Blog #2

In the video Did You Know? a lot of things opened my eyes to stuff I know I do not think about every day.  We we enter college most students do not think about the technology that we will learn about while we are there.  The video stated that we will not be able to use most of it by the time we graduate.  Which is very true.  I know stuff I learned in my freshman year is not being used anymore.  One thing I have noticed is that most colleges are starting to become more laptop friendly where as when I was a freshman desk tops were the mane forum of work.  Classrooms use power points instead of using the chalkboard to give notes.  A lot of this could do with the fact that I went to a junior college but those are just a few difference I have noticed.

I also noticed that a lot more communication is done via the internet than a few years ago.  I know for a fact I spend a lot of time on the internet a week.  Most of it being for Facebook and now this class.  My best friend has also pointed out to me that I have started to check my email a lot more than I used to due to the class.  I have been without internet for almost a week and it is crazy how much a person can miss when the internet is gone.  The world today revolves around communication with the internet of through text messages.  I do not have text my self and most of my friends wonder how I do it because that is a huge way to communicate with people.  A lot of what we do in this day and time is for convenience. That includes in the classroom. Teachers are trying to find new and improved ways to make this a lot easier in the classroom for instruction.  Also to make things a lot easier for students to understand and learn.  Which is a lot of what we are doing in this class.  At the same time though some of the stuff we learn now will be obsolete in a few years so as teachers we have to stay on top of our game to make sure we have all the latest information for ourselves and our children.

In the video Mr. Winkle Wakes the writer goes to explain how technology has changed in 100 years.  One major point is that the most change happened in the outside of education.  Most work was being done by computers and by chats on the computer.  Even in the hospitals there was new technology that was not there 100 years ago.  Most everything in a modern day hospital is done my some kind of machine or computer.  Some hospitals even have robots in them to deliver medication.  They even have people kept alive by computers.

The one major thing Mr. Winkle did notice was that the schools had not changed.  Most students still sat in a desk and did work like they used to.  Some schools have more money than others and can afford to have the technology that others can't.  At the same time though most schools today have computers for students to access. I think the writer did miss the mark though when he showed the school in the light he did because there is a lot of technology in schools today.  Most children are granted access to a computer everyday for different things.  Plus most teaching is done with the aid of some kind of technology.  Why did the creator choose to leave this out and make the schools sound old and antiquated? I think he really did not look into that very much.  I know that technology could be used a lot more in schools but there is a lot more than meets the eye, and I think he over looked a lot.


This third video I can really agree with.  Mr. Robinson has some very valid points.   Most children are train to be wrong.  We teach kids that being wrong is a bad thing and that there is no good wrong.  Which is very true.  To me the good kind of wrong is when you are teaching a child a concept and they don't understand and get an example wrong. This as a teacher gives you a chance to help the child or fix the problem.  Most teachers don't see it that way. They view the student getting it wrong as negative and some help but others move on or get frustrated.  We teach children that the talents they have must be put away and they must accent the concept we teach them.  He stated that we were training children to be high level professors which is very true.

Another thing that really hit home for me was that we are told that we can not do what we love we have to do something that is going to get us somewhere in life.  I was one of those people.  I was told by my father that what I started in school for was not going to make me money or I might not even have a job. One I was doing what I loved and that was all that mattered to me.  A year ago I gave up my dream of being a music teacher because I was told I would never get anywhere doing that. Don't get me wrong I love teaching but my true passion is music.  I hate to see other kids like me give up there dream and there creativity just because one person tells them they wont amount to nothing.  Due to my situation I have not picked up my saxophone in 2 years.  I love the message that we should embrace the creativity our students have and not try to kill it but help it grow and teach them it is ok to do what you love and what you are good at.


In this final video we take just a closer look into what some student do everyday.  Some are getting to use there "digital smarts" as we call it everyday in the classroom.  These kids and this teacher in this small Georgia town are doing something like we are.  We are pretty much teaching ourselves along with the help from Dr. Strange to be more digitally smart.  They talk with other kids around the world and the teacher interacts with other teachers to make their learning experience better.

This teacher has joined forces with other teachers around the world to make her students learning experience better and more fulfilling.  She wants her kids to teach each other and to learn to communicate with the best technology that they have provided.  The teacher even says the kids end up teaching her sometimes because they will learn more about one topic than she will.  This makes learning more fun for them and she even gets the extra help of learning new ways herself so she can pass them on.