Blog Post #2

In the video Mr. Dancealot the author presents the idea of teaching students without allowing them to be interactive. The message I got from this video is that educators set their students up to fail if they simply stand in front of the classroom and lecture. Specific concepts require students to practice in order to learn. If educators do not allow students that time to practice, the students will get frustrated and never learn even if they try to teach themselves. This message was conveyed by an educator teaching a dance class but never allowing the students to get up and practice the steps. The educator stood behind a counter where the students couldn't even see his feet when showing the steps. I believe a lot of students are kinesthetic learners and need to have hands on learning. Practice is a great way to learn!

In the second video, Teaching in the 21st Century , author Kevin Roberts shows us what he thinks about 21st century teaching. He recognizes that students can find information anywhere. He introduces the idea that "teachers are no longer the main source of knowledge" but rather "we are a filter"(Roberts). In the video Roberts argues concepts such as how to handle resources, should we teach facts and content or skills, how this changes classroom discussions, how to manage classroom tools, and the difference between engaging and entertaining students. His evidence to support these arguments are stated in how a student must navigate through technology. He describes the abilities needed to navigate search engines, post, design, paraphrase, copyright, professionalism, explain and justify opinions and resources, along with many other ideas. I believe Roberts is right in some manner. Students do need to be taught how to handle all these resources. That means, for myself as an educator, that I must also learn these skills in order pass the knowledge to my students. Technology can be a great tool when the user knows to their highest ability how to use it. 

In The Networked Student Drexler asks "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?" A networked student is one who creates many connections throughout the world using technology. Drexler states "each network is it's own learning opportunity". So, the students are learning from outside sources. What the teachers is need for is to help navigate the student. The student needs to know what sites to access, what sites are reliable, and how to communicate respectfully and properly. The teacher, as the video says, "offers guidance when stuck... [and helps] organize information". I found this video to be accurate. Teachers might not need to supply all the facts any longer but they do need to help navigate and guide the students for better understanding. 

The next video, Harness Your Student's Digital Smarts, Davis' thesis seems to be her idea that if you only provide students with tools such as pen and paper, then only certain students will learn from that style of teaching. I somewhat agree with her but I think I mostly disagree. I personally suffer from chronic migraines, chronic meaning more than 16 times per month. Computer screens are triggers to those intense migraines that often put me in the hospital due to such intense pain. I put certain filters on my computers, phones, and adjust brightness levels to help but all in all I can not be on technology all day. Technology is actually a barrier to my learning process. I think Davis has a good idea when it comes to differentiating the instruction but I think it should be an option for the student's to decide. Does the student want to learn on pen and paper or on the technology? Because at the end of the day those students she is saying benefit from pen and paper are now being pulled down by her insistence of technology in the classroom. 

In fifth video, Who's Ahead in the Learning Race?, an interesting topic is discussed. Who is ahead in terms of learning technology between elementary students, undergraduates, and graduate students. I am an undergraduate. I think elementary students are ahead in terms of learning with in the classroom. However, the majority of undergraduate students grew up learning this information. We might now have as many classes teaching it but that's probably because we already know how to do the most of it! I think undergraduate students probably know how to do more and use technology to greater extent than elementary even though elementary may be getting more classes. Graduate students, I believe, are the farthest behind because they tend to be the generation right before all of the technology boom or are older adults coming back to school. Now, Mac vs. PC is another situation. Undergraduate and graduates grew up learning PC and can navigate those like a pro! Mac computers are completely different operating systems. Our synapse have already fired and been wired to copy and paste, print, and open tabs in a certain way. It is difficult to retrain your brain anything. Therefore, I believe elementary students are most likely more advanced in using Mac systems because that is really all they are growing up to be taught!

Next, we viewed the video Flipping the Classroom. This is a new concept to me. I think this idea is poorly thought out and seemingly poorly executed. I would never do this to my class. Sure, it could be useful ... to the 5 out of 20 students that succeed in it! How many kids do you think have a home life that this would work with? How many kids would focus on MORE school after the 7 hours they previously had that day? How many students would actually think of questions to bring to class? This is the type of work we do as college students! Elementary students do not and should not be expected to have the attention span and ability to learn like this. I feel like this would just cause frustration and confusion for both the parents and the students. I personally ask questions as we go along. If my questions aren't answered, I don't understand, and I can not continue. How do you expect a student who asks questions to learn the whole thing on their own the night before? The teacher in this video kept saying that having the "main instruction" during school was a "waste of time". Honestly, she shouldn't have signed up to be a teacher if that's what she thinks! You can have time for creativity and activities as well as the main instruction time if you learn how to manage you and your student's time well. 

The final article Bringing the Locker Room into the Classroom was a little confusing to me. But what I did get from it is that it helps to bring the class focused on a more team based learning. You should allow your students to build each other up by helping one another. He called it problem-based learning. I always liked having putting our desks in a big circle and having a respectful conversation about a topic. It allows for students to explain to another student in a way they will understand.