Blog Post #2

Did you know?

I watched both of the videos several times and both were very exciting to watch. When I watched Dr. Strange's version I was so excited to see how all this information was but together with the music I couldn't read what the information was about. The music added drama to the video; it was as if you were waiting for something to happen. I must admit that when I watched the videos for the second time the information had me thinking. As a teacher in 2022 what new gadgets or social networks will I be using to help teach students? Will there be video classrooms, where everybody just signs in with their computers. I know we are doing online classes but will Skype, and ooVoo, be a platform for our future classrooms. Although this may open doors in further communication with other countries, but is the direction were going in. I have a seventeen year old that is trying to make a career decision for college after graduation in 2013. What jobs will be available to her if she doesn't major in something that is in demand when she graduates from college.

It has always been said that the education in other countries was far better than ours in the U.S. When you look at some of these numbers I ask, what can educators do to increase our IQ numbers in the U.S.? With the technology world growing so fast, how can we keep up? Should we start teaching children to use some of these gadgets, when they learn how to walk? Do we allow them to use the social networks pre-school.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

To sleep for 100 years, is the same as sleeping your life away. Technology changes so fast,that not keeping up with it is like sleeping. When you don't stay on top of the different technology you are left behind. I will admit it was a while (a few years) before I knew what "facebook" and "twitter" was, but with two children in the house I thought it was necessary for me to keep up. Most people don't realize just how important it is to keep up with some of the basic technology. Technology is everywhere it not going to leave it in your home, in your cars, the grocery stores etc. The only way technology will be changed is by adding something else to it and by that, I mean making one product better. For instance, when Mr. Winkle walked into the hospital it made him sick because I didn't look the same as It did 100 years ago, if I had walked and it looked 100 years old, I would be worried. I don't think anybody wants to go into a hospital that has outdated equipment. Although it appeared to Mr. Winkle that the students were being taught the same as a 100 years ago he would have been sick again if he knew they were not.

Don't let the new technology get you down, do something to keep up. There are always places you can go and take classes. There are classes that are just for the Senior Citizens, because they need to how things are going to work. I tell my parents all the time to take some of these classes, so they will know what is going on. I remember when my daughter set my mother's laptop up with ooVoo and Skype, both of my parents thought it was so amazing that they could talk to us from the computer and be able to see us. They also have classes for the younger children. Even though some of the younger children can tell you how to operate some of the new gadgets it still is a good idea to put them in classes, you may learn something also.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

I had the opportunity of watching a smaller version of this video last semester. Sir Robinson says that "Creativity is just as important as literacy." You have to give children the chance to be creative. I think the question that was posed to us in Art Education was "Are schools killing creativity?" When we tell children that their ideas are wrong, what exactly are we saying them? Teachers and parents often tell students when they are doing projects to explore their minds. When students come up with their ideas and what to create them we tell them it is wrong or they can't do it. Therefore, when a child is told he or she is wrong their creativity has been killed.

If teachers and schools can put emphasizes on literacy why isn't it extended to creativity? Why are we limiting our children to be creative? Everything we use in this world today is somebody's creation. Children have their own way of being creative, as Sir Robinson said children will take a chance. As we become adults we are not willing to take many of the chances anymore. It is up to us parents, relatives and instructors to help our kids be creative.

A Vision for 21st Century Learning

The main idea of this video is to change and come up with new ideas of teaching our students.
This is a chance to put a little creativity in or children education process. Our education system has to move from the "Mass Standardization," although it may have worked in the pass, teachers and instructors will need to create new ideas to get the information out. I believe this is what Dr. Strange considers to be, "birth back education." However, the statement, "Students come in as raw material," means that teachers can add to them what is needed. When can use whatever method needed to get the information across.

The idea of children learning a different language and learning social studies through video games is great. Since most children are playing video games while in preschool why not make the games useful. If this is what it takes to get our children to learn without complaining I'm all for it. Since we know that technology is critical to establish jobs in 2022 we must establish something that will empower our children.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

Ms Davis makes sure her students are involved in learning process in this technology class. In this class she said her students were, "learning how to learn." Ms. Davis is aware that she or all her students know how to do it all but they are taught by each other. With the programs and software available you pretty much have to get on them and start using them. With some of the programs suggested to be used in EDM310, many are new to me. I know I will have to get on it and just figure out how things will work. Dr. Strange has said to us "If we don't know how, we will find out." Nothing that I have done so far would have been easy for me by just reading it out of a textbook.  Even though we did have instructions, I still didn't get it until I actually did it.

When you make students do the research on their own, you get different results.  If I had to read the book on how to do some of things, I don't think I would know how to do it. A lot of it I didn't understand until I actually got it to work and I had to do it a second time to make sure I understood what I was doing. The  hands on experience and the research was a better approach for this class to take.  Once the students got the information and implemented the task themselves they felt comfortable enough to teach it to the class, you can only do this when you know how to do something.