This is a cartoon that John Spencer posted on his blog. At first I did not understand it, but once I thought about it for a while, I figured out that it was mocking the "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" commercial. I have a PC, and I like it alright. It was way cheaper than a Mac, and I can do almost everything I need to on it, but I do understand why a Mac would be a better choice. In the future when my PC does eventually mess up, I am going to look into buying a Mac.
Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?
This blog post is also from John Spencer. It tells about a teacher who is getting in trouble by his principal because he was letting his students play a game. The principal would not even let the teacher explain his reasoning because he was convinced that there was no way that the students could "memorize" what they needed to by a game. The crazy thing is that the students were getting excited and actually LEARNING the material through playing, in comparison to only memorizing the material for only a short period of time-like the principal would rather have.
Another post by John Spencer is Remember Pencil Quests?. I liked this one because he tells about a time when a teacher got him excited about learning through trying something a little different than normal. He then creates the comparison between this experience of when he was a student, to his students now that get excited about using technology in the classroom and with their project they create. He says that looking back on this memory of when he was a student, he realizes that was only the start, and he wonders when his students grow up and look back, how much things will have changed for them.
Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?
Dr. Scott McLeod is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading academic experts on K-12 school technology. In his blog post Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? he uses satire to show his belief in using technology in the classroom. I agree with Dr. McLeod that technology will benefit students learning, and all teachers should incorporate technology in their teaching because in the future they will be a step ahead.
Mr. Joe McClung
I really like this blog assignment because soon we are going to be starting off our new teaching careers, and by following Mr. McClung, we can see what it was like for him as he went through his fist couple of years of teaching and take his advice. This is just another example of how using a blog is a great way to share ones knowledge and experiences with others. When I become a teacher, I am also going to create a post at the end of each school year to share what I learned. This way other teachers who are just starting off can benefit from the things I learned while I was teaching, and they will be better prepared when they become teachers as well. May 27, 2009 What I've Learned This Year (2008-09)
After Mr. McClung's first year of teaching, he shared what he learned in this blog post. One of my favorite pieces advice that he gave was to always focus on the students comprehension of what you teach instead of worrying about what your superiors think. The most important thing is to make sure that you do not lose touch with your audience-the students. Another great tip he gives is to be flexible. Things are not always going to go the way you plan, and the best thing to do is not get angry and just work with the situation that you are in. He says that, "NO LESSON IS EVER PERFECT. THE LESSON YOU TEACH AND THE ONE YOU PLAN ARE ALWAYS DIFFERENT". Mr. McClung also says to not be afraid of technology. Because I am in EDM 310, I don't think I will have a problem with this one! However, I think this is good advice for teachers who have already been teaching for several years. For example, my mom has been teaching high school for over 30 years, and she really is an excellent English teacher, but she has never used technology in her classroom because she did not know how. Now that I am in EDM 310 and learning all of these new ways to use technology while teaching, I go home and tell her about what I have learned. Even though she has been teaching the same way all of her life, she gets excited when I tell her these new ways to use technology in the classroom, and she is now getting me to teach her how to make a blog so she can use it in her class next year! That was fun for me to see that even older teachers are now catching on to using technology.
Version 4 Post (2011-2012)
After Mr. McClung's fourth year of teaching, he left this blog post explaining all the things he had learned in the that year. He said that he realized that he did not learn much from his fourth year, so instead of leaving a lengthy post, he would concentrate on two main points. The first point was "You Gotta Dance With Who You Came to the Dance With." This means that as a teacher you should not worry about what your peers think about you as an educator. You did not become a teacher to impress them, but to reach students and touch their lives in the best way that you can. His next point is to "Challenge Yourself." He explains that it is not good to get complacent and use the same lesson plans year after year. This will only make the subject you are teaching boring, and your students lose interest. Instead, you need to challenge yourself as a teacher to improve with each year, because there is always new and better ways to reach students and make learning fun, and you will never find them if you become a lazy teacher.
This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2
Richard Miller's videos are about how communication and writing are changing. He states that he believes that we are living in the time of the greatest change for communication in human history. I believe that he is 100% correct! Technology is changing everything about the way we write and communicate with each other. It is now possible to not only talk to but visually see a person that is on the other side of the world with just a click of a button. This advance in technology has also been introduced to the way we write.
