Saturday, February 4, 2012

Blog Post #2

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Did You Know?
 I found this video very interesting and knowledgeable. I had no clue that India was so far ahead of us! I knew that the U.S. was a little far back in education, but I did not know it was that bad. The facts that were brought out in the video really woke me up on some things. For instance, it is embarrassing  for only the highest I.Q.'s in India, which is 25%, to  outnumber the ENTIRE population in the United States. If anything, this video really made me think about just how important my role as a teacher is. There is so much to absorb in this fast developing world and we as future educators need to make sure that we are prepared in handling teaching the correct information that our students need to know.
 Every minute, technology is changing. There are always new things to be taught and learned. For example, I had no idea that 1,097,220 videos were watched on YouTube in one minute,or that 1,393,519 searches were made on Google every minute. If YouTube, Google, and all the other websites receive that much action, imagine how it will be when we step into our classrooms to teach. There is a lot to take into consideration at this day and age when becoming an educator. I may not, nor will I ever have the answers to EVERYTHING, but I will gain as much knowledge as I possibly can for my students.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
This video had a good moral to it and yet entertaining. The message of the video makes you think. Even though a whole lot in the world has changed, the one thing that is the most important which is education has not. On the other hand, the way that a teacher teaches has. Technology is changing everyday and as an educator, the teacher should know how to teach; not just getting in front of a classroom and talking all day, but making it interesting and getting the children involved.
 One hundred years ago, there were no high tech computers or smart boards or anything of that nature, so the teacher had to teach with what he/she had that was appropriate for that time. Now, there are numerous of ways to teach the classroom. As technology changes in school, so should the way of teaching.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
 This video was very enjoyable. Mr. Robinson made some very good points of how schools do basically ignore the arts. Every subject is very important so that means each subject needs to be treated importantly. Each child may not like the same subjects as other children; there will be children who find English more interesting than Math, others find Math more interesting than English and the list goes on. By each child not liking the exact same thing, brings me to say that each child has his/her strengths and weaknesses in different subjects.
 One of many good points that Mr. Robinson made was that educators are suppose to prepare children for the future. The teacher does not know how the world will be or look like in five years, but imagine that the teacher has to prepare this younger generation for the many years that are ahead of us. That is a major responsibility on the teacher's hands. Bringing out the creativity in students is also apart of the many duties the teacher has to do. For how a child does his/her work or how they participate in the classroom starts with their creativity. One of the many interesting statements that Mr. Robinson said was that if "you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original", and that is so true. Some children are afraid to make mistakes because of how harsh some adults make it seem. Mistakes are going to be made because that is the way a person learns.
 I love how at the end of Mr. Robinson's lecture he told the story of Jillian Lynn. That was a perfect example of how each child is different and how everyone has a special, unique gift. Teachers need to keep that in mind. Just because a child may not learn or cooperate like another child, does not mean that they are less of anybody. Each child is very unique in his/her own way and Jillian Lynn is proof of that fact.

 A Vision for 21st Century Learning
 Just imagining that our world is changing every minute is amazing. How technology was a few years ago compared to now is completely different. The main argument that caught my attention in this video was the old way of learning versus the new way of learning. With technology being so wide spread more now than what it has ever been, it gives students an opportunity to learn at a faster paste. The new technology that's available now for learning should make it so much fun that the students will not even realize that they are learning.

 Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smart
What I enjoyed the most of this video was how Ms. Davis was teaching her students to learn. She made it possible to guide them into teaching themselves. I agree completely with what she said about how sometimes paper and pencil is not enough; how some, if not all students need more. When your sources are limited to how you can learn, it creates a challenge for some students.
 I liked what Ms. Davis refers to herself as; a "teacherprenuer". She mentioned that instead of giving her students a vocabulary list, she gives them the word and they have to look up the definition their selves. I love that. The only way anybody is going to learn is if they do their own work. I enjoyed watching her methods and I hope that I can apply them in my own classroom one day.

6 comments:

  1. Hello Angela! I enjoyed reading the view from someone else on these videos. My favorite one was of Mr. Robinson. He was very easy to watch and listen to. We have some of the same highlights from his video. I suppose this is because they stuck out to us more than anything else. In the video response to Did You Know? you said, "If anything, this video really made me think about just how important my role as a teacher is." This was very true to me also. It made me think that I have a lot of work set out for me to try to get my future students to be the change this country needs to make it better. This really opened my eyes and I hope I can take something out of it and apply it in my classroom one day.
    Now that it has been a few days since you wrote this, I would read back through it and fix some grammar and sentence structure mistakes. For instance: in your very last paragraph you wrote "their selves" this should be themselves. I had to go back through mine and fix some mistakes also. When you are just trying to get your thoughts out, you don't pick up on as much of the technical stuff. Also we are supposed to have a picture on each blog, but over all this was a great blog! Good luck on the rest of this semester!

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  2. Angie,
    I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on the different videos.
    I have to agree with Carly that my favorite video was probably the one done by Ken Robinson. The teacher that I was assigned to for blog comments made a very good point related to Mr. Robinson's video. She was speaking of her students but stated that, "children are fearless,". This statement is so true and I think that is what gives them the ability to have so much creativity and as teachers we should encourage that. I wonder if sometimes as adults we are to scared to to branch when it comes to teaching. It seems like instead of learning the technologies of our world and trying to incorporate it with our teaching we would rather stay in that comfort zone and do as we have seen our teacher do. What are your thoughts on it? You were very well spoken in your thoughts and they came across very clear.

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  3. Thanks Constance! I loved the statement that you made about children being fearless, because they are. I adore that about children. They are very ambitious and as teachers we have to make sure they keep that mind mentality.

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