Final Questions!!

What have you learned about designing opportunities for educating students whether they be young learners, young adults, more mature students? How has (or will) your professional role changed through this experience in the course and the other courses you have taken? Do you see yourself differently in what you can offer as a zookeeper?

Before I enrolled in this course, I rarely thought twice about how a teacher teaches. When I did think about it, however, I would often wonder how a teacher decides what and how to actually get the educational message to the students. I now understand that it can and should be a difficult process. Maybe difficult is not the correct wording there and I should have used "thought out" instead. My guess would be that many teachers, our zoo's educational director is one of them, just use the same lesson plans year after year with no thought to how the rest of the world is changing. Creating valuable, truly educational experiences have to be created with a lot of thought to all types of learners and learning speeds. It is not a one fits all process, although I believe that many teachers still teach in this manner. What they need to understand is that some students learn better by reading while others learn better by doing. One of the better ways to design an learning opportunity is to come up with an authentic activity that relates to their lives, in some way. An activity in which they need to learn by doing instead of by just listening is more effective. They also need to understand that the best way to understand what they have learned is not necessarily by true/false or multiple choice testing. Students need to have to opportunity to express what they know and how they went about learning what they learned. Educators can do this through the use of an entire system of assessments.

My professional ambitions have definitely changed over the course of this semester. I now an considering becoming a school or zoo educator. I never used to think of teaching as a profession....actually I felt that it would be a scary and kind of boring position. However, I now know that it must truly be what you make of it. Those teachers who teach the same lesson plans year after year must not enjoy the position as much as a great teacher who really plans out unique educational learning opportunities. Learning along with the students in a more democratic classroom would be much more interesting to me than teaching with a dictator approach. My current responsibility is to share the knowledge I have gained in all of my educational classes. Most of the ideas I have brought with me though this process, are ones that are not understood by many educators I have come in contact with. I will do my best to help these individuals to incorporate these ideas into their teaching.

After reading these questions I realized that, although I might not ever have a normal classroom, I can still use the principles that I have learned over the past few months. Even if I don't have a classroom, at all, and decide to remain a zoo keeper instead of an official educator, I can use the different ideas I have taken away from this class. I will now consider different learning styles when creating a new exhibit and it's educational materials. The common way for educational material to be displayed is with a lot of English text. I can see now that more photos or even hands-on displays could be a wonderful addition to the educational message. Also, zoo's in an area with a large ethnic population should really concentrate on educating in different languages. Being a zoo educator, there are so many more opportunities to teach students of all levels and abilities. There are hundreds of schools that bus in students for the education programs. These students come from all different educational, economical and ethical backgrounds. All of these must be taken into consideration when planning educational activities for these students.

7th Grade Classroom Built/Designed with Unlimited Funds

With unlimited funds I would create a classroom that focused on collaborative learning, however, it would also allow for some individual learning when the need was there. As soon as the students walked in this classroom, they would understand the values of this class. They would feel the freedom they will be given of the different learning techniques we will be practicing. They will be given many opportunities to choose their own learning style by choosing different ways to present their knowledge.

There would be 4 corners sectioned off. These would allow would allow for the Audio/video room, meeting room, project section and a classroom restroom. I will describe these sections in detail later. The classroom would be carpeted in all areas except the project area and restroom. These areas will have wood flooring with area rugs. This carpet and rug sections should help with sound reduction and also give the room a warmer feeling. In the center of the main classroom, there will be two movable crescent shaped tables for the students to utilize during discussions and large presentations. The students will have their own seat and these seats will face each other. On both sides, where the tables come together, there will be a table and chair for the teacher. This will allow for the teacher to access both sides of the student's tables, equally.

Main Classroom: The items in the main classroom will include a hanging projector above the crescent tables, take-home laptops numbering 1/student networked in the classroom with a wireless network. This way the students can utilize the entire room while using their laptops. On the right side of the room, there will be a 60" LCD TV handing on the wall. This TV can either be hooked up to the projector or allow the laptops to be directly plugged in for larger computer presentations. Above the TV, there will be an electronic projector screen that can easily be lowered while using and raised when not in use.

Walls and Windows: Windows will be placed in appropriate places so the students may observe what is occurring in the outdoor environment. All windows will have darkening shades so the room can be utilized for computer presentations. The largest section of windows will be on the south wall. Here there will be two windows which measure approximately 10' h X 7'W. On the outside of these windows, there will be an area titled Backyard Habitat and will be landscaped with trees, shrubs and a small pond area. This will be used during some biology lessons but also just to include nature into the classroom on a daily basis. Other sections of the walls will either include a cork board or magnetic paint so that projects and other important classroom information may be easily displayed and accessed. Windows will be placed in trhe corners of the meeting room and also in the corner by the project table. This simply allows for natural sunlight.

