Blog Assignment 2

Did You Know? 3.0
This movie completely shocked me.  I found it very interesting though.  I think that it is presented in a way that really makes you think.  You can't help but to take a step back and think "If things have changed that fast in my lifetime, what is going to happen in the lives of my children and future students?" The information leaves me with many different feelings.

It makes me excited to be living in a time where students have such abilities and opportunities.  But it also makes me very nervous.  I am not a computer person.  They just don't really interest me.  I can do what I have to do but how is this going to effect my classroom?  My students will no doubt know more about computers than I will.  And this knowledge will grow with every class that comes through.  This video left me with many different feelings but I really enjoyed it and the information it presented. 

Mr. Winkle Wakes
Mr. Winkle Wakes really hit home with me.  Everything around us has changed, not just over the last 100 years, but in our own lifetimes.  I remember it being a really big deal when all of a sudden everyone had to have the internet.  I also remember bag phones and the huge brick cell phones.  Just in my lifetime, the last 25 years, everything technological has changed.

This video posts a very good question, with never asking it at all: Why have we not changed the way we teach?  Teachers do not use everything available to them.  I think the reason for this is so many people have a "This is how I did it" attitude.   This is how they were taught and they turned out just fine so why should they change it?  It has worked in their classroom for so many years and it will continue to be the way they teach no matter what.  I think this links to a fear of the unknown.  But as teachers we have to be lifelong learners and learn with our students in order to best serve them.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity.
Sir Ken Robinson's main point in this video was the idea of creativity in schools.  Or more the lack of creativity allowed in schools.  I had never taken the chance to step back and look at it but after being exposed to this video I can't disagree with what he says.  What he said about the main task of education being to produce college professors is an idea that seems true.  At an early age we teach children Reading, English, Math and when there is time we fit in Social Studies and Science.  There is time for library and computer lab built in one day a week but it is very rare for these young students to be exposed formally to any type of arts.

As students get older they have more of an option as to what they take.  They are able to chose elective classes but again it is rare they are given the opportunity to chose a creative path.  Most electives are foreign languages and home ec or some kind of wood shop.  Only at larger schools are students given the opportunity to pursue any path they desire.  We are sending the message to our students that if you are smart at the core subjects that is what is important.  It doesn't matter if you can draw, paint, sing or dance.  That is not what is important in the world.  This is a message we need to stop now.  We should be telling students no matter what you are good at, that is what is important.

Celcilia Gault
I really enjoyed the interview and short article done by Cecilia Gault.  She brought up a very good point- we are not preparing our students to be successful in this world they are living in.  We see the defecit between students in other countries and students here is the United States and what are we doing about it? We are cutting education budgets more and more each year.  This is not fair to students.  We are setting them up to fail.  They will not be able to compete unless something changes dramatically.

I also enjoyed the interview she conducted.  I liked Sir Ken Robinson's idea of the three myths of creativity.  It is so true, as I mentioned above, that we do not push for creativity in schools.  I personally think that this is getting even more true as standardized tests become more and more integral in the classroom.  As teachers we have to find some way to allow our students to be exposed to the arts and technology and to send the message to them that it is important to be creative and to express yourself in what you are good at-not what you are told is important.



Vicki Davis
Before watching this video I was curious as to the best way to use the technologies we learn about in this class in my own classroom.  This video gave me a perspective on what it would look like in practice.  I am from a small, rural town.  The fact that she is from the same type of area gave me even more confidence that this can be done.  She has such great teaching qualities. 

I think the most important thing is that she has taught her students how to find things out for themselves.  Yes, a teacher's job is to teach.  But this is one of the most important things you can teach your students.  Especially in the world we live in now.  If they know how to use the technologies that are provided to them in order to discover the answer to questions they have they will be able to find the answer to anything.  She is teaching her students how to survive after they leave her classroom.  I admire Davis' teaching style and hope that once I enter the classroom I will be the same type teacher.