One of the great improvements that have come from technology is that now instead of just writing a standard essay, one can incorporate visuals and audio. I feel like this would make their information they are trying to present way more exciting. Using audio and a visual aspect could really make the presentation come to life-compared to a standard essay. This really excites me because this is something new that I could use when I become an English teacher. Instead of getting my students to write a standard research paper every time, I could get them to create a multi-media project that includes video and audio that go along with their research. I feel like this would also get the students more interested in what I am trying to teach them, because it is not just writing but visually showing what they learn as well.
Another change that Mr. Miller talks about is how we no longer have to go to the library to do research, but now we can be anywhere and just use our laptops. Also, It is now possible to collaborate with others without ever meeting with each other. This would also be a very good project I could give my future students. I could get them to do a group project and only let them communicate with each other using Skype or Facetime. When I become a teacher, I feel like I will be able to write multi-media papers because of this class, and if I don't know how at first, then this class has also taught me that I am capable to teach myself. I also think that my students will be more than able to write multi-media papers.
All of the new changes that technology has provided for us truly gives our generation an advantage over all the generations of the past combined. Creating multi-media presentations and getting to publish ones work over the internet creates a faster way to get information out. Things that would normally take two years to get out now only takes months or even weeks. The use of Youtube, Google, ect. takes away limits and restrictions that past generations had to deal with, and they provide an opportunity to get ones ideas out into the world very quickly.
Blog Post #12 by Carly Pugh
Carly Pugh did an awesome job on her blog post #12! She really went into great depth with her research. Her post greatly resembles an assignment that Mr. Strange would create himself. I believe one of the reasons I thought it was so interesting is because she added so many video references. This goes back to Mr. Miller's thoughts about using multi-media in ones writing. The Chipper Series And EDM310 for Dummies
These were two very funny but informative videos. They both show the struggles that students go through when they are in EDM 310, and they both explain ways to help students. In The Chipper Series, it shows a student who has the same attitude that several students who take this class have. Chipper tries to get by with doing the least amount possible, and it never works out for her. All she ends up doing is wasting her time. This is a good lesson for everyone who takes EDM 310 because if you are not going to do your best, then you might as well not do it. In the video EDM 310 for Dummies, it shows how most of the students who start out in EDM 310 feel. Students who are just starting off in this class will most likely feel overwhelmed, but this video gives students a way to help themselves by getting the book EDM 310 for Dummies.
Learn to Change, Change to Learn
This video shows how much schools are behind compared to other industries because we have not yet incorporated technology in our classrooms. The men and women in this video are very concerned with getting technology into schools. This is not something that can magically happen overnight, but there are several schools that are slowly making the change.
One of the points that they made in the video is that standardized testing is not going to help students once they get into the real world. They say that teachers should focus on the students creativity and ability to work together in groups. I agree that this would help better prepare students for their jobs that they will have the rest of their lives.
Scavenger Hunt 2.0
1. The tool I found for videos is called PhotoPeach.com. It takes any pictures you want and puts them into a slide show. I created an example and put all of the pictures that I have had in my past blog posts. BlogPost Pictures on PhotoPeach
2. The tool I found to create a poll is called www.polleverywhere.com. Its very easy and fast. 3. The tool I used to make my comic was www.readwritethink.org. This is my comic I created.
DAVID WEES Thoughts from a 21st century educator. Over Coaching
The first blog post that I commented on for Mr. Wees focused on teachers over coaching their students. He felt like teachers "baby" students too much. For example, he thought that telling students what page of the book that certain problems were on and answering students questions were too much help.I commented that I also felt like it was important for teacher not to over coach their students, but that I would probably not use all of he suggestions in my future classroom. I said that not telling students where they could find the problems that they need to work on in the book could be discouraging for most students, and that would give them another reason not do their work. I also felt like not telling them where the correct problems were in the book would be a waste of time for the student because they could use that time to actually be working on the problems. The books are so big, and to have to search to find the one page you need is too much.
Rethinking Our Anti-Bullying Efforts
The second blog post that I commented on for Mr. Weese was on trying to prevent bullying in our schools. He says that if at the end of a day a student still feels lonely or isolated, then we have failed as an institution. I said that I agreed that teachers should get to know their students and strive to make the school more like a community. Also, I agreed that teachers should teach empathy and compassion to students, and I believe that the only way to do this is to lead by example. He also shared a video on bullying that was very interesting.
Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture
I thought that Randy Pausch’s lecture was very inspiring, not only for making me want to become a better teacher, but on how I live my life. The lecture was very motivating, and I think that everyone should watch it. One of my favorite parts is when he talks about brick walls. He says that brick walls-or obstacles preventing us from achieving what we want- are their for us to show our dedication and to weed out the ones who are not willing to do what it takes to achieve their goal. This is a great analogy for life, and it is perfect to share with students in order to motivate them to accomplish their dreams.
Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and he began a new class that focused on building virtual worlds. This class quickly became a huge success, and many people would come to see the class give their presentations. I think that this would be an awesome class to take at the college level. The way he designed the class, the students would be placed into randomly chosen teams to create a project, and they would have two weeks to do it. After the two weeks were up, he would shuffle the group, and the students would begin to work on creating a different project with their new group. I think that shuffling the groups like this is a good way to create a classroom community. It also helps with communication between students. I really like how he gave his students peer evaluations. This way each student can see how well they work with others in groups and know if they need to improve, and like he says,"The best gift an education can give is to get someone to become self-reflective."
Another think that Randy Pausch believed in was project-based learning, and he did not like teaching from books. This reminded me a lot about EDM 310. So instead of having tests, all they had were five projects to do. I really liked the part where his students did way better than he ever thought possible on the first project, but even though he was amazed by what they were able to create, he told them that they still could have been better. I thought this was amazing, because as teachers, we do not need to set a goal for our students and then become complacent when they reach it, but instead we need to keep raising the bar higher and push them as far as they can go. It is the teacher’ job to continue to inspire the students and not let them settle.
Randy Pausch also talks about his program Alice that is a novel way to teach computer programming. I think that this would be a lot of fun to use in my classroom. Since I am going to be either an English or a history teacher, I could get the students to recreate the scenery of a novel that I have them read, or they could create how they thought it might look during a different time period of history. The great thing about using Alice is that the students are actually having fun while learning, because they think that they are using computer software to tell a story or build a vision with their minds.
As soon as I watched A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment, I could not wait to try out Symbaloo! I downloaded it immediately and began to work on my PLN. Symbaloo is the perfect tool to get started on ones PLN. It helps keep all of my websites that I use organized, and it is so easy to travel from one website to the next quickly. I can put links on Symbaloo of teachers blogs that let me access them with just one click, and at the same time, I can also pull up Twitter or Google to search for other ways to expand my PLN. I now use Symbaloo everyday! In Steven Anderson's Building Your PLN - A Primer for Anyone, I really liked the way he explains the uses of a PLN and how it is a way to make connections with teachers throughout the would. My favorite part is when he mentions that he doesn't have to know everything, because he has a network of thousands of educators to ask questions with, and they are there to help find the answers.
Trang Nguyen
My first comment I left was for Trang Nguyen. He is a 13 year old boy from Vietnam. He explained how he visited the United States when he was nine years old, and he also tells about what his favorite activities. When I commented on his post I shared some information about myself, and i also told him to watch out for run-on sentences, but that his post was very informative.
Makayla
Makayla was the second student that I left a comment for. She is in the fourth grade, and she told about how her teachers inspired her to become a better reader by having a ”Reading Like a Rock Star” assembly. I told her that I was very impressed that her teachers were willing to go the extra mile to get their students excited about reading, and that she is very lucky to have teachers that care about their students that much. I said that her teachers also have inspired me to go the extra mile and be the best teacher I can be when I begin teaching.
Night
The third comment I left was for Night. He is a fifth grade student from Auckland, NZ. His post was about a recent trip to the beach that he went on. He had a nice picture with his post, and I told him how much I liked it. I also shared with him that I live near a beach and go there often in the summer.
Finding the Right Tool
When I become a teacher, I will most likely be teaching high school English or history. When I was searching for new ways that I could use technology in my classroom, I found a website created by Shelley Vernon that explains multiple ways that teachers can use technology. One of these ways that we have not discussed in EDM 310 is the use of a "Wiki". A wikispace is a site that you can sign in and interact with your students, and they can contribute their knowledge to the site as well. A wiki is different from a blog because it is refreshed every time someone edits is, and instead of getting longer, you only keep the current updates in your project. At www.wikispaces.com a K-12 teacher can create a free space at the moment if the space is public. I could use this tool to create class discussions about a novel we read or on a certain time in history, and I could post links that the whole class could see and comment on.
The Networked Student
Wendy Drexler’s video The Networked Student is about a new way that students can learn in the 21st century. Instead of a regular class where the students use books, and teachers lecture every day, Wendy Drexler is showing us a completely different style learning. The students only meet three days a week and the rest is done online. Ms. Drexler’s main focus for her class is connectivism by using tools of technology to connect with others.
