Blog Post #2

1. 

Response to Mr. Dancealot

                     ♦Mr. Dancealot teaches via PowerPoint for a physical dancing class

                           -Students appear confused

                    ♦Mr. Dancealot give the students a practical exam in a course he has only taught through                      lecture.

                           -Students do not perform correctly

The central message of Mr. Dancelot seems to be that as a teacher, it is your responsibility to coordinate your teaching style to the subject being taught. One cannot teach a dance class in the same manner as an arithmetic course and vise-versa. The author makes this case in numerous ways. First of all, the author shows the viewer the confusion the students are experiencing as the teacher begins the course with a power point based syllabus. Secondly, the teacher failed to properly demonstrate the dance moves, leaving the students with only the power-point to learn from. Last of all, the teacher taught in lecture format the entire course and then provided the students with a physical final exam. The students were unable to perform as the teacher expected due to a lack of hands-on demonstration.  I completely agree with the author’s conclusion, as I have been in the student’s situation myself. I know that I have a hard time learning without hands-on instruction, and I can see where those students would have difficulty as well.

2. 

Response to Teaching in the 21st Century by Kevin Roberts

Outline:

I.                    Teaching facts only has become obsolete.

a.       Students can find information virtually anywhere.

                                                               i.      Google

                                                             ii.      Youtube

                                                            iii.      Facebook

                                                           iv.      Blogs

                                                             v.      Ipods    

                                                           vi.      Cell Phones

                                                          vii.      Wikipedia

                                                        viii.      Twitter

II.                  Shouldn’t teachers be more focused on teaching skills?

a.       Validating

b.      Synthesizing

c.       Leveraging

d.      Communicating

e.      Problem Solving

III.                Teaching how to use technology by using technology has become almost a necessity.

a.       Teachers often think that teaching with technology is the source of negative behavior.

                                                               i.      It is not.

1.       The lesson must be relevant, challenging, and engaging.

a.       Engaging and entertaining are not the same thing.

                                                                                                                                       i.      Entertaining is passive, for enjoyment, and provides short-term results.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Engagement is active, for learning, and provides long-term results.

I firmly believe in Robert’s point regarding modern teaching. The role of a teacher, and the method of teaching, as completely altered of the course of many years. Teachers no longer teach just the facts, as many students have access to the internet for all unknown answers. I feel that everyone in today’s society needs to have some form of technology literacy, and we as teachers, should start with that in the classroom. Teachers—that have not already done so—should incorporate technology in any way possible. Not only does it build on the students level of technology understanding, but also provides a whole new level of engagement for the student. Students today are constantly engulfed in many aspects of technology. Due to this, teachers should adhere to the interest of the student to better engage them. I plan on incorporating as much technology as I can into my lessons as a teacher, especially in the elementary setting.

3. 

Response to The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler.

                

                ♦Connectivism:
                                 -Learning is based off of networking with a variety of sources through                                                   technology.

                ♦An American Psyche student uses a series of networking tools to research for a project.

                                -Blogging

                                -Commenting

                                -Podcasts

                                -ITunesU

                                -RSS Reader

                                -Video Sharing

                                -Voice Threads

                ♦Information management will be a challenge for the 21^st century.

                ♦Why does the student need a teacher?

                                -To teach the student how to utilize his sources and information.

                                -How to organize information gathered.

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler is a video clip that portrays how the modern day student in a textbook-free class can perform research. In addition to the student’s method of researching, the video also shows how a teacher, even when not teaching facts, is a necessity. The Networked Student shows the path of a student who begins his research with a search for a peer review, and summarizes it with classes via iTunesU. Upon watching this video, I was honestly stunned. I have blogged before, and I have also read peer reviews; however, I never would have thought to share my peer review findings and use those shared by others. I did not know that networking could be so useful.  In the video, the author asks, “Why does the student need a teacher?” The response of which the author provided was that the student needs a teacher to not only educate the student on utilizing his sources and findings, but organizing them as well. This is very true! While anyone can Google information, not everyone knows how to store the findings for later reference. This is an important tool that, thankfully, I was taught by my teachers.

               

4. 

Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts by Vicki Davis

                ♦Westbrook High School Class on technology

                                -Students wrote blogs and created avatars for a digital program

                                -Connected them to people across the world

                                -Connected a rural town in Georgia to places like Qatar

                ♦Davis believes students should be thinkers.

                                -Research words they are unaware of

                ♦Students enjoy using the technology

Harness Your Student’s Digital Smarts by Vicki Davis is a movie that shows how technology in the classroom has become an effective method of teaching. Davis, a teacher at Westbrook High School, incorporates blogging and digital design into her daily lesson in order to connect her students to the world. Davis believes that networking through technology is an important aspect of society today, and it starts with students. Throughout her video, Davis mentions that she expects her students to be thinkers,, and she expects them to use technology for tasks such as searching a word for its definition. I agree with Davis’ method of teaching, especially after hearing the responses from her students. I enjoyed seeing students engaged in their work with honest interest as opposed to doing the work simply to earn a grade.

5. 

Response to: Who’s Ahead in the Learning Race by Dr, John H. Strange

                  ♦Students in first grade classroom participate in technologically advanced activities that                          both undergraduate and graduate students have difficulty performing. 

                                -Effectively using Google Drive

                 ♦ Students in a Kindergarten classroom use technology to a degree, with undergraduate                           and graduate students performing at the same level.

                               -Voice recording and playback

                 ♦Students in a third grade classroom successfully use Macbook Air's to create movies and                     perform tasks; whereas graduate and undergraduate students have a difficult time                                 operating the devices.

                 ♦Dr. Strange questions "Who is ahead in the learning race?"

                             -First grade and hird grade classes can successfully utilize more technology than                                    students of undergraduate and graduate status can. 

Who's ahead in the Learning Race, a movie by Dr. John H. Strange, addresses the technological evolvement of elementary classrooms. I believe that elementary students are miles and counting ahead of undergraduate and graduate students in the field of technology. I believe this because while we (undergraduate students) have the ability to learn these new innovations, not everyone has the motivation. Additionally, even if we do eventually pick up on each of these advancements, we will still have less time involved with them, as elementary students are already incredibly savvy.

 6. 

Response to : Flipping the Classroom:

                  ♦Flipping the Classroom is the process of giving students virtual homework to prepare                           them for the following day's lesson.

                                 -Students view a video at home about the lesson so that they may come to class                                      with questions the following day. 

                 ♦Encourages students to become more engaged with their schoolwork

                                 -Prepares the students for questions so that lesson time is not wasted the                                                 following day. 

Flipping the classroom is the process of giving students a video to watch for homework to prepare them for the following day's lessson. This allows the student to come to class he following day with some knowledge of the subject to be taught in addition to the oppurtunity for questions to be answered. This specific classroom began to "flip" the classroom after weeks of tradiitonal lecture. Flipping the classroom is new in the sense that I have never been in a classroom in the process of being “flipped.” I have been enrolled in both blended (already flipped classes) and traditional lecture-style classes. This approach is very useful and much easier on the student and parent than an already “flipped” classroom. By introducing it to the parents after traditional instruction has already taken place, it gives the parent a margin for learning the process as opposed to jumping right into advanced learning. I do intend on using this strategy as a teacher due to the lack of technology literacy in society. This method will not only assist the students in becoming more technologically involved, but the parents as well.