Blog Post 2

"Did You Know?"

When I watched Dr. Strange's video, "Did You Know?", I found myself raising my eyebrows at the statistics that were on the video. I found it amazing about how many people in China would be speaking English as a second language. It was definitely and eye opener. I also found it interesting about the statistics shown about the kids in India. I think this is a important piece of information to motivate teachers to do the best they can in teaching to the best of their ability so that student benefits.

Another piece of information in the video that I was not as surprised to see, was the numbers on how many people owned a computer. It is almost impossible to go to school now a days without a personal computer. Not only does the computer allow you to do research and do school work, most people use computers to communicate. I was also not surprised to see the number of how many students owned a cell phone. Most everyone has a cell phone. It is easy to keep in touch and you can use it whenever. They come in handy if you get stranded, or your car breaks down, or something like that happens. If you do get caught in a bad situation, you have your cell phone to call for help.

"Mr. Winkle Wakes"

Watching "Mr. Winkle Wakes" really made me think how school has not changed. It is all about getting up, going to class, and listening to a teacher talk. The world around us changes constantly, but school is always the same. It feels as if the world is upgrading in every aspect of life, except in the way we do school. I think that if the school system was "upgraded" people might not like it because people are so accustomed to the way things are done in school, and everyone knows how school works.

I think that if people from a hundred years ago could come into our world for a day and see how everything is changed, they would not know what to do, kinda like Mr. Winkle. When he did not know anything familiar, he left. Once he found something familiar, he stayed and enjoyed it. I think this video was very good, and it makes people think about if the way school is done should change or not.

"Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity"

I found this video to be very interesting and humorous. I had never thought about how the education system is the same in all countries. Mathematics and Languages are the most important, and then humanities, and on the bottom is art. Everyone thinks that if you are focusing on art, music, and or dance, they will not be able to have jobs. In today's world, you can get jobs in the arts. I found myself thinking about how often I had to take art classes; I have only taken one art class, my senior year of high school. I was never pushed to be a creative person. I was focused on doing my academics and focusing on good grades. I also played sports. I do not consider myself to be a very creative person. As I watched this video and I thought it might be because arts and being creative was not as important to me as my school work and sports were.

Even though I might not be the most creative person in the world, I am not the least creative. My mom has been a teacher for 10 years, and I plan on doing the same. I believe it is important for teachers to come up with new ways to teach and grab the students attention. I also coach a volleyball team, and when one way doesn't work, I have to come up with another way to teach it to them. I feel as if being creative is essential to teach. As a teacher, you have to be able to teach in different ways because not everyone learns the same way. Hopefully in the future, there will be more importance on being creative and the arts just as there is on mathematics and sciences now a days.

"A Vision for 21st Century Learning"

The main arguments for this video was that technology is a huge part of everyday life. It is how we communicate, learn, teach, and do what we have to do. The point of this video was that technology allows people to learn. With the new technologies we are able to learn about the past and know how far we have come. It is very important for us to use the technology we have to allow us to learn more.

"Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts"

I think that Vicki Davis is doing a great thing. She is utilizing the technology available to teach the students. This is similar to what we are doing in this class. I loved how she said she did not have to know everything to be the teacher. This is a common thought in a lot of peoples mind. If the teacher feels like they know everything and can not do no wrong, the students may feel as if they have to perform perfectly. I think it is important that when you make mistakes you should learn from them.

I liked how the students were teaching her new things. I think this makes the students very self confident of themselves. When a student gets a to teacher something new, I feel as if this makes them feel accomplished and proud of what they are doing, and make them want to do more and learn more.