Sections within the Classroom:
There are four seperate sections that include a sound proof audio/video(A/V) room, a completely private restroom, an open project area and a semi-closed meeting room.
A/V Room-The A/V room would be sound proofed so students could create video and audio podcasts, edit videos or participate in Skype callss without disturbing the other students in the main classroom. That room would include it's own stationary desktop computer to allow for compouting power. There would also be video and digital cameras, video editing equipment and a telephone.
Meeting Room- This meeting room would be used for small group meeting and also for individualized quiet learning. There will be 5 chairs and a 3-seat couch. There are a few side tables, as well. This room should have the feel of a very casual room where students can gather and socialize or work collaboratively.
Restroom- Students no longer would have to leave the classroom and walk a distance to the restoom. There would be one in the classroom for restroom and project clean-up usage.
Project area- This area is open to the rest of the main classroom, however, it has it's own distinct area. This area consists of 2 large tables and 4 chairs around each one. This makle collaborative projects possible. There are no computers at this location because the studetns can bring move their own laptops to these tables. This area will have storage shelves for all of the available project items. These will be available to the students at all times. They will hold labeled, opaque tubs at or below eye level that various crafting items. There will be two video and digital cameras available by a checkout procedure.

Essential

• 2 Digital video/still image Cameras
• Shelving units to store project supplies
• Magnetic painted walls
• Movable crescent shaped desks
• Hanging Projector and manual screen
• Project tables and chairs
• Most, if not all, windows -all with room darkening window treatments
• 6 laptop computers, at a minimum (if 1 laptop/student cannot be managed)
• Wireless Internet connection

Preferred

• One laptop/student
• Cork Boarded walls
• Meeting room area
• sound-proofed A/V room (low level approximately $2000)

Desirable

• Landscaped Backyard habitat
• restroom in classroom
• LCD 60" TV
• Sound proofed A/V room (Higher quality sound proofing approximately $10,000)

Rational

Essential Items
Many of the options I have chosen for this ultimate classroom cost little but allow for large learning opportunities.

The laptops can be purchased for as little as $250/student. For 12 students, this adds up to $3000 but the educational value of having each student connected to each other and the teachers is invaluable.

• The magnetic wall would be accomplished with a can of paint and the metal additive that is needed for the magnetic properties. This is such a low cost, as well, but it would make it so easy to add student work or other classroom items to the walls that surround the students.
• The desks would probably be the most expensive pieces of furniture, however, I feel it is invaluable for our students to have a place of their own yet have the capability to work collaboratively in small groups or with the entire class.
• The projector could be a small and also inexpensive, as long as the windows had blackening window treatments. This projector could be as low as $300 and the pull down screen would cost $150.
• An internet connection is a must so that the students can do on-line project work and connect with other students around the world. Adding the wireless connection is approximately $50. All students can then use their laptops anywhere in the classroom.
• Project tables and 8 chairs can be purchased at the lowest cost possible. They do not have to be any special kind of furniture just an area where the students can work on projects in larger groups.
• If the 1 laptop/student cannot be managed, then there would need to be a minimum of 6 computers in the classroom. One would be in the A/V room, the other in the meeting room and there would be 4 more placed on the project tables.
• The video cameras and digital camera are essential for our students to create projects. These could come in the form of the Flip Camera, which is a video camera that also takes still images. It costs as little as $150 and it is a great camera.
• The storage units could be built as a student project. It is important to have the items, that are expected to be used, easily accessible to all students.
• The meeting room would be quite costly because it would entail zoning off a section of a room with two walls and adding furniture. The furniture would, again, not have to be the top of the line. Items could be gathered fairly inexpensively if items were bough used. It is important for the student to have a place to go to get away from the noise that a regular classroom can create. Also, a place where a group of students can go to collaborated on a project is necessary. They could do this in their own classroom and wouldn't have to go to another room in the school, however, if necessary, they could.

Preferred Items

• The preferred items are listed in this section because other items/areas, listed in the essential section, could work in place of these items.
• A cork boarded wall would be nice to have, however, the magnetic wall would work just as well and it would cost less.
• One laptop/student would be ideal, however, this could be a project that takes a few years to complete. It is not essential for each student to have a laptop, but it is critical for each student to have access to one in the classroom.

Desired Items:

• Landscaping the yard area would be a great addition to the classroom, however, we can always explore around the school grounds.
• The restroom in the classroom would be a beneficial time saving addition, however, there are others in the area of the classroom.
• The projector and screen can easily take the place of the 60" flat screen TV, however, the TV is brighter and works in a room that is not darkened by window treatments.
• Finally, the sound proofed room to higher standards is also not necessary. It would be wonderful to have an area where our students could go to make their podcasts and edit videos, however, another room in the school could be utilized for this purpose or we could do it cheaper.

VALUES
The ABC's of Classroom Values
Above all, we respect each other
Before anything else - we work hard.
Connections and collaboration are what we strive for.
Did you learn something new today?
Everyone contributes everyday.
Fellow classmates need your advice and assistence.
Good friends are yours for a lifetime.
How are you feeling today?
International friendships are our goal.
Just take a moment to reflect on what you did today.

How to Make the Dream a Reality

Without having a classroom of my own, and none expected in the near future, I find it hard to think of things I could do now that would affect "my" classroom. However, I do feel that continued education in this field will keep me motivated to create such a room when the time comes for me to teach. I will keep the diagram I created close by and return to it when I do get closer to actually teaching.