Synthesis Paper 1-In The Year 2025
In the year 2025, my classroom will be a first-rate example of how students use content knowledge correctly. Students will not have information such as names, dates, facts, and places are the key concept of their course. In the year 2025, students in my classroom will be able to use primary source materials and research conducted on their own to form concrete opinions on information that I as the teacher will present in class. The random facts will be brought to attention, and then the student’s real work will begin. They will understand time periods and form opinions. Students will identify themes throughout history.
Thinking historically will be a key component in the future. Being able to diagnose problems of the past to help create a better future will be a cornerstone of my courses. Students will read texts and read them skeptically. They will review numerous pieces of information in order to back up what is written in online textbooks.
In order for students to be productive in the year 2025, they will have to master the use of technology in the classroom. Technology will play a vast role in the coming years for students of every background. There are talks in the present day about making the jump to a more technologically sound classroom. Students who come from a background of low socio-economic status will have the same opportunities to use technology as other students. This will help narrow the achievement gap. The students who are poor will not have to be behind due to a lack of resources. They will be available to all students in school.
Students will have to master research using primary source materials. It is in art, letters, songs, and artifacts that students can really bring history to life. When history is brought to life, it is easier to understand and relate to people in the past. It helps the students to create. The term create comes with the belief that fiction is created. This is not entirely the case, by having students create journals, art, or other materials, they can take the next step to truly comprehending the past.
Students will have to master communication with other students. In the present day, shy students get the short end of the stick in class discussion not because they do not have anything interesting to say, but because they are introverted. Technology can bridge the gap between shy students and those who participate more freely. By communicating online in chat debates, shy students can feel more comfortable with what they have to say. These communications between students can lead to actual face to face debates. The experience will be enriched for all involved.
Students will need to be able to think critically. They will have to be able to understand that though every piece of primary source material is absolutely important, it may not be absolutely true. Students must aspire to seek absolute truth, yet understand that finding it is impossible. By viewing different perspectives through vast databases of primary source materials, students will be able to create their own opinions as if they were a judge in an important case.
Students will have to learn to work together. The classroom of 2025 will be one of collaboration. Learning together will overshadow learning as an individual. Hearing other student’s points of view and research on a topic will only create brighter individuals. Due to the use of technologies in the classroom, students will hear these different points of view and a much increased speed. As a teacher, I will mentor this process.
Teachers in the year 2025 will facilitate debate and guide learning. They will not spout information from the textbook. Teachers will be better informed about the information they are teaching. Educators will always strive to create situations where students are driven to ask the extra question; and to initiate finding the answer out themselves. Due to the vast improvements in the flow of information, teachers will be able to collaborate with one another across the country; across the world. This will create more well rounded and thought provoking educators. The year 2025 will be a golden age for students and teachers. The incredibly fast flow in information and ideas will only strengthen the education system in this country and will undoubtedly create a much smaller achievement gap, which is a very big problem in the present day.
