Blog Assignment #2

Did You Know?

I think that it is safe to say that Dr. Strange's Did You Know video blew my mind. I was astounded by the numbers. 25% of the population of India with the highest IQ's outnumbers the whole United States population? That is shocking! The fact that China is expected to become the number one English speaking country in the world, and has more people that are currently learning English than are in the entire US really surprised me. I knew that India and China were much more advanced than us, but I had no idea. I admit, I am a little ashamed. Our country is so prosperous. How are we this far behind?

Of course I know how totally surrounded we are by technology. I, like most people now, am I plugged into all sorts of social media (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest etc...) and they are all immediately accessible to me at any moment by simply turning on my Android smart phone. However, the number that were brought to my attention were fascinating. 1,097,220 YouTube videos are watched and 1,393,519 Google searches are made every minute! 11,453,577 SMS messages were sent every minute. I know I'm a "textaholic" but, wow. I definitely feel more aware of how advancing technology will affect my career as an educator. It is somewhat intimidating.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

I enjoyed the sarcasm of this video. In Mr. Winkle Wakes Rip Van Winkle awakes from his hundred year sleep to find the world entirely changed. He is shocked and frightened by what he finds. After seeing so much change, he feels ill and goes to a hospital. Here he is amazed to find machines keeping people alive and doing things he never would have thought were possible. He decides that the hospital is not going to help him so he leaves. He then makes his way to a school where he finally finds some comfort. He sees that this school is exactly the way he left it a hundred years ago. Students are still learning the same subjects the same way. They sit in rows and listen to their teachers lecture on. Even the computer in the back of the room is dusty and clearly unused.

The message of this video is not a good one. The fact that school is so stagnate is a sad fact that needs to change. By opening up the class room to more advanced forms of technology, we can finally expose children to learning about their world in many different ways. This is certainly something that my generation of future educators should be thinking about.

The Importance of Creativity

I thoroughly enjoyed Sir Ken Robinson's video The Importance Of Creativity. I thought he made so many awesome points. I completely agree with him that creativity should be nurtured in children. School should provide a creative outlet in every subject. It is called an outlet for a reason. Because it is in all of us and it needs a chance to come out.

I loved what he said about children not being afraid to be wrong. He's right! When we are children we are much more daring because we haven't been convinced that it is wrong yet. We are educated out of our creativity and become "disembodied", as Robinson put it. The education system needs a major makeover. We are no longer training our children to aid in industrialism, so why are we still educating them that way? That hierarchy is irrelevant now. Math first, then humanities and then art? This is why, unfortunately, school art programs often get cut.

I consider myself to be a pretty artistic person by nature, but I will admit that since starting college three years ago, I have lost nearly all of my creative energy. And I do in part blame school. As an educator I hope to teach an age group that still has a passion for creativity. I want to teach the way I enjoyed learning. By doing. By getting my hands dirty and having fun. I was fortunate enough to have a few teachers in my high school who understood the importance of this and I plan to educate my students the same way. Because some children are like Gillian Lynn. They can't sit still because they were meant to move.

A Day Made of Glass

A Day Made of Glass was an incredible video. The world is already so technologically advanced that it is hard to imagine it being more. The technology in this video has a familiar aspect because we are getting closer to it, but yet it is still so foreign. It is like something out of a movie or a science fiction novel.

I think the ideas about medical technology were the most amazing. Technology of this grade could be so beneficial to medicine. I thought that the children each having his or her own tablet to use in the classroom was wonderful and could already be an option to learning. I would definitely enjoy playing with all of those cool boards and the dinosaur simulations. I am a little slow when it comes to technology so it may take me some time to stop being so old-fashion and catch up to my students!