Sunday, February 5, 2012

Blog Post #2

Did You Know by John Strange
Did You Know? by John Strange

From watching the video, "Did You Know?" there was several facts that I did not know or was not aware of. The number one fact that caught me off guard was that India has more K-12 Honor Students than all of K-12 students in the United States. To me, I find that very odd. One reason being, is because one would think that it would be the opposite because the United States in the country that has schools and more highly educated people living in it. I do understand that there are several other people all over the world that can and are as smart if not smarter than people in the United States, but they do not get as recognized as they should.
Also, there was a fact stated about YouTube videos. In one minute there are 1,097,220 YouTube videos being watched. Have you ever wondered if there was someone out there somewhere in the world watching the same video as you were. I have often thought to myself that it would be neat if there was a way to see who and how many people were watching the same movie as you were at the same moment.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
Mr. Winkle Wakes

Mr. Winkle Wakes is a video that I believe older people can relate to. Mr. Winkle wakes up from his 100 year slumber to find that the world has changed. What he sees around him is totally different that the things that he saw before he went to bed. He walks into a large office building and finds several things that are making several noises. Mr. Winkle is not sure what they are. He then decides to leave and go to a hospital because he is feeling sick. Then when he comes into the hospital he finds that there are those things making weird noises as well. He then leaves the hospital. After the hospital, he runs into a school. In the school, he feels as if he is back in his time because the students are just sitting there listening to the teacher lecture while the computer is just sitting in the back and it not being used.
In my opinion, I feel that this is how older people feel this is how life today is. When my grandparents were small, they did not have computers like many and most people/families have today. It is somewhat new to them. Most older people learn how to use them but there are some that do not feel that it is useful for them to learn how to operate.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
The Importance of Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson states that everyone has a interest in education. Creativity is just as more important in education as literacy. I do fully one hundred percent in that. One reason being is that children are more engaged in something if they can be "hands on" or "interacting" with other students or friends. Teachers today are more worried about going in and teaching straight from the book and that is it. Mistakes are the best thing that you can make. If you do not make a mistake then, you are not willing to try other or new things.
All children are born artists. Children are always making things up and using their "creativity" to create new things, games, artwork, and works of art. If a teacher punishes a child for being creative then that child may grow up and realize that they are just the same as the others.

A Vision for 21st Century Learning
A Vision for 21st Century Learning

Children in classrooms today are forced to just sit in a classroom 7 hours a day and listen to a teacher lecture while facts are crammed in there heads. As Dr. Strange calls it, the "Burp Back" style of teaching. That is where students are basically forced to learn and memorize facts, tested on them and then those facts are just gone out to waste. A student, as I can say for myself, never really "learns" what the teacher is saying. Nine out of ten students remember it for a test so that they can get a grade and then forget it.
With the 21st Century Learning, I believe that it will give the children a way to engage themselves with different learning styles so that they can learn things in a different way. If a student is actually engaged with something and are hands on then their brains are more prone to learning that specific material.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

Vicki Davis is a teacher from a small town in Georgia that is helping students understand how to blog and do various things on the computer. She believes that if you just have pen, paper, and textbooks all children may not be able to learn. One reason being is because some children learn differently from others. There are several children who have to actually see or hear something for them to be able to understand it. With having the internet and software on the computers, students are more capable of doings things that they would not be able to with just the normal items that everyday classrooms use.
Also, Vicki does not consider herself a teacher. One reason is because she states that teachers today think they must know everything before they can become a effective teacher. That is no true. Students help the teacher learn things that he or she may not know. Students can teach teachers just the same as teachers can teach children.

5 comments:

  1. I think you may be experiencing some extreme nationalism in your Did You Know reflection! :]
    Don't forget to proof read.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ms. Cardwell,

    In your post on Did You Know, you wrote that you were surprised by the number of students that are in honors classes in India; I agree that it's a startlingly number. I guess the United States really needs to make more of an effort in educating its children. I'd never really thought about how someone might be watching a Youtube video as the same time I was, that's a interesting idea!

    Mr. Winkle Wakes: I agree that there are older people who do not appreciate the value of computers, but I don't think that there are many of them that are as scared of technology as Mr. Winkle is. Technology has become very important to our everyday lives and I doubt there are many people who would dispute that.

    I really love what you wrote about Sir Ken Robinson's video. You wrote that some children learn differently then others. That is one of the things I wrote about in my blog post. I think it's very important for schools to allow children to learn in different ways, visually, hands on, etc.

    A Vision for 21st Century Learning: I found it interesting that your wrote about how children sit in a chair for 7 hours every day and are simply expected to memorize what they are taught and spit it out on the test. That is one of the greatest problems I see with the way our education system, here in the United States, is set up. I think that it's important for children to be able to learn through doing.

    Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts: I thought that this video was very interesting, but I was frustrated that only online learning seemed to be used in Ms. Davis' classroom. I noticed that you said something about “some children learn differently from others.” Do you think that there are children who learn better with pencil and paper or with hands-on, real-world activities, then with online tools? I'm of the opinion that children should have many learning options open to them.

    I enjoyed reading your blog post.


    Regards,
    Eleanor Pomerat

    P.S. I am sending you an email.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ms. Pomerat,

    Thank you for the comment and I am glad someone else has some of the same thoughts as I do.

    In the section Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts, you asked it I thought there were children who learn better with pencil and paper rather than online tools? Yes, I do believe that. The reason being, one subject that would be easier, in my opinion, to teach with hands-on materials would of course be math. I feel that if the students can touch the objects that they are working with for the problem, they are more likely to comprehend it better.

    Thanks,
    Sara Cardwell

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ms. Cardwell,

    I tried to send you an email this evening using the email posted here on your blog, but my email was returned. Could please send me the correct email address for you? My email is epomerat@gmail.com

    Thank you,
    Eleanor Pomerat

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ms. Pomerat,

    I'm not sure why it did not work. But here is my gmail, Sara.Cardwell90@gmail.com. Hope that helps!

    Sara Cardwell

    ReplyDelete