Blog Post #2

This week's blog post assignment had made me so excited for teaching in the 21st century.  I can't believe all of the innovating things that are happening in the classroom of such young students!

1.  This week I was asked to watch a video, Mr. Dancealot, which prompted ideas and questions that are very relevant to my teaching skills in the classroom as a future educator. The central message of this video is that any person, teach or non-teacher, can stand before a class and regurgitate facts and knowledge without truly inviting skills, experiences, and successes in the classroom. True learning comes from trial and error, mistakes, progression, and persistence. The author of the video portrays a class where students become bored, disengaged, and frustrated with their professor who never allows his students to practice the dance moves that are taught in class. Even though Mr. Dancealot spends several classes showing the students the dance moves on power-point and even some moves from behind his desk, (a metaphor, I believe that came from the creator of this video) he stills refuses to let any of the students physically practice the moves. The author portrays the students' frustration, showing how the class grows smaller in numbers, week by week. By the final exam, students still have no concept of these dances on which they are being tested. The author is demonstrating a situation that I believe happens often in today's classrooms. I have experienced it personally in my previous college classes. I think that it is crucial for a learning experience to incorporate application and also the ability to ask questions and find answers when the learning process becomes difficult. I agree with the author's conclusion in this video and recognize that information is useless without actual application. Mastering a new skill/concept. in my opinion, is the ultimate goal and must be done through a facilitated learning process.

2. In the adapted presentation of Teaching 21st Century Students by Kevin Roberts. Roberts believes that it is the job of educators in the 21st century to be filters to the technology-provided information as well as facilitators of critical thinking, creativity, and discussion.

I.Teaching will become obsolete if we only regulate...
- facts
- research
- information
-theories

II. Information can be found everywhere!
- google
- wikipedia
- blogs
- youtube

III. Teachers are filters who teach skill application
- remember
- understand
- apply
- analyze
- create 

IV. Teachers must how to recognize reliable information
- pirating
- plagiarism
- copyright
- confidentiality

V. Teachers must MANAGE technological tools in the classroom
1.) relevant
 - using programs to help struggling students get ahead
2.) challenging
- collaborate sources and programs to create a cohesive experience
3.) engaging
- creating student e-portfolios for practical use

VI. Entertainment vs. Engaging
1.) Entertainment
- passive
- enjoyment
- short-lived
- no relevance
- escapes problem-solving
2.) Engaging
- active
- inspires learning
- long-term results
- applicable
- IS problem solving

VII. How do YOU start?
- see what resources are available
- start small, think big
- collaborate
- don't be afraid, take RISKS
- always ask: "What does it mean to teach in the 21st century?"

I feel that Roberts's view of teaching 21st century students is eye-opening and extremely relevant. His view of the 21st century educator is inspiring and makes me feel motivated to learn as much as I can about using technology the correct way so that I can inform my future students on how to be successful in an advanced century. I didn't realize how important is is to embrace our generation's technology and how successfully is can be used in today's classrooms. As a future educator, Roberts's view of teaching in the 21st century will not only affect my teaching skills, but will also affect how I quickly I will have to adapt to technology, to my students' skills, as well as to my own learning abilities and processes.

3. The Networked Student is a video that portrays, explains, and inspires the learning experience known as connectivism. Connectivism is a 21st century way of learning in which the teacher is a facilitator of knowledge, guiding students through a technologically connected classroom where students find copious amounts of resources for information that is useful, applicable, and reliable. For me, this video brought to light a whole new perspective on learning and teaching. It is truly amazing to me the amount of technology that I have as a student that can allow me to find the best answers, the most educated opinions, and the most reliable resources for any questions or concepts I may struggle with. I feel as though I have not taken full advantage of  the resources that I have been given in this day and age and feel motivated as an educator to work to provide and facilitate this knowledge and capability to my future students.

4. In Vicki Davis's Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts video, she opens the doors to her classroom and gives us a view of what her students are learning through her use of blogs, a class wiki, and an open simulator program. "I'm accomplishing the curriculum, but I'm customizing what happens in the classroom according to that group of students" says Davis, who refers to herself as a "teacher-preneur", a teacher that is learning and discovering along side her students. The thesis of Vicki Davis's video is that "every child can learn, but where children have trouble is when you have only have paper, only pencil, and then only types of children are going to succeed." This is a powerful statement and Davis has created a learning environment where any student, any child can succeed due to her strategic incorporation of technology in the classroom. My reaction to this video is one of amazement. Knowing that I never did any of those things in my classes as a high school student, makes me realize that younger minds are expanding and need to be accommodated through engaging learning experiences. What better way to do so than through the technology that has been given to us!

(Vicki Davis)

5. Dr. Strange's video Who's Ahead In The Learning Race? shows students at a fairly local elementary school who, I believe, are actually AHEAD of graduate and undergraduate students at the University of South Alabama in the "learning race". These students were able to use iMovie, post comments to blogs, and use many other programs on their MacBooks after only having them in the classroom for TWO days! I personally never used a blog until this semester and I am a junior undergraduate! I am still learning about Google forms and Google docs and yet these 1st graders at Gulf Shores Elementary School have mastered both. Dr. Strange proves to us the these students have capabilities that outshine what we as undergraduate and graduate students have accomplished so far. This is scary and exciting altogether, and I can officially say that my new role models are these first grade students!

6.Flipping the Classroom is a new concept for me, even as a high school graduate of only four years. This concept allows teachers more time in the classroom for project and technology based learning by having videos and lessons for students to view at home so that students can provide questions and feedback for the teacher the following day. I feel this approach of "flipping the classroom" will be useful to me as a teacher because it will allow me to provide basic information for students that can be viewed unlimited times OUTSIDE of the classroom, as well as give me a perspective on what students found interesting or difficult about the topic discussed. This will help me to better assess students individually, as well as find the learning balance for the class as a whole.

7. The article entitled Bringing the Locker Room Into the Classroom showed me that one's approach to learning must always be versatile. The author of this commentary started a program that helps teachers to view teaching as a team effort by allowing them to observe different sports' practices and "pep-talks." As a future teacher, I would like to apply these teaching methods to my classroom. I will allow my students to discuss problems and questions to find solutions together, and learn from each other rather than competing against each other for the title of "shining student." The goal for my classroom is to ask questions together, struggle together, and find answers together, just like the students in this particular article.