Assignment #2 What Will Teaching in the 21st Century be Like?

Mr. Dancealot: The message of Professor Dancealot's video shows how this form of teaching is not effective and can cause more confusion on a subject rather than help. When a teacher sticks to a "script" or power point presentation, and that alone it can cause many problems. Such as, loss of interest, confusion, and doubt. Many students are visual learners in other words descriptions aren't enough to make a subject clear enough to understand. The author makes this case apparent at the end when it is time to take the test, and no one can preform the appropriate dance moves. They note that they have studied notes taken in class yet they still did not know what was going on. I totally agree with the message behind this video, because I myself have always been a more hands on learner. I can read something ten times, and not fully understand it. Yet if it is demonstrated for me I get it right away. I believe teaching should be fun, and interactive. When a person is stimulated, and a class is kept interesting, the great success rate in learning.

Teaching in The 21st Century: Kevin Roberts makes a great argument of the changes in education in today's society. Educators are no longer the main source of learning for students.
I have to agree with Mr. Roberts although I'm not quite ready for such a change I do see the importance of incorporating this new technological way of teaching. Technology is going to play a tremendous role in the style of teaching I will have to adjust to. I myself am not very tech savvy, but I will have to learn in order to become a well rounded educator. I'm sure I will learn a great deal from students as well.

The Network Student: I really enjoyed this short video. Before starting EMD310 I honestly did not realize the impact of technology in schools. I've heard of kids now using Mac books, and iPad's in school, but I has no clue to the extent. When I first heard the news of schools adopting this new aged way of teaching I thought is was a bad idea. In many ways I'm still a bit skeptical. I graduated high school in 1998, I didn't even have a cell phone yet. This video made some valid points about how you can build networks that can reach people all over the world. I can see how the use of technology is a must in order to stay relevant in today's society. Still, I'm a bit concerned about the desensitization of our elementary aged children. Kids today are beginning to lack proper social, and emotional skills. I believe big gaming, and internet use have a major contribution to this issue. More children are lacking reading, and writing skills, and interpersonal relationships with one another. My biggest fear as a parent, and a future teacher is that we will be raising a generation of robot personalities. people already rather email or text today instead of having one on one conversation, it is a bit scary to me. I still have a lot to learn, and I think more input I have such as video's like these can help me understand this new teaching style of our future.

Harness Your Student's Digital Smarts: Mrs. Davis made some interesting points. Although I am a skeptic of all of this new technology use, I'm very open to opinions that can help me understand it better. Mrs. Davis is taking kids from a rural area, and giving them an opportunity they might never have by being able to open their minds to different cultures around the world. Her statement on leaving kids limited to only pen, and paper makes a great point. The internet has provided us with so much opportunity to learn virtually anything. The sky's definitely the limit in learning there should be no limitations. The Digi-teen Portal was a really neat idea to have students, and teachers from around the world share knowledge.

Who's Ahead in The Learning Race?: It's pretty obvious, and a bit embarrassing to admit that these young children are ahead of the race for sure. These children are more ahead than I am. It is really amazing that at such a young age these kids are so computer literate. With every video I watch I'm really understanding the hype behind all of this new aged teaching. I'm blown away that 3rd graders are posting on blogs. Unreal!

Flipping the Classroom: flipping the class room is definitely new to me. It is a surprising approach to teaching that I never would have though of in a million years. Interestingly enough I think it is a really good idea. As a secondary education major with a focus in English, I think that this could be beneficial in terms of essays, and papers, and creative thinking. I think it could be a really useful idea, but limited. I really don't know enough about it, but from this video I would say as long as it is apart of homework, and not extra work it would be great. I feel this way because many kids engage in extra curricular activities after school, and although homework comes first these activities are important in a child's social, physical, and emotional development. All around I really like it!

Bringing the Locker Room Into the Classroom:I think this is a wonderful idea to teaching. Often times students are really intimidated to interact with one another. Students are very insecure about asking questions, but when your on a team those insecurities seem to vanish. I believe team bonds are a very beneficial learning tool for students. Creating a team like class dynamic would be a great way to have everyone work together, to solve problems, and give individual input.