Blog Post # 2

1. Dr. Strange: Did You Know?

For this post I was assigned to watch Did You Know by Dr. Strange. It is a remake video based on Karl Fisch and Scot McLeod Did You Know? Both of these videos are extremely interesting! I would have never guessed that China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the world. A lot of the facts are about how fast the world is relaying a lot on technology and how it is changing every two years. How is it that technology is changing so fast? How are we going to be able to teach kids what we are also trying to learn if it changes every two years. Computers, cell phones, all them are booming at an enormous rate.
We are living in exponential times. "India has more K-12 honor students than ALL of the K-12 students in the US!" That is extremely embarrassing the United States is not taking education seriously. What is India doing different that the US is not? 25% of the population of India with the highest IQ's out numbers the entire population of the US. What can America do to improve the education that is being taught? Both of these videos have outstanding facts about technology.

2. Mr. Winkle Wakes

Watching, Mr. Winkle Wakes was in it's own way very interesting. At first I thought this video was pointless what man sleeps for 100 years? When thinking deeper about it the world has changed tremendously! Thinking about my grandparents I know that they are having trouble with all the technology and how to work a computer and even the new phones. The old saying, "it's harder to teach old dogs new tricks" is absolutely true. How are we learners and educators of the future going to be able to adapt to the new technology? Will we be driving cars? What will they look like? Will we even have to drive at all or will they drive themselves? If they do drive themselves will that cause more or less accidents?

What will our future hold for us? As educators we will have to learn at a much faster pace to teach our students what they should learn. I am actually scared about all the technology. It is an amazing tool to have but what will happen to the old America? Will morals still apply or will they be completely different. Will children get the same amount of activity or will obesity become an even bigger problem. I have all these questions about technology but they will not be answered until the technology is already here.

3. Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

I found Ken Robinson's video absolutely amazing! I laughed along with the audience at the things he said. I completely agree with him that children today are being taught out of creativity. Being creative is such an important part in a child's learning and a great way to express themselves. I work at a daycare with four year olds and I love it. They say and do some of the funniest things. It's amazing how their mind works and how they can pretend to be in the forest or queen of the world. How is their imagination so powerful and strong? I wish sometimes I could lie on the floor and play with Barbies for hours. I also agree that we are trying to only to teach facts. What happened to learning new things? Now teachers are teaching what they have to so the kids can do well on the test. I cannot stand that way of learning. You don't hold the knowledge for a long time just until you finish the test.

Wrong. What is being wrong and why is it so negative? Why is it that a teacher can say, "Their are no stupid questions" but other children still laugh? I myself always ask why and how. I don't want to know just the answer I want to know why it's the answer and why it couldn't be this. We learn something new everyday no matter how big or small. I also liked in the video how he talked about the difference in times about having a degree. How if you had a degree you were almost guaranteed a job. Now you have to work so much harder at getting a job even if you did graduate from college at the top of your class. Hopefully I will be a fast learner in the technology world and be one of the lucky ones and get a job.

4. 21st Century Learning

Watching Century Learning I disagreed with the thought about learning only being online. Teacher are mentors but I believe that a child should not sit in front of a computer all day to learn. Children need to interact and get to know their classmates and know how to hold a conversation. Children should not learn every subject from a computer. I have online classes and I absolutely hate them. I am very hands on and have to listen to someone talk, even if I do almost fall asleep. I want to be able to ask questions right then and have an answer. While on the computer I do not have that advantage. It also takes away their ability to express their creativity. If everything is taught online what will happen to future jobs? Will the childs imagination be destroyed or improved?

I would hate to know that I was sending my child to school to learn only by the computer. How will children be able to write their name if they have only typed. Will grammar be a subject? Who knows what kind of technology will be used to correct grammar. I totally disagree with fully online teaching. Yes, technology has helped us learn but too much can hurt us. I love seeing and doing art but with an online class how will they do art projects? Hopefully fully online teaching does't happen because I think it will hurt our children's motor skills and dealing with society.

5. Vicki Davis: Hardness Your Students' Digital Smarts

Part of me disagrees with this Digital Smarts video. Ms. Vicki Davis teaches her students how to use wikis, blogs, podcasts, digital storytelling, virtual worlds, and other digital tools to connect her students with other people around the world. I agree that students should want to learn and it is a great feeling when a student figures out how to do something on their own and they can teach their classmates about it. Students don't always want to be sitting in a desk taking notes while listing to a teacher. Sometimes we tune them out and start thinking about other things. By having a computer class you HAVE to have technology. Just like if you were in an art class you would need art supplies. Our world is focusing more on technology than ever before and I do agree that we should know more about it and what it can do.

On the other hand, I do not think that we should solidly teach every subject on the computer! Ms. Davis said, "While teaching students on pen and paper only some will succeed". While that statement is true to an extent by teaching solidly by the computer has the same effect. Not all students will succeed by learning on the computer. If someone told me that there would only be online classes given at the University of South Alabama I would transfer schools in a heart beat. It is the hardest thing for me to learn online. Hopefully the school system will see that yes technology is a wonderful teaching TOOL it should not be the only way of learning. Good luck to all of us trying to become educators, or as some would say mentors!