A Peak into 21st Century

Classrooms
Dyane Smokorowski
Intel Senior Trainer
8th Grade Language Arts teacher
Andover, Kansas
Question for you….
Another question…
Hmmm…..
Take a Guess

134414 and
answer
Okay – now what are they really?
• Creativity and Innovation
• Communication and Collaboration
• Research and Information Fluency
• Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision
Making
• Digital Citizenship
• Life and Career Skills
• Technology Operations and Concepts (Isn’t it
interesting that this is the last one on the list?)
And I believe…
What does it look like?
• The foundation involves three things
▫ Higher Order Questioning/Discussing/Thinking
▫ Real World Applications
▫ Standards Based Projects

• See, I told you - you’re doing many of these right

now
Okay, but what does a 21st Century
Classroom look like?
Does it look like this?
Or this?
Or even this?
What kinds of things do kids do?
• Let’s take a look by the 21st century categories
▫ Creativity and Innovation
 Generating new ideas, create original works, use models and
simulations, identifying trends and forecast possibilities

Poetry Projects
Idioms
Advertising Campaign Glogsters
Original Stock Photography
Communication and Collaboration
 Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers; communicate to
multiple audiences; develop cultural understanding
• Being Green
Kansas 7th Grade students have been collaborating with
students in Wedderburn, Australia over ecological
issues. What can we all do to think more green and
make a difference in our communities?
• Google Docs
Student and Teacher collaborative work
• Classroom Tweets – Smoke1stHour, Smoke4thHour,
Smok6thHour
• Skype in the classroom
It’s a Small World Project
• Small World – A global project of 8-10th grade
students comparing cultures to determine are we
really that different after all. Students primarily
used a Ning to collaborate and answer questions
administered by the teachers.
Research and Information Literacy and
Digital Citizenship
 Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and
use information
Students understand human, cultural, and societal
issues related to technology and practice ethical
behavior

Treasure Island Piracy Project

• As a tie-in to the novel Treasure Island students
did extensive research on what digital piracy is
and how they can impact other teens around the
world
Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and
Decision Making
• Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct
research, manage products, solve problems, and make
informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and
resources

Thinking Tool Collaboration – What’s Unique

About Your Culture
• Paperclip Project
▫ Ryan’s Example
Other Tools I use often
• YouTube – • Promethean Board with
http://mediaconverter.org/ projector
▫ Where else could I get great • 1:1 laptops in the
video clips like this, this, or
even this
classroom
• Etherpad - for • Quia.com for tests
collaborative editing and (grading is FAR easier)
back-channeling • Scribd – embed
• Digital cameras documents in Edmodo
• Flipcams • Microsoft Office
Okay – now what you really want to
know
• The Benefits
▫ Inspiration, Creativity, and Innovation Lead my
classroom
▫ Students are personally connected to the learning
▫ A new appreciation to social issues
▫ Transfer of learning is happening in other classrooms
▫ Other teachers in the building are excited to do the same
The Challenges
• The time to build a great project is extensive –
but that is true with or without tech
• Panic over the state assessment still happens
• Grading isn’t always cut and dry
• A team teacher would be beneficial
How I meet the challenges
• Depend heavily on my PLN – Professional
Learning Network
• Students help in the grading process
• Yes, I still have worksheets on occasion and YES
– it’s okay to do that.
What questions do you have?
Feel free to email me
smoke@usd385.org
So….