Monday, February 6, 2012

Blog Post #2

Did you Know? 3.0 A John Strange 2012 Version
It amazes me how little I had any idea that elementary students were becoming more and more technologically taught. It is definitely useful to them and is a necessity in today’s world. It is ridiculous that there are that many statistics able to be made. Also it went to show that Americans need to step it up if we don’t want to be controlled by the Asians, who are clearly way ahead of our learning skills.
Children as young as eight have there own ipad, cellphone, DS gamers, digital cameras and all different types of technology and they haven’t even reached an age of double digits. My cousins who are under the age of ten own many of these things and understand how to use them for the most part. Kids these days don’t even know what a disposable camera is and wonder why they instantly can’t see their picture. It’s amazing how much this world is changing and if I want to be an educator than I need to be educated better with technology in order to keep up with the process of the world.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
As I watched this short little story about Mr. Winkle waking up a hundred years later to find that the world has changed drastically he could hardly take it, but then he found a school and they are exactly the same even a hundred years later. Although this may be true it’s been difficult to change the way the world does things because not everyone likes change. All it takes is a voice to stand up and begin to change the way school systems work and I think that’s what the video was trying to get across. since the world is developing more and more technology everyday then why aren’t we teaching more and more of it in our schools?

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson uses his humor to get the audience’s attention which allowed me to actually want to hear what he had to say; other than the fact that I have to write a paragraph about it. Picasso says, “All children are born artist” and then Sir Ken stated that children are educated out of being artist. I agree with Ken on how our schools are only teaching one side of the brain. Children need to be educated in ways were they can express their imaginations. It just occurred to me that the statement is indeed true and the world today has pushed the idea of creativity and imagination out of the education system. Sir Ken’s title of the video was “Schools Kill Creativity” and those words didn’t come alive until after he mentioned it and I read the title once more.
Also he told a story about Gillian Lynne who discovered herself as a dancer but might have been diagnosed with a mental disorder because she couldn’t sit still and learn. Although this could be the case for many children it is hard to actually see if these children have a disorder or if they are simply misbehaving because they don’t want to do the work. I am not a doctor or a teacher yet so I haven’t worked with children enough to know or see the difference. If this is the case and children are being deprived of their natural abilities because the school systems are forcing them to learn in a classroom then there is definitely something wrong with our school systems and I am curious to learn how to help these students succeed without medication.

A Vision for the 21st Century Learning
Although this video was very short it got a point across and grabbed your attention. I enjoyed the slideshow of pictures because it really made me interested and explained exactly what was being said. This video was trying to convince the new generation that video games are the new teaching method. It convinced me for sure because thinking back as a student I never really was good at learning from lectures and studying facts. I am a hand on person who needs to either see what I am learning or know how to apply it in order for it to stay in my brain. Once I have learned how to do something once then I won’t forget how to do it again.
I think a video game might be able to teach these children something better than a book can because that is what excites children these days. Even though it’s not important to only teach the way the students want but it is important to teach successfully in any way that they can learn. As I continue to observe young children I have noticed that each one has some kind of electronic device. It amazes me how children under the age of eight know how to use a computer and I didn’t learn until almost high school. Technology is the new generation of learning and if a video game can help these children learn then our schools need to consider adding that into the curriculum.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts
“Learning how to learn” was a statement Vicki Davis uses to teach her students a way to learn. These words are simple but yet efficient. She has found many ways to allow her students to be involved and learn how to figure things out for themselves and actually enjoy it and that is successful teaching. There needs to be more teachers like Vicki Davis that allow their students to independently learn and use technology in order to do so. This video also opened my eyes to how far behind I am in learning how to use technology.
It is definitely important to be familiar in all the different Microsoft systems. Another method of Vicki Davis’s teaching method was that how she allowed them to teach each other. It is one thing to learn how to do it and then turn around and be able to explain how you did it to other people. High school students are probably more informed about technology than me, which scares me because I am already behind the new generation of information. Cell phones and internet are the constantly improving and always in use by millions in our world today, including children under the age of fifteen. Vicki Davis has the right mind in teaching her students who will most likely be better prepared if they leave the small rural area of Georgia.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Caitlyn. I read a little into your bio before I started on your second post and noticed that you like sports and the beach. I guess that means we have something in common. My mother has a house on the beach. Anyway, I really enjoyed all the videos as you did. Your insight on disposable cameras was on point. I bet they don't know how a walkman works either.

    I did a paper a while back, and one of my points was that humans inevitably resist change. It could be called a social flaw; I guess. However, with the rate of change our society is experiencing so far in our life time, all that may go out the window.

    In my opinion, Sir. Robinson made a great point. I have been lucky enough to witness this for myself as a para-educator. In a lot of ways our schools have become a sort of holding pen for children so that mommy and daddy can go out and fulfill their careers. Instead of teaching kids how to learn, they teach them how to take tests.

    You are right about kids using more technology than we are. It has become more and more apparent to me every day. I think it is our job to do our best at keeping up with the times so that we can at least show kids how to use their technology to be productive rather than just social. Although, being social is important to.

    Your wanting to be an elementary teacher is an awesome thing. I want to teach high school kids which in a lot of ways a much less challenging task. What do you think? How much of a role do you think technology and creativity will play in our futures as teachers? Do you think we will get caught up in the limits our school systems will place on our curriculum? I sure hope we are granted some leeway in our classrooms.

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  2. I completely agree with what you have to say caitlyn. The more that technology evolves the more we as teacher need to master it and incorporate it into the classrooms. Technology is the future and its not going away anytime soon. The more kids see it the better familiar with it they will be and they better off they will be outside of and when they get out of school. Isn't that our jobs as future educators is to make sure the kids have the required tools to succeed in the world outside of school? We need to embrace the "technological revolution" and bring it into the classrooms.

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  3. Caitlyn,

    You did a very good job assessing these posts, and I am glad that you enjoyed Sir Ken Robinson. His beliefs are now a key part of my teaching philosophy so I am pleased to see that you like his teachings.

    These videos and posts are definitely supposed to get those "gears" turning in your head as you really start to get to the "meat" of the machine we so fondly call EDM310. I sincerely hope that you continue to find positive things to say, but remember that we want to hear your opinion if you find something that you just do not agree with at all. I expect great things from you!

    On a more technical note, make sure that you watch run-on sentences and small syntactical mistakes. I knew what you were saying, but it was very wordy and remiss in punctuation.

    Thanks,

    Rebekah Lloyd

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