Mr. Dancealot is a dance teacher that does not actually allow his students to dance during class. This video expresses that standing in front of a class and lecturing without allowing the students to get involved is a completely ineffective teaching method. Students learn much more from actively participating and practicing the material than they do listening to a teacher read word for word from a power point, and that is made very clear when the students had absolutely no clue how to actually dance for their final at the end of the video. I completely agree with what the creator of this video was trying to get across.
2. Teaching in the 21st Century
Roberts believes that teaching in the 21st century has changed so much from the traditional form of teaching. He says, "If teachers can only provide facts, then our role in the lives of students is obsolete." With this statement, he expresses that students can basically find anything on the internet these days and that teachers now are there to guide and encourage rather than to relay facts. He says that teachers are there to teach you how to determine whether or not information is reliable and how to understand, interpret, and apply the given information. When I was in high school, I had some teachers that just lectured information to us and some teachers that taught us how to analyze and apply such information. I would definitely say that the latter were more helpful, because I do agree with Roberts; I can search for almost anything on Google and get the information I need. Technology, however, does not teach you what to do with that information. I definitely agree that is what teaching has come to, and I think that it is a good thing. Teaching real life skills rather than facts will be so much more beneficial to those being taught.
3. The Networked Student
This video essentially expresses that teachers are pretty much useless since there is an ample amount of resources and technology available to students nowadays. It pretty much shows that with today's technology, students can ultimately teach themselves anything. The very end of the video, however, proves this thought to be false. The last thirty seconds or so explain that teachers are there to guide you and teach you how to utilize such information more than they are to feed you useless facts. I don't necessarily agree that students should ever have to teach themselves, but I do believe that this is what teaching has amounted to.
4. Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Vicki Davis starts off her video by expressing that students are limited by the use of just paper and pencil. She believes that the use of technology is crucial and she makes it a point to teach her students everything about it. She says that she wants her to students to learn how to learn. She also allows her students to interact internally and internationally with the use of technology. I agree that it has become very important for one to learn how to utilize technology, and I think that students learn so much more in a hands-on environment than they do just reading and writing information.
5. Who's Ahead in the Learning Race?
This video was definitely interesting to watch. Although this is not true in all cases, in this case, I definitely think that the elementary students are ahead in the learning race. There were some things mentioned throughout the video that I, a junior in college, do not even know how to do. It is remarkable that elementary students can use such technology so enthusiastically and efficiently. While not all schools are up to the level that Gulf Shores Elementary is at, I definitely think that this is the direction that teaching is going in. Technology is such a huge part of everyday life nowadays, and soon it will be impossible to get by without knowing how to efficiently use this technology.
6. Flipping the Classroom
I have never heard of flipping the classroom until watching this video. Although I think the idea is a little far-fetched, I think that it is an excellent idea with a lot of potential. Flipping is basically teaching students information through a video that they will watch the night before class so that class time can be used to ask questions, practice the given material, and apply the information. I think it is a great idea because less time is wasted lecturing and more time is available for hands-on activities. I do not think that all schools would adhere to this method by any means, but I do think it is a step in the right direction. Technology is really taking over and students need to be prepared for that and they need to be taught how to utilize it.
7. Bringing the Locker Room into the Classroom
This article expresses how important active participation and collaborative learning are in the classroom. Owens talks about how his time spent as an "honorary coach" impacted the way he views teaching and education. He witnessed a pre-game ritual that was very different from the normal speech from the coach; the coach allowed the team members to participate in discussion as well. Owens found that working as a team, asking questions, and collaboratively solving problems benefits everyone much more than listening to a lecture or speech. I will definitely implement this in my future classroom. I think that standing in front of a classroom lecturing from start to finish is completely useless and ineffective. I will allow my students to actively participate in class as much as possible, and while they will have to complete individual work, they will have a lot of group assignments as well. Being able to work as a member of a team is very important once you get into the real world, and we have to be able to teach our students how to do so.
Overall, great job!
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