Blog Post #2

Video # 1- Dr. Strange: "Did You Know?"

For this blog I was assigned to watch a youtube video remade by Dr. Strange. This video was originally based on Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod "Did You Know?" I found this video to be extremely interesting! From watching this video I was able to gather many great facts. I was very shocked to know that China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the world. All the facts that I gathered by watching this video are about how technology is being used and progressing through the years. A few facts that really stood out to me are, "The 25% of the population of India with the highest IQs outnumbers the entire population of the US" and " India has more K-12 Honors students than ALL of the K-12 students in the US." That shows how serious India takes their education. That fact also makes the US seem very sad when it comes to education. Another fact that caught my attention is that "1,393,519 searches are made on Google every minute." I know that Google is the most popular search site on the internet but to know that that many searches are made each minute proves how much the world we live in revolves so much on technology.

Video # 2- Mr. Winkle Wakes

In this video "Mr. Winkle Wakes", by Matthew Needleman, Mr. Winkle is a cartoon character from 100 years ago. When I first began watching this video my first thoughts were, this is ridiculously pointless and honestly what man sleeps for 100 years? Once I finished watching the video I thought about our society and how there are many elder citizens who are not at all informed or advanced with technology. With that being said, I myself at twenty-one years old am also unaware of most technology we have today. Mr. Winkle woke up after his long sleep to find the world to be much different than he remembered. The world had changed into a more advanced place due to technology, although Mr. Winkle didn't think so, he was very confused and overwhelmed as to how everything was. Mr. Winkle noticed so much change in offices, classrooms, and hospitals. He sees that people are now able to communicate using different ways other than before. He sees that computers are the way to operate most things. He sees that in the hospitals people are able to breath and are kept alive by medicines and machines. Though, he noticed that there wasn't much change in the classroom, not having technology change in the classrooms could potentially hurt students in the long run.

Video #3- Sir Ken Robinson: The Important of Creativity

Before watching this video I knew I needed to prepare myself because of the length of time needed to spend watching and focusing on what Sir Ken Robinson had to say. As soon as I began watching I quickly found myself very interested and no longer concerned with the length of time. Creativity is in each and every person, though it is shown differently. Sir Ken Robinson touched on three different themes, First, evidence of creativity. Being creative is so much easier for children because they aren't scared to be wrong. Adults are far more scared to be wrong. Sir Ken Robinson stated that being wrong shouldn't be a fear and I completely agree. I also agree that if humans could and would be more creative then there would be much more variety in the world. Second thing he touches on, creativity in the future. Around the world the arts are the last thing focused on, which many believe arts should be much more focused on. I agree with his statement that dance should be just as important as math. I honestly never really thought about that until he stated it. So true! Our bodies are just as important as our minds and we should express that more. The final thing he touches on is the capacity of children. Each child is intelligent in many ways. One of the main focuses of being an educator is to help children to express their personal talents, imagination, and creativity. We need to see children for who they are and help teach them to open their creative side in hopes to succeed because they are our future.

Video #4- A Vision for 21st Century Learning

Watching "21st Century Learning" made me disagree that the internet should be our education system. I realize that overtime technology is becoming more important and used for practically anything and everything daily. I do not think it is okay for a child to sit in front of a computer all day and expect them to learn from that. Okay, yes I'm sure they could learn something but I think it's so important for children to be engaged with a teacher, classmates, a classroom and learning materials. Each and every person has a different way of learning, I myself am very hands on. I would hate to send my child to school for them to only learn by using a computer all day long. It really concerns me when I think of a child learning to write because how will that be done using a computer? It won't and can't! Using a computer will only teach students how to type. I completely disagree with online teaching and learning. I think computers and the internet is absolutely great and very helpful in many ways but not for basic everyday learning.

Video #5- Vicki Davis: Harness Your Student's Digital Smarts

In this video, "Harness Your Student's Digital Smarts", Vicki Davis shows us how she involves technology in her teaching. I think it's awesome that Vicki Davis incorporates technology in her classroom. She tends to focus on all different types of technology daily. Although, I don't agree with online teaching and learning but I do agree to teach and learn with technology sometimes other than always using books, pens, paper, etc. Vicki Davis wants her students to be able to search, think, and understand on their own, which I think is great because that's preparing them for the future. I liked that she mentioned that she also learns from her students and how being an educator doesn't mean you have to know everything before you teach it.