My Ideal Classroom of the Future

Well when visioning the classroom of the future I have to say that I had the same sentiments as Beth. My first thought was that my ideas may be very futuristic in my world, but are probably common place in a lot of schools. However, the first step of implementing my ideas of a classroom of the future would be to receive funding in order to utilize technology in every way that could be effective in improving instruction. This would be improving the level of student exposure to technology as well as implementing some efficient classroom management tools for teachers. Classroom centers and record keeping would take on a whole new meaning in my classroom of the future. These following technologies would be a must have in my futuristic classroom: full classroom theater system which includes an amplification/surround sound system; multiple student computers( at least 10) with touch screen monitors; high speed wireless Internet on all computers; a teacher computer workstation; an intercom system that allowed teachers to communicate to various classrooms; a 42" ceiling mounted flat panel television; multiple projectors and projector screens; cable; a digital library, and an OCR scanner just to name a few. There would also be a control panel room in the classroom that would house all of the equipment necessary to implement the technologies such as the volume controls for the amplification system, dvd/cd player and all of the other hardware. The classroom would also have some level of sound proofness to minimize the level of noise that neighboring classes could hear.
Space would not be an issue in my classroom. There would be enough space available for students to be mobile during project based learning activities, and to house all of the amenities. All of my furniture would include locking casters so that it could easily be moved to accomodate for various activities. Also, I would have at least ten working student computers with touch screen monitors in various pods throughout the classroom so they could be accessible for group or independent work. I would also have a teacher computer workstation that allowed access to all of the students computers. Students could download their files and I could easily upload them to my computer. Of course there would be at least 2 ceiling mounted projectors and screens that would allow multiple activities to take place at one time. For example, one group of students could be in a small group watching a virtual field trip on one screen and another group of students could be receiving small group instruction from the teacher on the other screen using a digital classroom response system. There would also be at least a 42" flat panel television mounted to the ceiling that was connected to the classrooms computer and audio system, the Internet, and cable to allow students to view educational programing, and to display student work samples. There would be no paper books in the class library. All of the books would be in digital format that included the books images and audio. Students could listen and follow along on the computer screen.
This classroom would also be very effective and efficient for the teacher. The teacher would have control over all of the technologies in their classroom via the control room. This would allow teachers to have easy access to what they need without needing assistance from the tech. teacher. The intercom system would end the need for teachers to send students out of the classroom to communitcate information with other staff members. The amplification system would help save the teachers' voice and quickly get students attention. This will be a large classroom that incorporates cooperative learning so the noise level could be high at times. There would also be some sort of technology that allowed all of the students work to be scanned, graded, and the grades downloaded into the teachers grade book. At the end of the six weeks the teacher could generate report cards at the click of a button without having to calculate averages and grade lots of papers.
As I said in the beginning a lot of the technologies that I would implement into my classroom are currently being used in classrooms throughout the world, but to me they are futuristic ideas.