In "A Vision of the 21st Century Teacher" video, it begins with a poor quality monogamous voice, which really emphasized how far we have come technologically in the past years. This is the only vocal in the video. A series of "poster teachers" for 21st century learning have signs displaying what makes them exceptional as educators. They incorporate everything from virtual field trips to photography in math. They use things that usually people see is troublesome, like texting, to encourage student communication like answering surveys. Even while watching the man in the video text, I thought "Wow, that's kinda rude..." until he identified its purpose. Another teacher makes a great point about blogging. Her sign says, "On our blog, students speak up...Even the shy ones." This really hit home for me. In elementary school, I was always very shy and dreaded being called on and being unprepared. I would try so hard to make myself invsible, and while I think learning how to communicate in person is very important, it would have helped a lot of I could have practiced communicating with my classmates through a blog rather than just being thrown in the deep end and forced to present myself. Later, the presentation says, "It's not just about technology itself. It's about unleashing the powers that students bring with them in to the classroom." I really liked this one. It's easy for people to think that using technology is about making things easier... which it does, but it's about really swinging wide all of the doors that are closed by the covers of textbooks. While textbooks and worksheets only have a limited number of pages for students to learn from, and teacher's brains only have a limited amount of information to profess, the internet and technology is practically limitless. You can access so many MORE books and MORE brains to get a thorough, multi-diminsional array of knowledge.
The video also says that it's about students being okay with uncertainty. This reminds me of the Sir Ken Robinson video, and how awakened I was by him saying that we are so scared to be wrong we don't create. A world that we don't create and don't imagine is really a failure in my opinion. It is real life to be wrong, and learning from those mistakes makes a much more genuine learning than copying the answer word for word from a book and getting it correct. We as educators are responsible for preparing our students for the future, and by not utilizing this amazing world of technology we are holding them back. It is important to consider as a teacher, what kind of teacher would I want my child to have (if i had one), or what kind of a teacher do I WISH I had? Someone who did more than lecture. Someone who used as many means as they possibly could to educate. Someone who prepared for the future. Someone who teaches AND learns. Teachers are lifelong learners.
"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn." John Cotton Dana
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
The Importance of Creativity
http://sites.google.com/site/drasresources/awareness-videos
Sir Ken Robinson's speech on the importance of creativity really hit home for me. Robinson says at one point, "If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original." He points out that as adults, we become afraid to be wrong, as if mistakes are the worst things we can make, which is so true. Mistakes are seen as an embarrassment as we grow older, which tends to hold us back from attempting things we are unsure of. Robinson goes on to say that we are educating people out of creativity. Everywhere in the world, our educational priorities are all the same. At the top of the pyramid are things like maths and sciences, but the arts are always at the bottom. The arts are always the funding that gets cut when money gets tight. The education systems are built to meet the needs of industrialism, steering kids away from things they enjoy, like music and arts, because they are told they will never get a job in such a field. Kids are then steered to the most "useful" subjects of work like business and economics. Many brilliantly creative people think they are not at all talented, because they were stigmatized for their talents.
We think in abstract terms, with intelligence being dynamic and interactive. Therefore, Robinson asserts his beliefs that we need to rethink the principals upon which we educate our children. My favorite part of the video was when he quotes Jonas Salk, "If all the insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years, all life on earth would end. If all human beings were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years, all forms of life would flourish." We have to use our gifts of imagination, educating our children to make something of their futures. We do not know what the world will be like when children today enter the world of work, yet we are supposed to be educating them for that. It is an injustice to suppress today's students creativity for a world which we cannot predict what it will be like. As educators, we must preserve the wonderfully creative minds of our students, so that their imaginations and ideas will continue to flourish and inspire new concepts of advancement for the future. They must be able to imagine new things for the betterment of our world or our world may become static. To do this, we must incorporate as much diverse learning techniques as possible in to our classrooms. We must keep our students diverse in their thinking, and never let them fit in to a mold.
All throughout my schooling, I was involved in creativity. Specifically, in high school I joined the marching band. We were 6 time state champions and I have to admit, I got more out of that program alone than I did of all four years of high school academic education combined. Being involved in such an art taught me how to be creative, where I am now writing my own music, as well as teaching high schoolers now how to play it. It taught me how to be passionate about something, and how to have the energy and integrity to accomplish goals with the highest of standards. I gained more confidence than I have ever had and was instilled with an aggressiveness to chase down my dreams of success. Never in my life has something made me so happy, and I am one of few fortunate people that still gets to have such an influential thing still a major part of my life. With the high school students I am currently teaching, I hope to see the same experiences I had with music instilled in them, and that means more to me than anything. It makes me very sad to know that students are actually discouraged to be a part of such a creative outlet, especially when I know how powerful it is for me. Therefore, my goal as an educator now, and in the future, will now be to encourage creativity as much as I can in any outlet- art, music, dance, etc.
Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.
Plato
But the person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perseverance.
William J. Wilson
Sir Ken Robinson's speech on the importance of creativity really hit home for me. Robinson says at one point, "If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original." He points out that as adults, we become afraid to be wrong, as if mistakes are the worst things we can make, which is so true. Mistakes are seen as an embarrassment as we grow older, which tends to hold us back from attempting things we are unsure of. Robinson goes on to say that we are educating people out of creativity. Everywhere in the world, our educational priorities are all the same. At the top of the pyramid are things like maths and sciences, but the arts are always at the bottom. The arts are always the funding that gets cut when money gets tight. The education systems are built to meet the needs of industrialism, steering kids away from things they enjoy, like music and arts, because they are told they will never get a job in such a field. Kids are then steered to the most "useful" subjects of work like business and economics. Many brilliantly creative people think they are not at all talented, because they were stigmatized for their talents.
