Blog Post #2

Mr. Dancealot

Every year teachers try to come up with new and exciting ways to teach their students. Some ways work, many others do not. One thing that hasn't changed and never will, is that students have to practice hands on. We were asked to watch a video, Mr. Dancealot, and answer a couple of questions about it.

In this video, Mr. Dancealot was a professor of a college dance class. He's supposed to help students learn specific dance moves. The whole semester, while teaching, he stood behind a podium and a science table. He used slideshows to teach his course. As he went through the slides, he tried to show the class the dance moves from behind the podium and science table. One student, stood up from his seat to practice the move and Mr. Dancealot, instructed him to sit down, he was trying to teach a class. The class never got to practice the dances that they had 'learned'. When the students went to take the final exam, Mr. Dancealot expected them to know the dances. None of his students knew how to do them. Student's need hands on practice with what they learn. In order to execute it right, practice is needed. After all, practice makes perfect.

Teaching in the 21st Century

In the last decade, technology has impacted society in a big way. Many kids today are completely dependent on their technology; no matter what it is, iPhone, iPad, tablet, iPod, etc. In the past few years, technology is being widely introduced in the school systems.

In Kevin Roberts video Teaching in the 21st Century, he argues that teachers should no longer use just pen and paper. He states that students can find information anytime, anywhere. That teachers 'are no longer the main source of knowledge,' we are just a filter. He's right, in my opinion. I think he's saying that times are changing and we need to change with them. Students can and will go online and find what they need to and teachers will filter through their results to determine if they're using their sources properly. However, I do not believe we need to get rid of pen and paper altogether. I think we, as future educators, still need to teach students how to use their library sources. I, personally, do not think it's a good idea for teachers to teach students to be dependent on technology. Technology, when I was growing up, was a reward, not a privilege. One good point Roberts made was, students need to be engaged, not entertained. Entertainment is short lived, while being engaged will have long term results. We as future educators, need to engage our students and help them learn in today's society.

Networked Student

Wendy Drexler's video, The Networked Student, was an interesting video to watch.

It was about how teachers make their students become independently self sufficient about learning. All the learning is based off of scholarly networking websites and the internet. Paper, books, and textbooks are all thrown out the window. Instead of students being handed what they need, they have the responsibility of finding the correct information on a particular subject themselves. If a student has a question or wants to talk in-depth about a particular subject, he or she also has access to top professors all over the world. Some may think that there is no reason to have a teacher then. Well, in my opinion, thats not the case. No matter what, students will need that one on one time with teachers. As humans grow they need someone to ask questions to, to get advice from, to look up to, and no matter what students will always need reinforcement.

Harness Your Students Digital Smarts

Vicki Davis is a teacher at a school in south Georgia, who uses all kinds of technology to connect her students to the world. Davis says, that she believes that every student can learn but not every student can learn with pen and paper. She focuses on teaching students how to use new software to learn. Davis does not teach her students all day everyday and she expects them to look up a word if they don't know one. She allows her students to get up and teach the class sometimes. I think this is a very effective and beneficial way to teach. I believe, making a student teach a class is a great way for the student to show you that they really understand and grasp the concept learned.

Flipping the Classroom

The flipped classroom is a new concept to me and I'm a little uneasy about it. I would have to test it out before I could say yes, I am going to use this concept in my classroom or no, I am not going to use this concept in my classroom. The main reason I'm so uneasy, is because this is the first time I've heard of it and it's just so new to me. I am an Elementary Education major and I find it hard to believe that an elementary student will go home and watch a video of me teaching and fully comprehend and grasp it. As the students become a little older and more responsible I could see flipping the classroom working. I believe, it would be a fail for elementary students to do this. Also, as a future elementary educator, you depend an awful lot on the parent of the student. Lets say the parent doesn't want to or doesn't have time to watch the video, the video would never get watched. However, I do like the concept of flipping the classroom, but I would have to test it out before deciding to have my classes be taught like that.