Blog Post #2

What Will Teaching in the 21st Century Be Like?

1.Mr. Dancealot:

In the video Mr. Dancealot, the message was fairly clear that the teacher had no idea how to dance and he was solely dependent on the presentation slides to help the students learn basic dance moves. The teacher thought that the presentation that he taught from would be enough for the students to learn and that was rendered ineffective when the students were told to dance with a partner for their final exam. I do not agree with what the teacher displayed because if you're told to teach a certain subject, you should be able to clearly demonstrate each of those moves with ease and not depend on a presentation to do the work for you! 

2. Teaching In The 21st Century

• Teaching collaboration with technology:
• Enhances project-based learning 
• Improves "teamwork" among students
• Activities through technology engage both teacher and student

• Educators are the filter for knowledge:
• They are NOT the source 
• They relate what they've learned 
• Their training relates to the subject that they're teaching 

• Learning technology at a younger age:
• Benefits both student/teacher in the future 
• Gain insight into limitless sources of information
• Utilizing skills learned at a young age 

• Creating lessons:
• Must be relevant to the subject being taught
• Must be fairly challenging (to enhance critical thinking skills) 
• Must be engaging! 

• Technology is not used for entertainment:
• Needs to be used for engagement
• The negative side is NOT to be taught 
• Be able to relay that technology is not the enemy 

Roberts is mostly trying to relay that technology should be an instrument used to benefit not only the student but the teacher as well. I feel that he's mostly trying to convey that there's only so much information that books, magazines, newspapers, and things of the sort can provide to help a teacher develop a lesson on their own. I fully agree with his stance on implementing these technologic sources in the classroom because it engages the student and captures their attention more than writing on a chalkboard (or whiteboard) and while entertainment is not the purpose behind this, I believe that it could entertain the student and they would be learning something without even realizing it. This would affect me as an educator in the sense that I would love to be able to engage students through using the internet and be able to help them become more resourceful as they move higher in their education. The most important part about this video was relaying that engagement is the key and entertainment is surely not! 

3. The Networked Student

The teacher serves as a resource for the student who is learning how to navigate through all of the websites, applications, and items of the sort. Without the guidance of a teacher, the student could become overwhelmed at the thought of teaching themselves through the entire course! When the teacher serves as a mediator for the student, the process of learning the subject becomes less stressful and the student effectively learns how to utilize the skills that they were taught even though most of the learning takes place on your own. Networking is truly the wave of the future and being able to maneuver through websites and online resources is highly important. When the student is highly familiar with networking, they can share their knowledge and put their input into the subject they are learning for the rest of the world to see. Harnessing creativity through networking is quite exciting!

4. Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

The thesis of Davis's video is that integrating technology in the classroom serves as a launchpad to connecting students and teachers to every country in the world. The point is also made that when a student is exposed to search engines, websites, and computer applications, they could possibly teach the teacher something that they didn't already know. Edutopia is remarkable website in that it has many resources in which an educator could use to further their insight on the subject that they currently teach. It would be ideal for each and every school to have such technology to utilize but the hard truth is that many schools do not. However, this video does not say that technology is required, but it does make the case for what technology is capable of doing!

5. Who's Ahead In The Learning Race?

It is without hesitation for me to say that the elementary students are ahead of both graduate and undergraduate students in the learning race. While the college students possess certain knowledge that the elementary students do not, these elementary students are using all of this technology as a catalyst for their future. When you're as young as the elementary students are, you're somewhat eager to learn what a shiny new "toy"(the MacBooks) has to offer. As a future educator, I look forward to seeing how my students will be able to work the technology that is given to them because they'll more than likely know more about it than I will! 

6. Flipping The Classroom

I was somewhat familiar with what "flipping a classroom" meant because of a pilot program that happened in 2011 at an elementary school that I was volunteering at. In this pilot program, they used a fourth grade science class and the results at the end of the year were astounding because of the eagerness of each student to be able to use the exciting new technology. They did not realize that they were learning so much because of the fun that came from each lesson that was taught. I'm in between yes and no for being able to flip a classroom. I say yes to this concept because while it's being taught and demonstrated at school, each student could go home and practice these concepts to further their knowledge of the subject being taught. Another reason I would say yes is that with all of the applications and websites for the iPad and MacBook, the learning possibilities are endless. The reason I would say no to this concept is because not all of the students would have access to this innovative technology at home. If you're going to implement such a concept, you've got to be doubly sure that each student has access to utilizing these resources at home so the students are on the same page as their classmates and not lagging behind.