The teacher encourages the students to take control of their learning and to make new connections with others around the world to strengthen their learning process. The teacher teaches the students the correct way to access and validate information for its creditably. The video explains how the student uses blogs, Google scholar, and podcasts to deliver and receive information.
I can see why this would be a great experience for students to broaden their knowledge of learning, and in some classes I think it is a great idea, but I am more of a hands-on person. I would prefer to be in a class with my teacher, and as a teacher, I would rather be in the class with my students. I feel like it is important to create community in the classroom, and I also think that it is more beneficial for the students if they can interact with their teachers face to face. One of the main reasons why I chose to become a teacher is because I created bonds with certain teachers at my high school, and they inspired me because they truly loved their jobs. These are also some of the reasons that I believe it is important to have a teacher in the classroom. A teacher is there to help guide students and inspire them as well (especially in K-12), and in my opinion a student cannot get that over the internet.
A 7th Grader's PLE
After watching the video A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN)I decided to go to Symbaloo and create an account for myself! It is really helpful, and it makes everything more organized. Now all of the websites I use for school of for pleasure are just a click away with Symbaloo. This 7th grader's PLE resembles my PLN from EDM 310. Ours are both growing and becoming more detailed.
Building My Dream School!
Krissy Venosdale's blog on If I Built A School explains what she would do if someone gave her the opportunity to build her own school however she wanted, and she didn't have to pay anything. She went on the explain how she would create her dream school, and she told about all of the special features that her school would have.
Mrs. Venosdale had many great ideas, but if I could build my own school, I would do things a lot different!
I am from a very small town, and the local high school is old and run-down. The town does not have the money to make changes to the school, and they cannot afford to get smart-boards or anything like that. Therefore, if I had the money to build my dream school, I would build it for my home town. The new school would have plenty of classrooms, and there would be enough money to be able to hire more teacher so the classrooms would not be over-crowded. Each classroom would also be equipped with its own smart-board, and all of the students would be provided with their own Mac-books.There would also be a several different types of classes that students could choose to attend based on their interests. I would build a huge library inside the school, and a huge auditorium for programs and for drama classes. Everything in the school would be brand new, and it would also have an amazing lunchroom with good cooks. Because I am going to become a coach, I would also build all new sports venues that were awesome, and build a new weight-room.
Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir
Jennifer Chamber’s post about the virtual choir was awesome. I did not know that was even possible. None of the singers had ever met with the conductor or the other singers, and everything was done online. It’s amazing to me how they were able to combine all of videos together and make such beautiful music. This shows how much technology has developed! Teaching in the 21st Century
Kevin Robert’s video on teaching in the 21st century was very interesting. He says that teachers are useless if they only provide students with content, facts, dates, and information then they are obsolete. He says that students can get all of that from Google. He thinks that teachers should focus their curriculum on skills instead of learning facts and content. I am not sure if I agree with him 100%. I think that it is important to incorporate learning the skills of using new technology into the students curriculum, but I also think that as teachers we should be careful to find a balance between the old and the new.
Flipping The Classroom
Flipping the classroom could be a great way to change things up. I think that using this method will benefit students on every learning level. Flipping the classroom also promotes hands-on learning for the students. Katie Gimbar explains the concepts of this method of teaching in her video Why I Flipped My Classroom.
I would consider doing this with my class, but the only problem is that I am going to be an Englins and literature teacher, and I think it will be a lot harder to use if I am teaching literature. Letting the students learn at their own pace and the teacher going from group to group is fine in a math class, but in a literature class, I would have to discuss the readings with the class as a whole. I am not sure how I could apply this method while teaching literature, but I would be willing to try different ways.
Beth's Thoughts on Technology in the Classroom Organization is Half the Battle…
On January 13, 2013, Ms. Beth Knittle posted on her blog about the importance of teachers learning how to organize their files on computers where they will be able to find them in the future. The shift from using all paper to mostly using computers is a big change for most of the older teachers, and they will not know how to keep all of their files in order on the computer. I agreed with Ms. Knittle because I feel like the future of educational instruction and filing will all be web-based. I also explained to Ms. Knittle that I felt like new teachers will have an advantage over the older ones because we have been around computers more and have grown up learning how to use them.
