Blog Assignment 2

Did you know?

Did You Know by John Strange was a very insightful video full of fun facts. Throughout the video I was astonished by the statistics given. More people in China will be speaking in English than the rest of the native English speaking world combined by 2025, that’s amazing to me. There are more people in only the top 25% of India’s population with higher IQ’s than the whole population of the United States, that’s mind blowing. Every minute 48 hours of videos are uploaded to youtube, I would have never thought that. Did I know? NO!

Although the facts given throughout the video seemed to be unreal, it was a real eye opener for me. I learned that as an educator we must be up to date with the latest information and using the most recent tools available to us, otherwise we are setting our students up to fail. How, will our students be able to adapt to the newest technology if they are unable to work the old technology? How, will they be ready to face an ever changing world if we don’t learn to change with it? How, will they be prepared for jobs that aren’t even invented yet if we don’t give them the basics needed to go after those jobs now?

Technology is all around us, and it’s steadily changing. That is the one and only thing that won’t change, there is always going to be change. I can see the change that happened throughout my short lifetime and I can only dream of all the changes that will take place in my children’s lifetime. When I was little no one had computers, cell phones came in a bag that stayed in the car, and video cameras were the size of small child, now we have cell phones that are like mini computers that contain video cameras. As the video said 85% of high school students today have cellphones and with that kind of technology in your back pocket today the options for what you can fit in your pocket in the future are endless.

Mr. Winkle

In the youtube video Mr. Winkle Wakes by Mathew Needleman Mr. Winkle wakes up after being asleep for one hundred years to find many things have changed. He goes to an office building where he finds people working on strange machines (computers) and talking to business associates across the country through video chat on these machines. He wonders into the hospital and finds that people are being kept alive by machines that are breathing for them. Mr. Winkle is overwhelmed by all the changes that have been made everywhere he goes until he finally wonders into a school where he finds that not much has changed in the hundred years he has been asleep. Students are still listening to their teachers lecture and taking notes with pen and paper, sure there is a computer in the back of the room but it’s old and dusty and no one uses it. Mr. Winkle finds comfort in the school because it is where there is the least amount of this new technology that he is so overwhelmed by.

Although this story may seem farfetched at first when I gave it a little more thought it really has a lot of truth to it. All around today’s society is technology: in doctors’ offices there are no longer paper charts but electronic charts, you can renew your car tag online so you don’t have to wait in line, you can video chat with someone in china using a cellphone, yet our schools still depend on the old fashion way of teaching. We spend all this time educating our children yet we don’t provide them with the tools needed to educate them with the things they will face in the real world. It’s sad really; we are setting them up to fail, by not providing them with the newest technology in our classrooms. Mr. Winkle should have felt just as uncomfortable and overwhelmed in the school as he did in the office building and the hospital, yet he didn’t because nothing had changed.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

In the video, The Importance of Creativity, Sir Ken Robinson explains the need for creativity within our school systems today while giving many examples of why it simply doesn’t exist there. Throughout this witty and entertaining speech Sir Robinson reminds us that creativity is just as important as literacy. The purpose of education is to prepare one for the future, a future we know nothing about. So how do we prepare our students for a future we know nothing about? It’s simple, creativity.

Sir Robinson makes a remarkable point in this argument for creativity by telling the story of a girl who was drawing in the back of the room. The teacher said this girl never pays attention and so when this assignment (which involved drawing) was given and the girl jumped right to it she question the reason. The teacher walked to the back of the room to ask the girl what she was drawing and the girl replied God and the teacher said but no one knows what God looks like and the little girl looked up from her work and answered well they will soon. You see this little girl still had her creativity she had the ability to take a chance and draw God, sure she might be wrong since we don’t know for sure what he looks like but she took that chance. That’s what Sir Robinson describes creativity as the ability to express yourself without the fear of being wrong.

Sir Robinson goes on to address the problem, not only in the United States but all over the world, we educate children out of creativity. We tell them to forget that side of themselves and become more intellectual. We remind them daily that there is no room for arts. We tell them other subjects like math and science are more important. We tell them there are no jobs for people who are solely interested in arts. We, as educators, forget that everyone expresses themselves differently and given half a chance with a little encouragement a child who likes to dance can be just as successful as a child who loves to read.

While I watched this video I thought about how judgmental we can be as adults, and how much influence we have not only as adults but as educators, and I realized that I don’t want to end up like Jillian Lyn’s teacher. I don’t want to place a child who expresses themselves differently in the category of ADHD because they need to move to think. I realized through watching this video that I as a future educator want to encourage creativity, encourage my students to go after the things they are passionate about, even if it is the arts they are passionate about. I want to remind my students that the future is full of unknown things and what today’s society says isn’t worth going after maybe exactly what the future is all about.

The Future

After watching A Day Made of Glass and Project Glass I feel a little like Mr. Winkle. It has really made me think about what life was like when I was little, not only was gas less than a dollar a gallon there were no cell phones, no social networks, no flat screen tvs, only rich people had computers, there was no e-mail we had snail mail, and there was no tagging someone in a picture you had to get doubles printed and send a copy to them. In my short 26 years all of these things have changed. We can send e-mails, check the price of gas, take pictures and tag someone in them, join a social media network, watch a movie, and make a call all from our smartphones.

In 1986, when I was born or even in 1991, when I started elementary school no one would have dreamed any of these things were possible. The truth is the future is unknown and it is full of unknown technology. I for one am excited to see what the future holds, not only in my personal life but in my teaching career. The options are endless. Today our teachers are using smart boards to do things that just weren’t possible with overhead projectors in the future I hope to be doing this with new technology that just aren’t possible with smart boards.

As technology changes and what society considers being the norm changes it is our job as educators to change too. Mr. Winkles should never feel welcome in my classroom after a hundred year nap. It is my hope and prayer to be teaching with the most up to date resources available to me so that I will be able to prepare my students for the ever changing future, otherwise I am setting them up to fail.