Blog Assignment #2

I'M TRYING TO KNOW

Comments on #1:
I just watched the YouTube video "Did You Know? 3.0" by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod. This video blows out bits of information for the purpose of telling watchers how much the world is changing: in population, media, and communication for the future. The exponential speed at which our world is changing is staggering. I think that people such as Fisch and Mcleod get "it" and must feel a great sense of responsibility to bring others along.

Being apart of a summer college course targeted to future educators, the leadership is desperately trying to "help us KNOW." I'm slowly struggling to catch up with the race. I know I can't possibly feel as passionate as the authors just yet, because I just can't wrap my brain about it. But I am open to learn, and because I am passionate about education, I am willing to learn.

Comments on #2 "Mr. Winkle Wakes":
In this humorous YouTube video posted by Matthew Needleman, Mr. Winkle (an animated character) wakes after 100 years. Mr. Winkle takes a walk into a very different world. He visits a city street, an office, a hospital, and eventually a school. Mr. Winkle is very overwhelmed by all the technological changes; but as he visits the school room, he feels much more at ease. The children are sitting quietly listening as the teacher gives lectures.

Mr. Needleman presents a very obvious argument, (in a very clever story, I might add) that our schoolrooms are starkly behind the times. Our school practices are stagnated as the world around makes great technological advances. I would agree that we have elevated the lecture-style information delivery to the greatest level when it is the least effective form of instruction available presently. Even the dusty computer that Mr. Winkle found in that classroom has found great company: cell phones, smart boards, i-pods, web cameras.

What if Mr. Winkle goes to sleep for another two years? As he again visits the classroom, I hope he would find the students engaged and busy with all kinds of interactive learning gadgets, and a teacher right is the middle, motivating, cheering and guiding.


Comments on #3:
Sir Ken Robinson expressed his voice for creativity in the online video "The Importance of Creativity" from Ted.com. His argument is that we are "educating children out of creativity." He believes that education around the world places a hierarchy of value with the artistic expression being at the bottom.

Children are born with a "capacity for innovation," says Robinson. He believes that creativity is as important as literacy. As future educators, we must indulge the wealth of human capacity. We must see children as the hope of the future.


Comments #4:
Can U.S. students compete with the innovation and creativity expressed from other cultures around the world? I believe that in the past we have been severely handicapped and our current status does not meet with standards around the world.[I'm remembering the statistics seen in the video "Did you Know 3.0"] Cecelia Gault wrote a blog for Scholastic in which she interviewed David Livermore from the Cultural Intelligence Center who expressed that students could increase cultural understanding just by traveling.

I whole-heartedly agree with this belief, having traveled more than the average American. Students in the United States are typically ethnocentric. I believe this unfortunately limits them. They have little beyond their current sphere to draw conclusions. As a teacher I love to expand thinking and help break the boundaries in the little ways that I am allowed. I do this through encouragement and bringing in links to history and experiences from other places.

Comments on #5:
Vicki Davis is an IT teacher at a high School in rural Georgia. Her teaching vigor is infectious. In the video "Harness Your Students' Teaching Digital Smarts" found at "Eutopia" the viewer is invited into her classroom. She expresses her ability to customize learning to fit her students. She creates rich experiences so her students are responsible for their own learning. She believes that when students are given only pen and paper, only certain students will succeed.

I was struck by the fact that this video was two years old. This high school classroom was different than any I have in my memory. Ms. Davis won an international award for her teacher blog. And I'm just learning to blog. I also noticed her extended definition of literacy. Students are responsible for searching and finding meanings to new and sometimes very technical terminology.