Blog Assignment 2

Did you Know 3.0

This video presents its viewer with statements and facts about technology, population, and certain statistics. One of the statements was that China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the world. How is this possible when it's not even the primary language of their country? Are they that much more advanced than us at preparing their kids for the future? The video also stated that the top 10 jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004 and that we are preparing kids for jobs that have not even been created yet. It also states that if Myspace were a country it would be the 5th largest. All these facts show how technology is being implemented in the world at a rapid speed and how it affects students in school.
This means that educators need to be aware of technology advances and implement them in the classroom. In order to prepare students for the future we need to supply students with the knowledge to become constant, adaptive learners. Technology primarily runs our lives and since it is constantly changing then we too must be able to change with it. One of the video facts said that by 2013 a supercomputer will be built that exceeds the computational capabilities of the human brain. We need to keep adapting and learning so that we can keep up with technology.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

This video was rather interesting. It was about a man named Mr. Winkle who had been in a slumber for 100 years. When he awoke he discover many changes had occurred in the world. There were computers and people talking to others halfway around the world that they could see on a small screen. He then went to the hospital feeling sick and he saw all these machines breathing for people and x-rays that took pictures of people's insides. He left the hospital and stumbled upon a school which he then entered. He felt right at home with the teachers lecturing for hours and the students taking notes. He did see one of those computers at the back of the room, however, it was dusty and unused.
This video is saying, wake up to our school system! Technology has been implemented in the workplace to improve communication and in the hospital to aid in treatments and saving lives but not in our schools. Our schools should be one of the most important places to implement technology because the students in schools are the ones who go out and get jobs in hospitals and businesses which use technology. School systems need to challenge students more and keep them up to date on technological advances. Technology is important for the development of our future.

The Importance of Creativity

This video is of Sir Ken Robinson talking about how schools are killing creativity. He says that education runs deep with everyone because it is what will take us into the future. Children have all kinds of tremendous talents and creativity is just as important in education as literacy. Education systems are running with the belief that a mistake is the worst thing that can happen. The result is that we are educating children out of their creative capacity. Education systems all around the world all have the same system with math as the most important and the arts at the bottom. He told a story about Gillian Lynne a choreographer and about how she came to be one. When she was younger and in school her teachers thought she had a learning disibility. Her parents took her to a doctor and the doctor said that she was a dancer and their was nothing wrong with her. She now is a famous broadway musical choreographer. It just goes to show that the way out is not to medicate children and tell them they have to sit still and be like everyone else.
In school we are steered away from things that will not get us to the top like the arts. Intelligence is diverse and dynamic it is not just numbers and memorization. Robinson's closing remarkes were that we have to see our children for the hope that they are and we need to educate their whole being. I thinks that what Robinson has said here is really important. Creativity is what drives people in all different capacities and when we take that away we are taking away the drive to be something more. We are just causing students to feel inadequate when they do not understand something like math, and that is what will continue to happen if we do not nurture creativity.


Cecelia Gault Interviews Sir Ken Robinson

I think that Cecelia posed some very good questions in her interview. How can education change to meet the needs of the 21st century? Robinson said that the curriculum needed better balance between science and the arts, better use of technology and a stronger link between the school and community. I think that by more effectively emphasizing technology in the classroom it can bring together school and community and allow studetns to be more creative. She also asked him about the three myths of creativity and here they are: Only certain people are creative, only creative about certain things, and that there is nothin we can do about it. I agree with him that these are very valid myths of creativity. He is also asked to define intelligence and he defines it as a way of making sense of the world around us.
I think that by implementing better use of creativiy in all subject it will help to keep students engaged in the learning process. I also think that technology will allow students the ability to explore all the different avenues of learning that are constantly changing in the 21st century. I believe that these simple things will help students to have a better and more creative filled education.

Harness Your Students Digital Smarts

At a small school in rural south Georgia a teacher and IT specalists Vicki Davis is challenging students to learn by using technology. They use twitter and blogs to connect to the world around them. The students are learning how to learn and they are becoming very comfortable with technology. Ms. Davis has also started the flat classroom project in which students study technology trends around the world. They also write about them and make videos to share the information with others.Digiteen is also another program in which students study digital citizenship by researching, writing and posting their findings to digital sources.
Through using technology in her classroom Ms. Davis is empowering students to share with one another. I think that what she is doing is an excelent way to get students using their creativity. Technology is opening the doors for students to interact with one another from around the world.