Blog Post #2

1. Did You Know?

Watching the video "Did You Know?" was an extreme eye opener. It's obvious that technology and people are advancing and becoming smarter everyday. Twenty-five percent of the population in India with the highest IQ's outnumbers the entire population of the United States. That means that India has more honor roll students than the United States. Are you kidding me? Apparently not. The fact that a super computer will be built that exceeds the computational capabilities of the human brain in the year 2013 really blows my mind. It scares me to think that technology is becoming smarter than humans.

I have realized that as I am preparing myself to be an educator, I need to be thinking about the things I am going to teach my students. With the world and technology advancing so rapidly, I am going to have to prepare my students for jobs that doesn't exist yet. I am also going to have to be ready for any questions and comments that my students have, because not only is technology advancing, but people are advancing as well. It seems as though I am going to have to be one step ahead of the game in order to be a successful educator in this very busy technological world.

2. Mr. Winkle Wakes

Mr. Winkle Wakes is about an old man waking up after 100 years of sleeping to find that the world had changed. Everything had changed except for one thing. He noticed all the busy people with their very busy machines. These machines were able to print pictures and documents on paper very quickly. In hospitals, he noticed there were X-rays and machines that kept people alive. He was overwhelmed by all the new technological advances. Then he went to school and immediately felt comfortable. Nothing had changed. The teacher stood in front of the class and lectured while students sat quietly taking notes. Mr. Winkle felt and ease of comfort because school had not changed.

This video holds very true with schools today. With all the advancing technology, it seems as though schools are having a hard time catching up. Therefore, children are falling behind. We cannot allow our children to fall behind because they are our future leaders. They are going to be the people running our country. One of our job as educators is to give our students access to different resources to help them learn. Technology is a fantastic resource to use for anything, especially education. Children have lost interest in school because nothing ever changes. There are no surprises, nothing to grab their attention. With the right technology in schools, teachers would be able to explore and introduce new ideas to their students and teach them in a way that has never been taught before.

3. The Importance of Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson makes an extreme eye-opening video about the importance of creativity in education. He says that education is meant to take us into a future that we can't grasp. He believes that creativity is as important to education as literacy is. He says that children will take a chance because they are not afraid of being wrong. As we become adults, we fear being wrong and do not want to make mistakes. In today's schools, children are being taught that making a mistake is the worst thing you could do. Schools are killing children's creativity by teaching them this concept. In the education system, Art is always the last subject to be taught on the list. In many school all over the world, dance and theatre aren't even taught. Public schools are based on two ideas. One, the most useful subjects for work are at the top. The second idea is academic ability. Apparently, everyone must be smart. This kind of thinking enables a child and lowers their confidence. Children are actually being taught that you have to be smart and perfect. Ken Robinson says that we need to rethink the fundamental principles in which we are educating our children. Our task is to educate children's whole being and to help them make something of their future.

I enjoyed watching this video. I thought that Ken Robinson made some very good points, and I agree with a lot of what he said. In today's schools, teachers are told to prepare their students for state testing. Therefore, teachers just cram an abundance of information into their students and students basically regurgatate it back on tests. As a consequence, students quickly forget the information because all they did was memorize. They didn't learn anything. I think our education system definitely needs to be re-thought out. It is our job as educators to prepare our students for the future and invoke creativity. Creativity is so important in education. It brings out new ideas, new thoughts, and new adventures. It opens up a whole new world. I strongly believe that if we incorporated more arts into our teachings that students would learn more and actually retain what they are being taught.

4. A Day Made of Glass

A world made of glass absolutely amazes my mind. The video demonstrated what the world will look like with the new advances of glass and technology. It will be apart of your everyday life. It will be in our homes, cars, hospitals, parks, and schools. This new glass technology will be everywhere. The amount of information that can be transferred from worlds away simply through glass is mind-blowing. This new technology will change the world and the way people live.

When I think about education and this new technology that they are creating, it would open up so many opportunities for children when used in schools. Everything you are teaching on the board in the front of the classroom is transferred straight to the student's tablets in front of them. the students are able to interact with one another on a huge activity board in which they can manipulate. I think this new technology is going to take the education system to a whole new level entirely. I am extremely excited about these new upcomings and cannot wait until they are available in schools.