Blog Assignment 2

       Wow. That was the first thing to come to my mind after watching Did You Know? by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod. The video was just cold hard facts put to modern techno music. It had a very smart and technological feel, which just made everything I watched a little more frightening. Facts like China being the number one English speaking country in a few years and super computers being smarter than the entire human race by 2049 are alarming to me. Watching movies like The Matrix or Terminator might be the reason for my paranoia about the super computers. The other facts like the stuff we are learning now will be outdated in three years or educating people to fix problems we don't even know about yet is mind blowing. It makes the idea of going to school to learn something seem pointless if the information will only be good for a few years. As for problems we don't know about, I think, "great, I already know that I have to fix something that is not even broken yet." It just seems so overwhelming.
        So why does it scare me? It is probably the speed at which everything is improving so rapidly. I feel like I can't keep up. I feel like America can't keep up. What will happen to our country? With all the political and economic issues right now Canada is looking pretty good. However, EDM 310 gives me hope for our country and for our people. If we are teaching future teachers to strive to be technologically literate and to stay updated then that will pass on to their future pupils. Thus, future generations will be able to keep up. Besides, no one knows what the future truly holds except for the maker of it all. Therefore, these "facts" are really just predictions. I'm not saying they will not come true...just that people, countries, or even everything can change in the blink of an eye.

       Mr. Winkle Wakes by Matthew Needleman is an interesting take on what it is like for people who do not stay up to date with technology. It also shows the somewhat tragic side of a child's education, or rather lack of education. The video is about a man who has been asleep for one hundred years. He wakes to find the world very very different due to computers and other high tech machines. He cannot adjust to all of the changes and searches for a place to fit in. School turns out to be the perfect place for him. There are no computers, except for one that is really old, and basically no mention of the fast paced, technological world. Mr. Winkle may like school this way, but I think everyone else should see that school needs an adjustment.
       School, for me, was the way Mr. Winkle likes it. There were no computers, no smart boards, and no real mention of how the world was advancing. I use to not like computers just because I did not know how to use them. This only became worse in high school when I had to force myself to use computers for projects and papers. However, my understanding of the way computers work became better because of this. A lot of things in school could have been better if technology had been incorporated in the classrooms. Now that I'm in college I really do not see how anyone could make it through without knowing something about computers. I believe that technology should be taught about and used in elementary classrooms. By doing this, students will always be familiar with technology and will remain comfortable with it throughout their educational journey as well as their lives.

         My mother use to tell me, and still does, that you go to college to become one of three things; a doctor, a lawyer, or a teacher. My dad use to tell me to make good grades in school so that I could go to college to become one of these three things. Art, dancing, cooking, designing, and sewing were just hobbies. Mom told me that you do not make a living off of working your hobbies. But, in the world of today I am seeing so many people who have degrees struggle to provide for themselves and their families. Not only do I see struggle, I also see a lack of passion for what they do. It's like they forced their profession upon themselves. They ignored doing something that made them happy because they were told they would not make a living. This is partially what Sir Ken Robinson says about education in the video The Importance of Creativity.
         Mr. Robinson discusses how educational systems around the world are crushing the creative imagination of children. Schools are drilling mathematics, literacy, and science into the heads of students. But where art, music, and dance are concerned, schools do not stress their importance. Why are they not as important? Because academic ability and subjects that are considered more useful for work are more important. We associate success with how well you do academically in school. However, some of the most successful people in this world embrace their creativity and achieve greatness not from what they learned in school. His friend, Julian Lynn, is an amazing choreographer and very successful. She did not do well in school and people today would say she had ADHD. But, a doctor she had seen simply told her that she was a dancer and should enroll in a studio. Now she is a successful dancer and makes her living off of what she loves. This should be an example to everyone about the importance of art to children. Your child may not do well in school and grow up to be a doctor, lawyer, or teacher. However, they just might grow up to be the next Julian Lynn because of their talent and love of an art.

           I think it is wonderful that Cecilia Gault understands the importance of having a balance of the arts and sciences in the classroom. She also shows how children can impact technology and how they can use it to their advantage in her article on Scholastic News Kids Press Corps Blog. I believe children need a creative outlet. When I have my own students I want to create a relationship between them and their studies, technology, and the arts. I believe there are ways to incorporate all of these things into the curriculum. Most importantly, I think children need to interact and have discussions about math, art, computers, dance, sports, history, reading, etc. The teacher should not be talking the entire time of lecture. The students should be adding their input and asking questions. I want to lead and inspire my students to want to learn and explore their creative side.
        
          Camillia, Georgia looks a lot like my home town. However, there is a big difference. Vicki Davis has her students in that little town blogging and communicating with people all over the world as the video Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts clearly shows. My school did not have a class like that. Our technology class involved learning how to use excel, word, and powerpoint from a book. It was good to learn how to do that except for the fact that it was from a program that was four years outdated. We did not learn to blog or how to use avatar programs. Her students seem like they enjoy the class while learning to teach themselves.
           When I become a teacher, I would like to introduce my students to new programs and technologies. I want to have the students use these programs in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom. Besides teaching them I want them to teach me. This will inspire both my students and myself to never quit learning.