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| Henderson, Wells. "Wrench." 10/10/2008 |
Let's start by discussing our situation. We teach Stage Craft and Stage Design courses as Language Arts electives at our school. In the past, this has largely meant that these classes have a sizable effort toward putting together the technical requirements for one (or two) of our four annual productions. Basics of scenery building are the bulk of instruction, which includes a healthy dose of theater scene shop safety and instruction. Lighting and sound consoles have become more sophisticated in recent years, so a bit of instruction regarding programming cues is included.
"Tech" in this case means "hands on," which is a given when we consider everything we learn and teach given what our goal is: completed scenery, lighting and sound for a specific production.
"Tech" in the case of the 21st century classroom has a bit more of a role than just "the stuff that kids can put their hands on. Consider the framework for a 21st century classroom provided below, courtesy of the Partnership For 21st Century Skills:
Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes
• Global Awareness
• Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy
• Civic Literacy
• Health Literacy
• Environmental Literacy
Learning and Innovation Skills
• Creativity and Innovation
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Communication and Collaboration
Information, Media and Technology Skills
• Information Literacy
• Media Literacy
• ICT (Information, Communications and Technology) Literacy
Life and Career Skills
• Flexibility and Adaptability
• Initiative and Self-Direction
• Social and Cross-Cultural Skills
• Productivity and Accountability
• Leadership and Responsibility
How do you incorporate this material into a class that up untill recently was largely a class designed for kids to get an elective credit for doing something theatrically creative?
Fortunately, we have some tools out there that will help people like me who teach specialized classes. One that I recently used comes from Shaun Holloway, a principal from the Manson Northwest Webster School district in Iowa. Here is my self-evaluation regarding technology integration in my Stage Technology courses using his walk-through evaluation tool. You will notice that I have some work to do.
It's likely that there are many more teachers like me out there who need to evaluate and amend their teaching to take their classrooms - no matter what subject - into the 21st century. What changes do you need to make? What changes would you like to see in your student's classroom? Does this framework for a 21st century classroom provide everything the 21st century learner needs? Share your thoughts.
OK...so I am a little late commenting on this edition of one of my favorite blogs in the blogosphere. But just wanted to thank you for specifying the criteria of a 21st Century Classroom. It really helps we teachers learning from you to make the connections. Great blog, Bill.
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