Blog Post #2

   1.     In the video "Mr. Dancealot", the author is trying to show what can happen when the learning activities, goals and assessments for a course are not aligned.  My opinion is that this video is a good example of what the author is trying to portray! The instructor is not in the proper type of classroom to teach dance.  The students aren't allowed to participate other than sitting and taking notes.  All of the students look completely baffled as to what the instructor is attempting to teach.  I thought the comment at the beginning that the instructor has taught this subject for 12 years was hilarious.  I highly doubt any of his students retained any useful information.  In the final scene during the final exam the students were paired up and holding their notes while trying to manage a correct form.  I don't think the students were given the proper instruction for the course in any way whatsoever.

(My daughters dance recital 2014.  Many hours of practice = prepared dancers.  Photo by Erin Byrd)

2.     In "Teaching in the 21st Century", Roberts states, "If teachers can only provide content, facts, dates, formulas, research, theories, stories, and information....Then our role in the lives of students is obsolete."  The world today has a plethora of opportunity for anyone with access to the Internet.  Google, Skype, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Earth, and various other avenues for information.  Students are now able to find literally anything they want to know about, any time, and as long as they have Wifi or an Internet connection. The world is literally at their fingertips.  Growing up, we had NO technology.  When I was in elementary school, a computer was a big square box with an even bigger tower to hold all the data pumping information into the computer.  There was no Internet.  There were no cell phones.  Teachers were our Internet, they were our technology.  Here in Roberts video, he outlines all of the limitless resources that students, as well as the entire world, have at their fingertips.  He also shows that now it is our role as educators to teach how to properly use and access all of these technological advances.  I think that Roberts is absolutely right.  Our world is ever changing technologically and we need to be prepared as educators as to the proper way to teach the next generations how to safely and efficiently use these materials.

3.  "The Networked Student" by Wendy Drexler had the query of why a networked student would need a teacher.  Drexler then proves how invaluable teachers are by listing off several things that teachers actually do for students obtaining their information from Internet or via networking.  I agree that teachers are the ones that show students how to actually create their networks and utilize all of the opportunities afforded by using all of this information.  Teachers show students how to properly use all of the information that they may gather and what is important as opposed to farce statements or material.  Teachers give students the tools they need to continue learning and navigating these sources long after they have left the classroom.

4.  Davis is very passionate about empowering students and affording the ability to learn and create for themselves.  She is not doing all of the teaching in her classroom.  She is not only allowing the students to learn on their own, but she is giving them the opportunity to escape the classroom and visit the world.  Her students are doing things in this video that I have never heard of.  In viewing the Edutopia website I found this article intriguing and so I took a look at it.  I think The 9 (or How to Spot Future Greatness in a 6-Year-Old) was a pretty creative post.  This teacher holds a blog and in this particular article, although on the complete opposite side of technology from Ms. Davis video, their thoughts seem to be similar.  Both teachers wish to give their students empowerment and trust in them to use their given materials wisely and effectively.

5. "Who's Ahead in the Learning Race?......OBVIOUSLY here in this video I can see that elementary students are farther ahead of Undergraduates as well as Graduate Students.  I am an Undergraduate.  I have 4 children and let me just say that they have been using Macbooks for a few years now and they have been keeping ME in the know as to updating my technological achievements!  Very impressive to see today's youth eating up their technological allowances like candy!

(My daughter Mia working on her Macbook)

6.  Flipping the classroom is definitely new to me!  I am on both sides of the fence here on this idea!  In this video, the speaker/teacher makes a statement that I plainly DO NOT LIKE!!! While I agree that this will help us with taking our students to "that next level of learning" as she states, I do not want to be merely a facilitator.  Ms. Munafo from Hillburn Academy STEM Elementary School statement is that this will help her serve as a "facilitator.... and not have to waist so much time up in front of the classroom teaching the instruction".  I think perhaps she might want to rephrase that statement so as to not come across to some that she wants the students to do all the work at home and just ask her if they have questions the following day.  I am a parent, and thinking solely as a parent, this statement does not sit well with me.  I think this would be great for just an at home aid or assistance for the student.  I do not think that the student should be doing class at night from home.  That is just making room for the teacher to be even more obsolete in the future.

7.  After reading Locker Room into the Classroom, I think that I would really like to utilize these ideas and incorporate them into my classroom.  I feel it is important for students to collaborate and engage one another on all topics presented in their classroom.  I think that teachers learn from their students just as much as the reverse.  In this article, Craig Owens says that before he was an "honorary coach" his classroom consisted of hands raised, questions and answers directed to the teacher only, and not very much interaction among the students.  As I read, I learned that he was able to incorporate what he learned in the locker room into his own teaching and shared it with his colleagues.  Interaction and collaboration among students and teachers is crucial.  We all have different ideas and thoughts and they should be shared to compile one agreed upon conclusion.