Sunday, January 27, 2013

Blog Post #2


"Did You Know"

Dr. Strange's Did You Know? 3.0- A John Strange 2012 Version is really eye opening. We are told all the time how are world is growing so much technologically, but many of us never realize just how big the numbers really are. I never really stopped and thought about just how many other people could be on YouTube simultaneously with me. I believe the growth of technology is great. Technology is constantly on a rapidly transforming pace. While technology isn't everything our world is about, it certainly opens many doors to new opportunities and ways to learn. We are truly learning in a different way than our grandparents and even our parents did.
Kids in school today are even using technology more than those of us who just graduated a few years ago. I see this firsthand when my nieces and nephews tell me how they get to play on the Wii in P.E. class. I was surprised that even kids as young as eight have a computer. It's amazing to see how much the world truly outnumbers the U.S. India and the Chinese leave us well behind in their dust when it comes to the number of designated Honor Students and even speaking our native language of English.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

This is a short animated video created by Matthew Needleman. The video begins with Mr. Winkle waking up from a 100 year long nap. He is blown away by the use of technology he finds in the office building such as business people communicating with each other from across the world. He begins to feel sick, so he goes to the hospital where he finds more technology that he has never seen before. Mr. Winkle then finds himself in a school where students are seated in rows while a teacher lectures them. Mr. Winkle feels right at home at the school. The school is exactly as he remembered it.
Many people's views will be hard to change, especially if they are new to the world of technology. Before college, about 95% of my work was done using the standard pencil and paper method. College opened up a new world for me, but it soon became quite beneficial to me since I am more of a hands-on learner. Technology is constantly growing and changing; we must simply learn to live with it.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity 

Robinson is a firm believer in creativity. Robinson compares creativity to literacy. He obviously holds creativity to high standards. He argues children themselves aren't afraid to make mistakes, but as a society we teach them to be afraid of being wrong. Mistakes are an important learning tool. When we make a mistake, we gain the experience to know what to do differently next time. For example, when we learned to walk or ride a bike we had to just keep going until we were successful. Robinson points out that as we grow older we are less creative. Schools do not necessarily help this fact because they are trying to do away with the arts, such as music.
Robinson talks about the hierarchy in the school systems across the world. Math is at the top, next comes languages, followed by science, and finishing off with music/art. I agree with Robinson about the fact that creativity is being pushed out of schools. Creativity is a way of expression of individuality and is something that should be kept in the schools.

Pinterest

I have only used Pinterest for a few weeks, but it is quite interesting. Pinterest allows you to follow the activity of others and learn from them. It's almost like having your own personal library of ideas. Pinterest allows you to not only find new ideas, but to explore new areas you may have not looked at before.

Pinterest is an excellent way to keep up with the new ideas. It allows everyone to stay up to date and pretty much on the same page with whatever happens to be trending at the time. Pinterest is a great tool to use to design activities for students. It can also be used as a decorating tool.

2 comments:

  1. You misunderstood the comparative data on China, India and the United States. India has four times the population of the United States and China has five times the population of America, This means that the size of the population leads to the large numbers of "honor students" or English speakers when India or China are compared to the United States. You could also say that the 20 % of the population in China with the largest ears (or 25% of the population with the largest ears in India) outnumbers all of the people with ears of any size in the United States.

    Thoughtful. Interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Laura! I agree that technology is constantly changing and we must earn to live with it! I like that technology is growing rapidly in the classrooms and that we are getting further into the future. Our generation has grown up on changing technology so, why not the next generation too? I LOVE Pinterest. Like, Im obsessed. I'm a crafty person, so I would use it a lot in my classroom as well!

    ReplyDelete