Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Blog Assignment 2

my wordle

Did you know?
I couldn't believe all of the facts that were listed in the video. It was completely overwhelming and a little scary. Although the world has come a long way in terms of technology I think we may be pushing the race a little too far if there is a computer that can exceed human capability. However, it made sense to me that India has more honor students than the US has kid's because India is a much larger country than the US. I feel like if we can put so much effort into creating better and faster technology we could accomplish anything with the same effort. Therefore, in a way it gave me hope that people could find the cure for cancer and other incurable diseases. I also figured 1 in 8 marriages started with online dating; However, the fact that there are more people on Myspace than the population of the US was a little shocking.
Mr. Winkle Wakes
I wasn't sure if schools being the same despite so many advances in society overtime was a positive or a negative in the video. Obviously, to Mr. Winkles he liked the idea of a school because it was still old fashioned and was lacking in technology. However, if the world is advancing in technology everyday, shouldn't our classrooms be more up to date to give our students better opportunities for getting a job and competing internationally? Sure someone who is older will like things to go back to "old days" because times were simple, but isn't life today simple with the help of technology? I know I would much rather ask Google a question versus going to a library and researching the topic.
Importance of Creativity
I loved that he stated adults are afraid to be wrong or embarrassed so we destroy our creativity. It made so much sense to think about how creative children are because they don't care about being embarrassed or being wrong.I also got a great view of public education being wired for college entrances. Teachers today have to teach strictly to the test and don't get to stray away from statewide and nationwide standardized testing,which leaves no room for creativity. I also liked the point he made that in the future degrees will be worthless because there will be so many people who have degrees. I also feel inspired about the story of a girl who everyone thought had ADHD but really she was just a dancer. If more people tried to find what interests students instead of placing them on medication or making them stick to what the state thinks is important to memorize, I think so many wonderful artists and inventors would emerge.
Cecelia Gault
I think that Mr. Robinson hits on tons of notes that creativity is in everyone not just those labeled "creative people." I read that Cecelia goes to a performing arts school, and I think that every public school should be a performing arts school. I think that if the parents are paying the tax dollars that go to their child's school then that child should be able to take any class that the student wants to take or shows an interest in. Sure math,science,English, and history are important but studies show that students who are musically inclined have higher math and science scores than those students who aren't. I think it just keeps going back to the point that curriculum does need to change for the better, I do agree with Mr.Robinson in saying that no one person can truly measure intelligence. Intelligence comes from a wide range of spectrum's. Overall, I think we as future educators should try and incorporate creative projects and assignments in our classrooms to make learning fun and interesting to the student who maybe is a "note-taking" learner.
Harness Your Students's Digital Smarts
She had great ideas of teaching her student's outside of the box. Many studies show that teachers who don't just stand at the board and give power-points have better student response. I also likes that she teaches her students how to learn instead of just showing them how to do everything without them trying for themselves. I would love to take some of her methods to my classroom in not just being an authoritative teacher, I would love to have student/teacher led discussions and making sure everyone is involved. I also plan on teaching History, therefore I would love to use her idea of involving technology. I would like to assign projects where my students have to use technology to re-create or show historical events.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Kayla,

    I'm so glad that you caught the reason why India had more honor students than the U.S.! In past semesters this went over many people's heads.

    I wanted to point out something that you said: "However, if the world is advancing in technology everyday, shouldn't our classrooms be more up to date to give our students better opportunities for getting a job and competing internationally?" Such a great way to see this, and that is exactly what we want you to think about.

    Great post Kayla. Don't forget to put links to your videos, so people who haven't seen these videos can easily get to them.

    Keep up the good work,

    Stephen Akins

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  2. I believe that you have a lot of good comments about "Did You Know 3.0." Some of these statistics were scary in a way but also shed a lot of light on issues that we as a human race need to pay more attention to. Some of the facts raise questions within my mind like, if 1 in every 8 marriages start with online dating, how many of those marriages are lasting. Statistics aren't always about the total output of a product but the efficiency of a product as well. I enjoyed your post. Thanks.

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