Blog Assignment #2

Did You Know? 3.0 - by John Strange  
In Did You Know?, by John Strange interesting facts regarding IQ levels, the English Language, SMS messaging, computers and cellphones are previewed.  The original Did You Know? 3.0 series was first developed and researched by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod.  Both videos present facts that give a little incite to the future educators of the world. 

In the 3:41 Strange version, the video starts out by discussing how 25% of the population of India with the highest IQ levels outnumbers the entire U.S. population.  After this section, the video moves into discussing the English Language.  Gordan Brown, UK Finance Minister 2005 quoted, "By 2025 the number of English speaking Chinese is likely to exceed the number of native English speakers in the rest of the world". I am just baffled by this, but not surprised.  I would also bet that these Chinese people also speak the English language more grammatically correct than native United States citizens. I also learned after watching this video that 1,097,220 YouTube videos are watched every minute.  Personally, I am always watching "How-to" videos on YouTube. Don't tell my husband though, he thinks I just learned all these skills my own. 


Two years ago, the Kaiser Family Fund reported that 7th-12th graders in the United States sent an average of 189 SMS messages a day.  I would like to know what that number is for Chinese students that are 7th-12th grade. Face the facts, technology is such a profound part of our everyday lives.  It is a profound part of our children's lives, and will continue to grow into all areas of our day to day duties.  Looking back over my life, I can remember the first e-mail I sent, the first text message I received, the first desktop computer that was in my house. Things have changed in such an incredible way.  


Teachers of the future, including myself, are going to have a challenging road ahead of us if we do not incorporate these technologies into our curriculum.  We will be preparing our students for jobs which have yet to be created.  Technology is exciting and a great teacher will do just that in keeping her students excited to learn new skills and become life long learners.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

In the 2:51 short story video Mr. Winkle Wakes, Mr. Winkle with a long white beard wakes from a deep sleep that span over 100 years. He wanders aimlessly out of his bedroom only to discover that the world he once knew was changed dramatically.  He then walks into a tall building to an office and discovers that there are new sounds and new machines that he has never seen or heard of.  He sees people talking to other people from across the world on these rectangular shaped boxes.  He becomes so overwhelmed that he decides that he needs to leave.  He then makes the decision that he needs to go to a hospital.  Yet again he finds himself surrounded by machines.  These machines are being used to take images inside of the human body, others provide air for the men and women who are sick.  There are just so many new things in the hospital that Mr. Winkle once again feels overpowered. He leaves the hospital and begins to walk.  He stumbles into a school.  He sees students sitting as desk with a pencil and paper, listening to their teacher.  He glances over to the back corner and notices one of those things that he saw in the earlier events of his day.  He was relieved to find it covered in dust. At last, Mr. Winkle feels comfort in his surroundings.  During his 100 year slumber, the world outside had become engaged with new technologies, inside the classroom had remained unchanged.  

So what is this video telling us? Education has got to grow with the times.  New creative teaching techniques must evolve just like any other profession.  Without this, how can we ever expect our students to be successful in a world which depends highly on the latest and fastest ways to communicate. I do however, think that there has to be a balance.  As a parent, I do not want my child to stay inside on a computer all day.  I do want them to get out and stand in front of a human and be able to interact in a social environment.  On the other hand, I want him to be able to manipulate and maneuver his way through the latest technologies  that will, without a doubt, be a major part of his growth and development.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

Ken Robinson, a speaker with TED challenges the way the education system is teaching our children.  The key point of Robinson's entertaining presentation was that "creativity should be as important as literacy in education".  Children, in general, are all creative in some way whether it be dance, music, art, sports or other creative outlet.  Today's education system around the world places those talents at the bottom of our curriculum. 


Children do not think or learn in the same way, so why should we teach them all in the same way? They are not clones from a box. Robinson states that "kids aren't frightened at being wrong". If they do not know the answer, they will surely give it a whirl because they have hope.  Children by nature are imagineers. They are thinkers, they are all little artist just waiting for an opportunity to be inventive. As Robinson states, and I would have to agree, we need to "rethink" our education system.  Just think...how different would our world be if we didn't allow Shakespeare, Einstein, or even Bill Gates to be creative? Children now are frightened of being wrong, by making a mistake.  They grow into adults who are then hesitant in allowing their creative abilities kick in because it may be looked down as wrong.  The word "no" being told over and over again can just take the color right out of a child's mind. As educators, we must strive to encourage the natural talents of our students and encourage their creative abilities and to let them know that anything is possible.


Robinson says that "ADHD was invented for those who have to move to think". I am a parent of a child who has been diagnosed as being ADHD.  My son, and I am not just saying this because he is mine, is so incredibly smart. He is at the top of his class for their Rocket Math sheets. He made almost all 100s on his last report card, except in Reading. He made a B in Reading. I still applaud the B. He knows how to use my computer, better than I do. He can draw pictures with immense detail. He is an athletic, energetic 6 year old little boy. However, he is in a education system where if he does not sit still and sit quietly that he then becomes a distraction for other students. And would constantly be told, no.  After hearing that so many times it starts to wear on their self esteem. So, after many months of trial and error, we finally found a medication that met all of our goals for him. And when I say "we", I mean, my husband, my son and myself. We wanted him to have something that would help him focus during class time, but still let his personality and artistic abilities shine through.  Also, I give him his medicine before school so he does not have to leave to go to the school nurse.  So, for my family, we do choose to medicate my son for ADHD. That is the option that worked best for our situation.

A Vision for 21st Century Learning
The short 2:10 video, A Vision for 21st Century Learning presents arguments on ways that our education system needs to evolve.  The presentation argues that students come into our systems eager and ready to learn and once they graduate are crammed full of facts.  As Dr. John Strange would call it, we utilize a "burp-back education system". Students are expected to memorize massive amounts of information then burp-back facts. It's the same thing day in and day out.  Cram in information test, test, test it out in the hopes that some information will be retained.


The video presents a new and innovative way to teach children of the 21st Century.  They propose a video game that is a 3D world where the student can travel and experience times such as Ancient Rome. They would learn about arts, different cultures, new languages in a way that was so engaging that the students would not even realize that they were learning. 


As educators, we should strive to find new and innovative ways to reach our children. We cannot expect our students, especially Elementary level students, to sit at a desk most of the day and give them facts and expect them to retain every piece of information. Not every student learns from filling out a piece of paper. As a parent, of a child who has been diagnosed by the education system as being ADHD, I would love for him to have this in his classroom. At home, we are already using apps available through iTunes to help with school work and we have seen progress in all areas of his education from this.


Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Vicki Davis, a teacher and IT director at a rural high school in Georgia, is giving her students the tools to become effective participants in the technology world of today.  Her ideas of forward thinking have allowed her students to interact with other students all over the world. The video reminded me of our EDM 310 Class.  Her teaching techniques push her students to find information themselves without holding her hand.  Before this class, I had very little knowledge on blogging or how many great blogs there are out there.  I am impressed with how much I have learned by finding the answers out for myself. Imagine at 28 years old, where I could be if I had had a teacher like Mrs. Davis in my early education.