Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Blog Assignment # 2

Did You Know??
I just watched the YouTube video "Did You Know 3.0" by Karl Fisch.  This video was incredibly awesome! The video is about the fast progression of technology in the United States and all over the world. It was very informative.  I was clueless about some of the things discussed.  While I do find this video very interesting, it also scares me a little. Technology is awesome and extremely helpful, but I kind of feel like it has 'taken over the world'.  I just hope people can appreciate the small and little things in life.



Mr. Winkle Wakes
I like this video a lot. I definitely would have been overwhelmed if I were Mr. Winkles. All the things he knew had changed drastically in just 100 years! The video is about how technology has changed jobs, hospitals, etc, but schools still seem to remain the same. I feel like schools need to get more in tune with technology. Technology can make learning more fun, exciting and beneficial. 

The Importance of Creativity
I love this video because I love the arts!  I feel as if our whole education system has been undermining the arts and are focusing on science, math, reading, etc.  The arts are very important and should not be taken out of school curriculums little by little. If the education systems continue taking out the arts little by little, eventually there will be no arts at all. Sir Ken Robinson said, "Creativity is as important in education as literacy." I completely agree. All children have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to learning.  We don't want to make a student feel dumb or stupid because they may not be able to read as well as others or do math as well. Little do we know, they make me excellent in art or dance, but we will never find out if we take out the arts completely in our education systems. Sir Ken Robinson also said, " Our running national education system tells you that mistakes are the worst things you can make. The result is we are educating people out of their creative capacities." That disturbs me. Shouldn't we as educators be educating people in creativity instead of out? Sir Ken Robinson also says, "Many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they are not because they were never good at school, weren't valued or were stigmatized." I am not saying that I am brilliant, but I feel as if I am not smart or as intelligent as others. I don't know where this terrible thought of myself came from, but it could have easily came from teachers shutting down my creativity or making me feel as if I was not valued. We do not want to make our students feel like this whatsoever. How dare we shut out creativity or make it seem less important? As Sir Ken Robinson said, "Human imagination is a gift! We must use it carefully."

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
This video is cool. It talks about how students can teach one another, students can teach the teacher, and teachers can teach students.  You are not limited to just one teaching method. Technology is constantly changing, so people are constantly learning, both students and teachers. I like how students can communicate with people all over the world and give out helpful information to others. Technology also makes it to where you don't have to learn using just books, people can learn from each other! 

2 comments:

  1. In "The Importance of Creativity", I completely agree with not taking the Arts out of the school system. Since I have been in college I have realized that a lot more people express themselves through art, music, drama and other self-expressive subjects. The high school I went to did not have many opportunities and also did not advocate joining the band, art club, or other activities. I believe children will continually suffer for this if the education system does not change. In studies performed by researchers, it also shows that students who are involved in extracurricular activities and the Arts tend to do better academically (reading, writing, math, etc.).

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  2. I posted sort of the same thing you did regarding the "Did You Know 3.0" video. It really scares me sometimes to think how technology has changed our society. I think children in the generations to come will miss out on the precious things in life because they will be so distracted by their computer or even something new we haven't even seen or heard of. I am grateful for the technology that saves lives and get word to us about things we need to know but sometimes I just wonder if all of these new things are necessary.

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