Blog Post 2

This first video Mr. Dancealot was a very interesting way of showing that as a teacher, you can't always just stand in front of the class and lecture. To be the professor of a dance class and just show diagrams and pictures and theories but never actually have students actively learning how to do the dance is more than ridiculous, but it's impossible! The video very clearly showed that students weren't learning anything. They were falling asleep during lectures, getting lost in diagrams, and not understanding any of the steps being taught. I think that the conclusion made from this is completely spot on. You can't teach a class one way and then turn around and expect students to be able to decipher that into something else. You can teach the theories of dance all day long, but until you stand your students up, show them what to do, and let them try it for themselves, they will never actually learn it. this applies to all areas of teaching. We as future teachers have the responsibility of make learning possible by the route we choose to do this.

Teaching in the 21st Century definitely made me think! I had never really envisioned teaching in that way. Robert believes to teach in the 21st century means to teach students how to use and operate the resources they have to get the information they need to know. He starts off by saying that if a teacher's job is to simply give facts and information, they he or he has already become obsolete. Students today have a wealth of knowledge literally in the palm of their hand, so as teacher our job is no longer jut to spit out important things that they should memorize, it is to teach how to find quality information in the devices that they're already using. We need to teach them how to use things like Blogger, Wikipedia, Google Facebook, and Twitter; and we also need to teach them what plagiarism, copyright, pirating, and slander really mean. Teaching in the 21st century isn't like any other time, in his opinion, and it's our job as educators to adapt our style to fit that. I think what Robert proposes is very relevant in the world of education today, and for the most part, I agree with him. I do believe that students today can't be taught the same way that we were taught growing up, because times really have changed. at the same time though, I' not sure that we can just stop those methods all together. Should we quit teaching children about the Civil War just because they can now look it up online? Absolutely not! There are still somethings that are very important for students to know, and it's still our job to teach them.

Honestly The Networked Student made me a little bit sad about what being a teacher has become according to the video. When I think of being a teacher, this is not at all what I envision. I don't see myself just being there to show students what safely learning on the internet looks like. I want to be someone that students can leave my class and know things about life and learning that they didn't know when they walked in, and I just don't see that happening with this portrayal of a teacher. I love learning, and I love books and lectures and taking notes. This is why I chose to become a teacher, so to think that all of those things are becoming irrelevant makes me sad.

I believe that the thesis of Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts is that students today are capable of way more learning than most believe is possible, and the best way to harness this potential is through the incorporation of technology into the classroom. I get it. I really do, but I still am not sure how much I agree with it. I can definitely see the benefits of teaching students how to use technology, and I think that if we do that then we really will change the world of education. But at the same time, if we continue on this way of thinking, then at some point in the future teachers will be completely obsolete. If that's what we are working toward then that's fine, but if that is the case then why am I spending four years in school in lecture classes learning how to get up in front of a class and teach?

I had never heard of flipping the classroom until I watched the video, Flipping the Classroom . It's a very interesting concepts that, although I see a few holes in, I believe would be very beneficial to both students and teachers. Having kids see the lesson for the day before they ever step foot in the classroom is an excellent way to help make high levels of thinking and learning possible. Although I think there will be a lot f trial and error with this as it is implemented in schools, I think overall that the idea has a lot of potential.