Blog Assignment 2

Did You Know?
Before I click to watch the Did You Know 3.0 Dr. Strange's 2012 Version I had my own conception of what it would be about. I had no idea I would be questioning whether or not I will be ready to go into the teaching field. Although it’s apparent that the human race is more than just Americans, I think we sometimes forget. Americans can come across as being lazy in a lot of ways, and it is now up to the present generations to change that.

It becomes very controversial when one makes a statement such as the one I made above, but after viewing the 2006 statement in Did You Know 3.0 Dr. Strange's 2012 Version and seeing that 18 million Chinese now speak the English language not to mention the 300 million learning, made my assumption along with others true. Not once in either video did I see a comparison of Americans to any other culture. I also viewed the original Did You Know 3.0 and it’s even more frightening than Dr. Strange’s. I think the idea of each video suggest that future teachers everywhere but in America especially, should be well adapted to the world of technology in its old and new horizons.

Mr. Wrinkle
The video Mr. Wrinkle Awakes reminded me a lot of the comment I left on my assignment for comments for teachers. I think Mr. Wrinkle was sought in his traditional ways for a lot of things and awaking to new ways of life was a bit overwhelming for him. He didn’t really like the new digitalized world he had awaken to, but once he got into a place where he was comfortable he felt relieved to know not everything had changed.

I believe the video suggests that we all, along with Mr. Wrinkle should wake up from ancient times and get up to date with technology. We all know that time waits on no one and at this day and time neither does technology. In the video there was a display on multiple devices used today, but what was missing is how far they’ve come. If Mr. Wrinkle slept another hundred years’ and wakes up he’ll probably wish he hadn’t.

The Importance of Creativity
I enjoyed this video for many reasons and the first is because of Sir Ken Robinson’s humorous delivery of the topic The Importance of Creativity. Being creative has been a description of me, for as long as I can remember. It’s something about a hidden talent or a creative side of oneself that brings out the best in peoples’ work ethic and ability. Living in a world where education and flourishing careers are a necessity sometimes place being creative on the backburner.

In the video Mr. Robinson told a few stories of how some people discovered their creative side and how it sometimes was a conflict with their ability to learn in a classroom. He specifically spoke about Gillian Lynne, who is known for her direction/choreography of Cats and the staging of The Phantom of the Opera and Aspects of Love. In her story, Mr. Robinson explained that she had some sort of learning disorder and was looked at by a specialist to get a legit diagnosis. When the specialist and Gillian were alone together he noticed she had a passion for dance and told her mother exactly that.

A Vision for 21st Century Learning
The main arguments in A Vision for 21st Century Learning are whether the traditional way of teaching is better, opposed to a more advanced way through technology. I feel that there isn’t anything wrong with traditional teaching. It has been the way of teaching for quite some time, and many of our teachers today were taught through those ways. I can’t deny that technology has a way of challenging the traditional way of teaching, and if both were combined with a dedicated instructor it would be unimaginable.

Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts
The first thing I noticed in the Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts video is the approach at teaching and learning. It is very similar to the approach in the course EDM310, in which the instructor does not lecture a full class period, but makes it more of a hand on experience. The teacher gives certain guidelines which help the students gain empowerment from succeeding in the tasks given, mostly on their own. These ways of teaching boost the students’ confidence in themselves as well as the class performance.

I liked that Mrs. Davis classified herself as an entrepreneur, as well as a teacher. In the video she also made the remark that she feels a teacher does not have to know it all. I agree with her; once the student sees the importance in that statement they will understand you do not have to know it all, but most importantly to learn as much as possible. Watching this video gave me insight on the idea of enhancing technology in the classroom because I did not understand the point of it all.