Blog Post #2

Did You Know??
  In this video Dr. Strange does a remake of  Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod's video about how much technology and the world as a whole are rapidly changing. These videos speak about two major topics in the world today. First, the changing societies of scale and how they will be drastically different in the near future. Second, the need for education to adapt to our teaching methods to these changes so that our students are better prepared to succeed in our major changing world.
    China and India's population is growing at a much faster pace than the United States. Also, both are growing in both overall education and knowledge of the English language, so it is super important to understand and respect that the world will be a much more global and integrated market place. That marketplace, is exactly what we as teachers are responsible for getting our students to be more prepared to compete and live in. So teachers had better respect and embrace these changes rather than fight them, and teach our students to do the same.
    As far as the paradigm of being able to teach and prepare our students for jobs and technologies that don't exist yet, it is my belief that teaching students to be creative and open-minded is the best course of action. While teaching analytical skills should NEVER be discounted, it is the nurturing of creativity that produces innovation, and it will keep students more able to adapt to newer innovations.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
 Matthew Needleman did a phenomenal job on this video. This video is a social narrative on two fronts. On one front this video starts off describing the changes that technology has brought to our society and how they might be seen by some one from the outside. Mr. Winkle is scared and made to feel somewhat lost by the changes that he is encountering. We cannot imagine what this would be like as we have watched these innovations blossom before our eyes.
     The second point that this video makes is that the school system in America is the only aspect of our lives that has not caught up to the innovations of the rest of our live. It's ironic that those innovations inevitably being brought to us, but none other, than one time school children. Mr. Winkle feels comfortable and at ease in the school setting, because there are no signs that times have changed or that innovation has brought about any significant changes in learning whatsoever, other than the dusty computer in the back that is.
    This video has done an excellent job of showing two very common extremes in our society today and how technology and innovation has changed them, or not changed them.. This societal narrative in an entertaining manner thru using a man who has been asleep for 100 years has shown our great triumphs and our great pitfalls.

The Importance of Creativity
   Sir Ken Robinson's talk on the importance of creativity has been one of the most entertaining pieces i have watched, and I personally found this piece to be the most thought provoking. Sir Robinson's speech at the TED conference brings to light a growing epidemic in our modern school systems and that is the shying away from the importance of creativity and the creative arts. As he states in the beginning, the world's school systems underwent a transformation around the turn of the century "to meet the needs of industrialization." This process of taking our children's education and consciously focusing it away from creativity quite possibly could be one of the worst mistakes in human history, with repercussions that could last forever.
    Sir Robinson talks of the brilliant people that were told the things they were good at did not matter or worse. In doing so, it took some of the worlds greatest minds and shut them out from ever achieving what they capable of achieving. Creativity to Sir Robinson is "the process of having regional ideas that have value." If that is true, which I believe it to be, then no matter what field these creative endeavors are in, whether it be music, art, technology, dance, literature or anything else, then the idea has VALUE and should not be overlooked, or even discounted in the least. In fact, I think that these "valuable" ideas should be nurtured to their fullest. I am reminded of a line from Mr. Hollands Opus where Richard Dreyfus says that "if kids don't have music or art, then they won't have anything to read or write about." Sir Robinson is following the ideas of Mr. Dreyfus, and I think they are simply trying to say that the analytical thinkers of the world can only do so much; it will take creative thinkers to make this world as great as it truly can be. All of that being said, if an educational system is not willing to put the necessary emphasis on these things, then we as teachers should whatever we can to encourage these creative ideas as much as possible while our students are with us and beyond.

Vision for 21st Century Learning 
   The main argument in this short video, it seems to me, is that not enough children are literate in the current technologies of today. I can't say that I completely agree with this argument. I absolutely agree that some children have no exposure to modern technologies,which is a huge burden for those children. I feel that the amount of children without exposure to modern technology is so small compared to the opposite, that it is not really something of much concern. From previous blogs,I have seen more information to the contrary of this one that I just can't give it much consideration, other than agreeing that any child who does not have exposure to modern tech is at a disadvantage.

Digital Smarts
    Vicki Davis is a very inspirational teacher and one that I think we should all strive to be somewhat like. Whether it is technology, the arts, or anything else for which you have a passion; Ms. Davis shows that with with passion and a little "out of the box" thinking, you can always get your point across and inspire your students to new levels at the same time.
    The work she is doing with connecting her students to new virtual software as well as making a definite effort to connect them with others across the globe, is some of the most forward thinking that I have seen to date by a teacher. The fact that she understands the global societal shifts in both technologies and societies as a whole and can bring al lot that to a school on rural south georgia is amazing, kudos to her!