Teacher Blog Post #2
Know, Understand, Believe
On January 1, 2013, Ms. Knittle made a post about how people misunderstand the way theories work, and how people do not know the difference between a theory and the fact. She makes the point that one uses reasoning when they make a theory, and just because they guess what may happen in the future, does not mean that they have to believe that it will. I believe that she proves her point! One may believe one thing but still be able to understand the reasoning behind a theory that completely contradicts his or her belief. For example, I am a Christian, and I do not believe in evolution, but I still see how some people may choose to make theories about the evolution process.
Judy Scharf Podcast Collection
This is a very informational link from Judy Scharf. It explains exactly what a podcast is, and for someone who is new to pod-casting, it is very helpful! Ms. Scharf even provides a link to a video that shows how to create a podcast. She also has several tips for teachers who are going to be teaching their students how to podcast, and she has even created a detailed scheduled that teachers may choose to follow while teaching students about pod-casting. This is a perfect guideline for teachers to use if they are interested in teaching their students how to podcast.
Langwitches - Podcasting With 1st Grade
Another informational link about pod-casting is called Langwitches- podcasting with 1st grade. This link explains how helpful pod-casting can be for the students. Podcasting is a great way to spark the interest of your students! It helps them to become more hands-on, and they learn how to use important skills that they will need in their life like listening, speaking, and presenting. It also creates classroom community, and she tells how even the shy students become more confident.
The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom
This next link is from Mr. Dale, and he explains the benefits of using podcasting in the classroom. One of the most important reasons why I think podcasting benefits the students is that it provides an opportunity for project based learning. This way of learning forces the students to have to really put themselves out there and learn on their own. Podcasting lets the students be more creative, and it also lets the students be able to share their work with others around the world.
* Compare population of India, China, and the Unite States. What is the population of India?
*1.21 billion people What is the population of the United States?
*309 million people What is the population of China?
*1.35 billion people
* Compare unemployment rates of India, China, and the United States. What is the unemployment rate of India?
*4.4% What is the unemployment rate of the United States?
*9.6% What is the unemployment rate of China?
*4.3%
* Compare the average life expectancy of people in India, China, and the United States. What is the average life expectancy of people in India?
*69.9 years What is the average life expectancy of people in the United States?
*78.1 years What is the average life expectancy of people in China?
*73.5 years
Wolfram Alpha
The website Wolfram Alpha can be a very helpful tool for students to use. It is a knowledge engine that computes answers and provides knowledge. This website allows the student to type in a question, and it will answer it directly instead of giving a long list of documents or web pages that may have the answer. This can really help students who are trying to research a topic.
Gary Hayes Social Media Count
Gary Hayes has created an amazing app that shows how much technology is growing by the second. His Social Media Count lets one be able to literally view the growth of social media and see how fast it is happening. I was shocked to see how technology has taken over the lives of people in the world.
Because I am going to become a teacher in the near future, I will have to be able to keep up with technology and its changes. This will be a hard task, because my job is to help students become prepared for their future, but technology is changing so fast that everything may be different in five years. However, I will have to keep up the best I can and make sure that my students are provided with all the technological skills possible.
Before viewing the video What is Peer Editing? and the slide show Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial, I thought I would try to avoid using peer editing as much as I could when I became a teacher. I hated peer editing when I was in high school because I always felt like I was hurting someone's feelings, and I was always nervous when someone else would read my work. I also felt like my teachers would always use peer editing as a sort of embarrassing scare tactic to get the students to do the work. For example,"Tomorrow we will be doing peer editing, and if you don't have your work or if you did a bad job, then the whole class will know." However, now I realize that peer editing can really benefit not only the students but also the teacher as well. When done correctly, peer editing helps create classroom community. The students learn how to interact with each other and how to give and take constructive criticism. Peer editing also saves the teacher a lot of time with helping each student on their work.
This is the first time that I have ever had a teacher focus on teaching the class how to properly peer edit others. Teachers in the past have always expected us to already know how to do it. I believe that getting the students to understand the proper way to peer edit is crucial in order to get positive results. The teacher needs to make sure that the students know to stick to the three main rules-complimenting, suggesting, and correcting.
Assistive Technologies
Before watching Assistive Technologies for Vision and Hearing Impaired Children, I had never thought about the possibility of having to teach students that are blind or deaf. If I have to in the future, I would be sure to do my best and make all the preparations necessary to give them the best learning environment possible. Children with these disabilities are at a major disadvantage when it comes to being in a classroom trying to learn. Thankfully, technology makes it much easier for these students and their teachers.
