develop good work habits, collaborative skills, and reflective skills. They accomplish this by designing activities aimed at these goals, providing instruction geared to these goals, providing students with tools to monitor these goals, and including the assessment of these goals within the academic performances (i.e., within the rubrics). It's not enough to tell students to plan their time; teachers need to teach students how to do that. It's not enough to tell students to complete a group project; teachers need to teach students how to work productively as a group.

Parents are viewed as partners in the learning process. Parents are kept informed of goals, classroom activities, and student progress through a variety of means, including student-centered classroom newsletters, notes from the teacher, student digital portfolios, and more. They visit the classroom to familiarize themselves with it, to work with students, and to share their expertise.

Classroom activities are tied together through a series of transdisciplinary thematic units. Thematic units are related to real life, based on an overarching life concept (such as Taking a Stand, Together We Can, or Leaving a Legacy), and begin with an open-ended question that students need to pursue over a period of 2 - 6 weeks.

• Each theme introduces a thematic outcome (which might be in the form of a report, presentation, community service, computer project, and so forth) that is typically open-ended, based on the open question mentioned above, and sets the stage for further learning.

• Students are typically expected to produce the final project as a group; however, students are assigned specific individual responsibilities and receive individual grades on components of the project, as well as on quizzes and tests. The group grade, by comparison, is a small part of their overall grade in the classroom.

• A variety of instructional activities are developed by the teacher or students to achieve their learning goals. At the start of the transdisciplinary thematic unit, students have a syllabus of the planned instructional activities.

• Instructional activities are accomplished by students both individually and collaboratively in one learning episode or over a number of learning episodes. (A learning episode is the amount of time during which the student is engaged in a single aspect of an instructional activity, typically 20 - 30 minutes.) Collaborative activities are used to provide students with support and encouragement through working as a group or they are used when the task requires creative brainstorming that is best done with more than one person.

Teachers provide whole class instruction. The teacher conducts benchmark lessons and class discussions to present an overview or concept.

Teachers provide mini-lessons to small groups. Teachers teach skills based on individual needs to small groups of students in the form of mini-lessons. Students decide if or when they need to attend these lessons (or, in some instances, are told by the teacher that they need to attend).

Teachers facilitate learning. When students are engaged in groups, pairs, or individual work, the teacher moves about the room facilitating by spending five to ten minutes sitting in a chair with a group or student and then moving on. S/he asks students questions on various levels (from comprehension to metacognition) and refers them to their rubric to guide instruction. While students are in the classroom, the teacher is constantly engaged with them and never found alone at the teacher's desk or at a computer.

Students are largely responsible for determining how their time is spent in the classroom. They begin the day or week by scheduling learning episodes, taking into account teacher-directed activities, pull-out schedules, special area schedules, and resource availability. Teachers help students understand how to plan their time well. Students use a thematic activity sheet, a schedule, and rubrics as tools to plan how their time is used.

Students are part of a home group of 3 - 4 students. These students work together throughout a theme, collaboratively plan their time, and complete the theme outcome. When they schedule their time for the day individually, they schedule group time first. However, they do not work as as group all day. They are responsible for their individual work. Students turn to peers for assistance before going to the teacher. Students readily assist peers in skill building and resource use.

Not all students are necessarily doing the same thing at the same time. This allows students to maximize the use of limited resources, including the teacher. Not all students necessarily complete the same activities. In some cases, students may delve into different aspects of a particular topic.

Technology is used as a resource in the learning process -- for information retrieval, communicating with others, building models of solutions, engaging in simulations, and making presentations. Students are not given "technology activities," rather technology is used to support instructional activities. Technology "products" are rich in content as opposed to being focused on technology use. Students make use of the computer as needed during an instructional activity (with "How-To" sheets to guide them through any tech use that may be new to them), in addition to or as opposed to during an assigned time.

The room is filled with resources -- technology, books, maps, manipulatives, videotapes, models, and so forth -- so that students have a variety of ways to approach a concept or skill and are not limited to the teacher and textbook. Students use resources as they need them, demonstrating an understanding of what is available to them. The room includes some special-purpose areas for use of limited resources.

The room is designed for learning -- to view teaching as a means of learning, to foster collaboration, yet provide for individuals to work apart from others when desired. The room is designed with student input and is decorated to some extent by the students.