THE CLASS OF 2013; KINDERGARTNERS ENTER BRAVE NEW WORLD.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Staff Writer

Smaller is better.

Romelia Garcia is convinced that is the key to ensuring her two children get a good education as they enter the 21st century.

The Arleta woman doesn't want them to sit in classrooms with 35 students like she did, where teachers had little time for the ones who struggled.

``My education was average,'' said Garcia, a 1991 graduate of San Fernando High School and mother of two. ``We needed more individual attention. Now that they've reduced the size of classes it's way better.''

A trend toward smaller class sizes is just one prediction that parents, teachers and administrators are making for the class of 2013 as the class of 2000 prepares to graduate.

Their children, they believe, will enter a brave new world where computers will become as ubiquitous as a No. 2 pencil and lined notebook paper.

``I see technology playing a huge role in the future classroom,'' said Jim Konantz, director of Instructional Technology for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

When students go to school in the future, they won't even have to step foot outside their homes, Konantz said.

They'll be able to tap into the Internet and through video conferencing participate in classroom discussions. And there won't be a need to miss any homework assignments because of illness.

``Students who are sick would be able to participate right in school with two-way video interactive (equipment),'' Konantz said. ``They would be able to see the teacher, and the teacher would be able to see them.''

Parents too will benefit from technological advances. They'll be able to monitor their children's grades by checking the school's Web site.

``You can review the progress of students right on TV, and students can get online help with homework,'' Konantz said.

Following current trends, students will continue using computers to learn how to read, spell and do other lessons.

``We spend a lot of time teaching students how to use a computer, but we're starting to see a transition,'' Konantz said. ``We're starting to use the computer as a tool.''

More learning, less rote 

Warren Furumoto, director of the Center for Academic Preparedness at California State University, Northridge, foresees teachers lecturing less and students working more often in small groups - a trend already under way in public schools.

``The classroom of the future will be where classmates interact with each other heavily,'' Furumoto said.

And instead of memorizing facts and formulas, students will spend more time evaluating, analyzing and applying their newfound knowledge to real-world situations, he said.

``It's going to be the kind of classroom where students will be asked to really look at a problem,'' Furumoto said, ``rather than just trying to remember (facts).''

Teachers will approach their jobs differently too, he said. Like their elementary school counterparts, teachers in middle and high schools will collaborate across subject disciplines to discuss the best way to educate their students.

``Teachers will have to sit down as a group and say, What is it a student really needs to know?'' Furumoto said. Right now, ``we have teachers acting individually. Once the door is closed, they're totally isolated from each other.''

From the mouths of babes

At Fenton Avenue Charter School in Lake View Terrace, some kindergarten students described their own visions of the future.

Emanuel Medina, 5, already is shooting for the stars. He wants to be an astronaut when he grows up.

``They go into space,'' he explained. ``I want to go to Mars, and it's going to be cold.''

Thashous Robbins, 5, plans to keep his feet on the ground.

``I'd like to be a soccer player,'' he said. And while the youngster said the future world will look much like it does today, he said personal transportation will take on a drastically different form.

``I'll go to work in a r`ocket ship,'' he said.

Anthony Lawton, 5, envisions a future world where humans finally make contact with aliens.

``Aliens live in space. They're Martians,'' Anthony said. ``They're green and they have eyes but no ears. And they like to eat bugs.''

Garcia isn't quite sure what the future holds, but she is confident that her children will have a better education than she did.

``I try to be positive,'' said Garcia, whose 4-year-old son, Anthony Lagunas, attends kindergarten at Fenton.

In the meantime, she hopes that recent efforts to reduce class sizes in some primary and secondary grades will expand to encompass every grade level so that her children can enjoy the individualized attention she missed as a student.

``It's just about making classrooms smaller and giving individual attention to students,'' Garcia said.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1 -- color) Bright-eyed kindergarten students in Rosalyn Frick's room at Fenton Avenue Charter School face the future as the Class of 2013.

(2) Victoria Rodriguez, 6, a first-grader at Fenton elementary, paints a self-portrait outside her classroom.

David Sprague/Daily News