Blog Post 2

"Did You Know" Did You Know Strange Version

In this video, Dr. Strange has given us several things to think about. He states several statistics that make us aware of how much the world is advancing around us. I think the purpose of this video was to make us aware that people in India, China, and in our own country and becoming technically literate and are communicating with each other and learning and teaching each other through technology.

Becoming an educator in the modern world is very evolving. Not only do we have to keep up with the technology but we also have to be able to teach our students how to use it effectively so they can prosper when they leave our classrooms. I enjoyed the "Did You Know" video because it put things into perspective. Our world is constantly changing and growing and in order for our students to be successful we have to educate them and teach them how to use technology.

I think that EDM 310 is a crucial class in the education system because we must know what is going on in the technology world in order to be successful teaching our students. The "Did You Know" video should motivate each and every one of us to become aware of how fast things are changing and do our best to keep up with the technology so we can teach the children of the world how to better themselves with this amazing tool.

"Mr. Winkle Wakes" Mr. Winkle Wakes

In this video, Mr. Winkle wakes up from a 100 year sleep. He notices all of these changes in buildings where people work that have sounds and machines that he had never seen before. He goes to the hospital and notices machines that keep people alive, lasers and xray equipment, and other machines that he never would have thought were even possible before he fell asleep. The only thing that remained the same were the schools. The teachers were still teaching and the students were still sitting at their desks and learning just like 100 years ago.

This video is very interesting because it helps make us aware that we have no idea what is to come for this world. We can't even begin to imagine the technological advances that will come not only in our lifetime, but after as well. We have to be prepared for these things if we want to educate others younger than us about our world.

Even though at the end of the video the school was still the same, in today's world teachers are using smart boards, projectors, and having children do activities online to help them learn. We have to be aware of this tools so we can use them while teaching the students in our own classrooms.

"The Importance of Creativity" Ken Robinson's The Importance of Creativity

In this video, Mr. Robinson stresses the fact that we have no idea what is to come in the future. He says that everyone is interested in education and learning because after all education takes us into the future that we will never be able to grasp. There is no way for us to know what the world will look like in the future so sometimes it can be hard to educate younger children about things we know nothing about. He believes that creativity in children is as important as literacy and we shouldn't kill creativity in schools by criticizing their mistakes. By the time children reach adulthood, they are so afraid of being wrong they dont ever come up with anything original. Mr. Robinson wants us to encourage students to continue to be creative and not be afraid to be wrong. He believes that the purpose of education has become to create university professors because when children are young, they are told to steer away from creative professions such as art and music because they are told they will never be able to get a job. They are then told to steer more towards Mathematics and Languages. He believes that this is what has lead to degrees not having meaning anymore. He tells a story about a child in the 1930s that had ADHD but back then that wasn't "invented" yet. Instead of putting her on medicine and telling her to calm down, the doctor said she was a dancer and needed to go to dance school so she did and became a millionaire by dancing ballet. I think that what he is trying to say by this lecture is that we, as educators, can nurture creativity by not undermining children's passions and let them be who they are and to help them make something of it.

I can relate to this because when I was young I passionately wanted to become a singer. I had solos in church and I was in the choir at school but I was constantly told that that was just a childhood dream and I needed to think of something more practical. To this day, I still sing and write music but perhaps if adults wouldn't have constantly told me I couldn't do it, maybe I would have been able to accomplish my dream.

"21st Century Learning" 21st Century Learning

This video shows how much education has changed. Technology is what we use to educate our children. We must know about these technological advances in order to teach the next generation. Global awareness and technology is crucial in the modern education system. In the video, it explains how we can go deeper into civilizations by using video gaming systems and 3d technology in order to teach children history and other subjects. I think that we should all be aware of the technology around us so we can better our classrooms and provide more interactive atmospheres for our students to learn in.

"Vicki Davis" Harness your Students

This video is from a teacher in Georgia and she explains how she teaches her classroom. She believes that every child can learn but they struggle when they have only pencil and paper because of the world around us. We need to be able to teach our children through technology and teach them to use the internet through blogging and teaching students to use the technology as a tool. The teacher in this video helped collaborate and create DigiTeen so that teachers and students can connect, blog, and share ideas.

I believe this is similar to what EDM 310 is trying to accomplish. Educators need to be able to connect with other educators around the world in order to keep up with technological advances and empower students to have a better and more well rounded classroom.