We think in abstract terms, with intelligence being dynamic and interactive. Therefore, Robinson asserts his beliefs that we need to rethink the principals upon which we educate our children. My favorite part of the video was when he quotes Jonas Salk, "If all the insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years, all life on earth would end. If all human beings were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years, all forms of life would flourish." We have to use our gifts of imagination, educating our children to make something of their futures. We do not know what the world will be like when children today enter the world of work, yet we are supposed to be educating them for that. It is an injustice to suppress today's students creativity for a world which we cannot predict what it will be like. As educators, we must preserve the wonderfully creative minds of our students, so that their imaginations and ideas will continue to flourish and inspire new concepts of advancement for the future. They must be able to imagine new things for the betterment of our world or our world may become static. To do this, we must incorporate as much diverse learning techniques as possible in to our classrooms. We must keep our students diverse in their thinking, and never let them fit in to a mold.
All throughout my schooling, I was involved in creativity. Specifically, in high school I joined the marching band. We were 6 time state champions and I have to admit, I got more out of that program alone than I did of all four years of high school academic education combined. Being involved in such an art taught me how to be creative, where I am now writing my own music, as well as teaching high schoolers now how to play it. It taught me how to be passionate about something, and how to have the energy and integrity to accomplish goals with the highest of standards. I gained more confidence than I have ever had and was instilled with an aggressiveness to chase down my dreams of success. Never in my life has something made me so happy, and I am one of few fortunate people that still gets to have such an influential thing still a major part of my life. With the high school students I am currently teaching, I hope to see the same experiences I had with music instilled in them, and that means more to me than anything. It makes me very sad to know that students are actually discouraged to be a part of such a creative outlet, especially when I know how powerful it is for me. Therefore, my goal as an educator now, and in the future, will now be to encourage creativity as much as I can in any outlet- art, music, dance, etc.
Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.
Plato
But the person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perseverance.
William J. Wilson
Monday, September 19, 2011
Mr. Winkle Wakes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm1sCsl2MQY
Mr. Winkle, after waking from a 100 year nap, is shocked to find a world full of the unfamiliar. The thing is, only Mr. Winkle finds this new world odd. Everyone else is used to the computers, phones, machines, and all the other technology. The world to which Mr. Winkle awoke is fast paced, complicated, and everything is much more in depth. This makes Mr. Winkle feel ill, so he seeks solace inside something that reminds him of the 100 year old past he was so fond of... a school. There are lectures with notes and nothing more, and Mr. Winkle is content once again. He loves the school, but the students inside feel like Mr. Winkle did when he first awoke- nauseated.
It seems to me as though Mr. Winkle and the students should switch places. The students, who have been awake during Mr. Winkle's 100 year nap have grown along with the technology, where as Mr. Winkle got left behind from it. If we as educators of the future, do not allow students to grow with the way our world is growing (deeper and deeper into technology, that is) we deprive them of the future. We are holding students in the past, which is why they are slipping further and further behind than students in other parts of the world. Perhaps Mr. Winkle should be in school, and the students should be out in the world instead... It is as if Mr. Winkle and the school program both have taken 100 year naps, and school has yet to awaken.
The world in which we live today requires students to be able to continue their learning even after they leave school. It is less about what you leave school with now, and more about all of the doors you can open all by yourself. If we as teachers do not give the students the keys to open these doors, they will never succeed. We must provide them with the tools now necessary to make it in the 21st century- tools of technology. We are calling students our "future" but not even allowing to live up to that title, because they are refused the use of technology as an education tool.
Mr. Winkle, after waking from a 100 year nap, is shocked to find a world full of the unfamiliar. The thing is, only Mr. Winkle finds this new world odd. Everyone else is used to the computers, phones, machines, and all the other technology. The world to which Mr. Winkle awoke is fast paced, complicated, and everything is much more in depth. This makes Mr. Winkle feel ill, so he seeks solace inside something that reminds him of the 100 year old past he was so fond of... a school. There are lectures with notes and nothing more, and Mr. Winkle is content once again. He loves the school, but the students inside feel like Mr. Winkle did when he first awoke- nauseated.
It seems to me as though Mr. Winkle and the students should switch places. The students, who have been awake during Mr. Winkle's 100 year nap have grown along with the technology, where as Mr. Winkle got left behind from it. If we as educators of the future, do not allow students to grow with the way our world is growing (deeper and deeper into technology, that is) we deprive them of the future. We are holding students in the past, which is why they are slipping further and further behind than students in other parts of the world. Perhaps Mr. Winkle should be in school, and the students should be out in the world instead... It is as if Mr. Winkle and the school program both have taken 100 year naps, and school has yet to awaken.
The world in which we live today requires students to be able to continue their learning even after they leave school. It is less about what you leave school with now, and more about all of the doors you can open all by yourself. If we as teachers do not give the students the keys to open these doors, they will never succeed. We must provide them with the tools now necessary to make it in the 21st century- tools of technology. We are calling students our "future" but not even allowing to live up to that title, because they are refused the use of technology as an education tool.
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