Blog Post Number 2

Did You Know-A John Strange 2012 Version

The original did you know was developed by Karl Fisch and Scott McLead.  It was edited by John Strange for the EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama.  The United States entire population is outnumbered by India because they have the highest IQ.  I see this as, India understanding education to be the most important tool used to better them in work, school, etc.  Which, the United States should hold their education at the highest level of importance also.  In the video there was a prediction that in 2025 there will be more Chinese English speaking then native English speakers.  What does that say about our dedication towards education?  That maybe, the United States focuses more on fashion, music, dance, money, power and etc.  Some little interesting facts from the video, there are 1,097,220 videos watched every minute and there 1,393,519 Google searches made every minute.

The question was asked in the video, “Are you ready to be an educator”?  I will answer that with, yes because this world is growing this new technology and as long as we take advantage of the information given, we as educators can help students all over the world.  Educators have to be technologically literate because the power it possesses can be unimaginable when used to educate our youth.  We rely on technology for everything and before we know it, paper will no longer exist.  I learned that we have to take advantage of the virtual world of technology and in order to be the best educator I can be; I have to be technological literate.  We need our students to love learning and using technology we can make that happen.

Mr. Winkle Wakes by Mathew Needleman:

Mr. Winkle awakes up from his 100 year snooze to see the world has changed.  He noticed offices and hospitals were full of new machines and technology he has never seen.  He went to a familiar place, school where the teacher lectured and the students sat quiet in their seats taking notes, he like knowing that some things stay the same.  He saw a dusty machine in the back that he recognized from the other places he has been.

Today people use technology for everything.  In this video as the years go by technology advances and the classrooms stay in limbo.  With knowing how much technology can improve our ability to teach our students, we as educators should take advantage of every source we come across.  By using technology we can make learning exciting which will help our students retain important information and will help increase our numbers when compared to India and China.

                                  Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity:

When I think of creativity the first thing that comes to mind is art class.  Robinson says, “All children are born artists, but we are educated out of creativity”.   Children feel invincible, who cares about being right or wrong, they just want to have fun.  Adults are frightened of making mistakes and being wrong, is unacceptable.  Ken Robinson talks about 3 themes; humans have extraordinary creativity, we have no idea how the future will play out, and we agree on the extraordinary creativity children posses. 

I learned that all kids have talent and creativity is an important literacy component in education.  Some children learn through art.  As an educator I want to think of creative ways to teach to make learning fun and interesting.  Sitting in a classroom doing mandatory school work in plain pencil is boring, we should brighten it up; add music, color and dance.  Education is used to produce intelligent, hard working people but creativity is used to produce intelligent, hard working people who think outside the box.  

VS.

Classroom disruption:

What I notice about the technological based classroom students were more interested in learning, they were eager to learn new material and hated to miss class, they enjoyed the classroom setting and interacted with the teacher and each other, they also we more adapted to technology and knew how to maneuver themselves on a computer.  In the lecture only classroom I saw students bored out of their mind, the teacher didn’t know the students, the students were sleeping and by the looks of it they didn’t retain any information.  All I could think about was BORING. 

I would prefer to take the class that was technology based because it looked like the students enjoyed learning and retained information.  Mostly all of the classes I have taken are like the lecture class style, where it’s boring with lots of note taking.  The different techniques that appeared in the technology setting the teacher was more involved with his students.  He was eager to help in any way possible.  In the lecture style classroom, the teacher was not in tune with his students at all.  He didn’t make eye contact or want to help any students to the best of his ability.  The students will learn more effectively in the class with computers because they are paying attention and want to learn more.  I want to teach with technology and incorporate all technology in my classroom.  Students should be able to learn in a fun and desiring way.  Not sit in a desk in a non colorful room, with a teacher who has a monotone voice and is dull as a plastic knife.  Learning should be fun and teachers should be excited to teach the material.  We need to know all new technology and research ways to incorporate technology is our teaching.  All teachers should be technological literate and by taking EDM310 it will get me closer to my goal. 

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