Technology is supposed to make everyone's life easier, but sometimes the creators of the new machines forget about the people who are blind or deaf, however the creators of the iPad have not. After watching the video iPad Usage For the Blind , one can see that the iPad is one of the few machines that now have special features for the blind. This is a huge step for someone who is blind, because they have never before been able to use things like the iPad. Another machine that is changing the lives of blind people is The Mountbatten, which helps them learn math. With technology advancing as fast as it is, hopefully new machines will continue to be created to make learning for the deaf and blind much easier.
Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
The video Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts really proved to me how important using technology in the class room is. I am from a very small town and we do not have the funding that most schools do, and I never thought my school would be able to have all of the computer equipment so I could teach my students using technology. Now, I see that the woman in the video,Vicki Davis, is also from a small town too, and she has started this whole new way of teaching.
Ms. Davis reminds me of the way my teacher, Mr. Strange, likes to treat his students. She does not feel like it is necessary to teach the students everything, but instead let them figure it out on their own. From first hand experience I know that this is a very effective way of teaching, because it forces the student to take action and really try to figure out how to solve their own problems, and once they do that, the student is less likely to forget what they have learned. Even though it is harder on the students, I think that more teachers should use this type of teaching.
After watching the videos "Did You Know? 3.0 by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod" and "Did You Know? 3.0 A John Strange 2012 Version" I was blown away by some of the statistics.It is amazing to see just how far technology has come, but it is even more amazing for me to see how fast technology is growing. Just the thought of there being a computer with the same ability as a human brain is jaw-dropping! These videos really opened my eyes to how important it is to learn as much as you can about new and upcoming technology, and as a future teacher, how important it is for me to incorporate as much technology as I can in my teaching style. The world is changing, and people have to keep up--whether they like it or not!
Another major thing that caught my eye in these videos is the fact that the United States is not the powerhouse that I thought it was. According to the videos, India has more honor students that the United States has students all together! Also, China will have more English speaking people than the rest of the world by 2025! These statistics are very scary to me, because like most Americans, I thought that the U.S. was at the top of the chart when it came to intelligence. This shows how far behind we really are, and how much work that teachers have to do in order to help catch the U.S. up with the other countries in the world.
Mr. Winkle Wakes
The My. Winkle Wakes video is about a man who has been asleep for 100 years and he wakes up to find that his whole world has changed. He goes to a tall building, and he sees all of the new technology being used in the world. He does not like all of the technology because it is different from what he has always been use to, and he begins to feel sick. He then goes to a hospital only to find that it is not how he remembered it either because it has also been taken over by the new technology. Finally, he goes to a nearby school. He likes the school because it is exactly how he remembered it.
This modern day re-make of Rip Van Winkle is trying to point out the flaws in the school system. It shows how out of date the learning process is for our schools. Everything in the world is using new technology to better our lives except for the schools. This video shows how far behind the school system is in comparison with the rest of the technological world. The schools are the main places where they should be using technology because that is where children go to learn, and they need to be learning about how to use this new technology to help them with their future. I believe that the school system has realized this problem, and now they have begun to use smart boards, blogs, eBooks and etc.
Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
Ken Robinson's video, The Importance of Creativity, is about how student’s creativity gets taken away from them by going to school. At school, students learn that there is only one way to succeed and everything else is considered a failure, and this leaves no room for their creativity. Kids are so afraid of failure that they are scared to stray away from the standard form of learning that their teachers force them to use-even though not all students are capable of learning the same way as others. This is why teachers need to try to let the students express themselves freely more often in the classroom, and teachers need to encourage students creative thinking.
It really opened my eyes when Mr. Robinson talks about the girl with ADHD or ADD, and that she became famous because her teacher actually noticed her creative ability and gave her good advice instead of just saying that she was incapable of learning like the other students. This made me realize how big of an impact that teachers have on their students, and that it is very important for teachers to make sure we are doing our best to point kids in the right direction.
Pinterest
I think that Pinterest can be a very useful tool for teachers. However,I believe that it would be more helpful for elementary or middle school teachers than high school teachers. Pinterest is an easy way to get new ideas for the classroom, and it is a great tool for organization. I think it would be fun to let my students get a Pinterest, and let them keep a web-journal with some pins they post. Also, I would like for my students to create a Pinterest, and for them to pin some ideas they like, and use their pins as goals they would like to achieve one day, and also make them complete some of their goals. This would be a great way to get to know your students better.
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