Blog Post #2

Did You Know? 3.0 - A John Strange 2012 Version
In Did You Know? 3.0 - A John Strange 2012 Version, I found out many things that surprised me. One of the things that surprised me were that the people of India with the 25% highest IQ outnumbers America. I know we as Americans are not the smartest in the world. I know that a great deal of Asian is ahead of us, but I did not think of India. Whenever I thought of the Asian countries with higher GPA than the USA has, I thought of China, Japan, or one of the Koreans.
Also in Did You Know? 3.0 - A John Strange 2012 Version, I found some of things that I knew but have not thought about for a while. For instance, the video pointed out the that top jobs in ten years do not exist now. Most people know this, just from the booming of every sort of technology in the past 20 years or so. I will amaze me what the world comes up with next. Another point the video made was that as educators, or soon to be educators for me, we are preparing our "students for roles that do not yet exist". I remember my teacher telling me this in the seventh grade, and I did not think about it until reading it again. She told us something along the lines of, "I do not know what the future will hold for you, but I am preparing you for all outcomes."
Mr. Winkle Wakes
Mr. Winkle Wakes makes one think about how the schools are still in form of educating the students much like they did when schools were a one room building. With all the technology in the outside world, the schools have not caught up. The students have technology in their lives when they step out of school. The students are on Facebook and YouTube more and more every day. Why not take their interest in the internet and put it to good use.
I had the opportunity to shadow a teacher in Loganville, Georgia at Youth Middle School by the name of Ms. Sinje Butler. I loved being in her class and so did her students, most of the time. She taught eight grade math and used technology as much as possible. She would have quizzes using clickers, and she used her smart-board to electronically project the handouts given to the students. The students were more engaged than I have ever seen a class in math before. I think that is what technology can do for the classroom. It can help students to become more active in their education which in turn helps them to learn.
Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
The Importance of Creativity has a vast amount of quotable remarks made by Sir Ken Robinson. This is my second time watching this video, and I still find myself rewinding it to see his exact words on a subject. I think that one of the strongest points that Sir Robinson makes is that because of the way that we test many creative people believe that they are not intelligent. These people do not think in the same way that the tests are formed, so because of that they would receive low marks. I think that his point is emphasized by his story about Gillian Lynne. Many people, I believe have similar stories. Although, I am frightened that many students will leave a doctor’s office with a prescription for medication and not prescription for more dancing.
Sir Robinson says that, "creativity is as important as literacy," in the beginning of the video. I agree with this statement. There needs to be a balancing act between the right and left side of the brain classes. There has been a movement towards balancing the two out, but because of budget cuts, the arts or left side of the brain classes are starting to get cut as well. Sir Robinson goes on to say that, “we do not grow into creativity. We grow out of it.” I believe this also to be true. He says we are taught that “mistakes are the worst thing you can make,” but without mistakes we cannot learn to be original. I agree and will go one step further. Without mistakes, we will never grow. If we fear mistakes or being wrong, then we will never become a better person.
A Day Made of Glass 2
A Day Made of Glass 2 is a very interesting video. I would love to live in that world of technology and teach in it as well. The technology shown has such as hands on approach with the students that I love how active they would be. Although we have technology that is similar to this, like tablets, I would love to see something like the glass in schools. It makes me excited about teaching in the future and what technology will bring for the students I teach. This video also reminds me that I need to stay up to date on what is new, so that if something like this comes out I can try to be the front runner to get it for my students.
"A Day Made of Glass 2" reminds me of "Mr. Winkle Wakes". In "Mr. Winkle Wakes", the students were seen as uninterested and bored, honestly who can blame them. While in "A Day Made of Glass 2", the students were active in class, interested in what they were learning. There was new ways to learn something as normal as the colors. Technology can make students love what they are learning more, and I am excited about the possibilities.