Blog Post 2

Mr. Dancealot

In Mr. Dancealot video, I think that central message is that, a student can’t learn from listening to a lecture. Students need to have hands on experience and more project based learning, to better understand the concepts that are being taught. The author of this video really makes his point with the video, because it is obvious that dancing is a very “hands on skill”. I do agree with the author of the video, students need to learn most subjects and skills by actually attempting and working through the material or skill first hand.

Teaching in the 21st Century

In the video he describes teaching, as something more now than it was before. The video states that as educator we are no longer the main source of information we are now more of a filter. The video suggest our role is to provide; content, facts, dates, formula, research, theories, stories, information. The conflict with that is that students now have access to that information at their fingertips all the time. So the role as a teacher has shifted. We no longer provide all the information. Now it is our job to teach students how to use the information overload they have access too. Teachers have to embrace the information students already have and teach them to use their resources correctly. The video also gives examples of other subjects that have to be taught to students for example; plagiarism, slander, copyright, crowdsourcing etc. I believe Roberts is correct in his way of thinking that the ways of teaching in the 21st century are different. I hope to use the new technology in my future classroom. I think it will be my responsibility to help students understand their tech resources, but also to teach them to filter through and find the accurate information. Even in the elementary level I would love to use some of the resources shown in this video such as podcast, google docs, you tube etc.

Networked Student

I found the video very interesting, all the different ways this student connected and gathered information independently but with the support of his teacher in a nontraditional way. The answer the question” why did the networked student need a teacher?” did not surprise me very much. I believe that as educators that is always or role to allow our students to work through information and guide them however needed. Educators are not doing their students any justice by handing them the needed answers or information easily.

Harness your Students Digital Smarts

I believe the thesis of the video is like the teacher said at the end of the video that she believes in “turning school upside down and empowering students to share with other students”. Meaning that she doesn’t believe in the concept that a teacher has to master a topic or skill before she teaches that concept or skill to the students, she likes the idea of allowing the students to learn and teach as well. I really found the information in the video inspiring and knowledgeable. I have never even heard of “digital citizenship” which they were working on in the video. I really think that it is beneficial for students to learn from one another, and it doesn’t always have to be the teacher in the driver seat.

Flipping the classroom

I think the idea of “flipping the classroom” is very useful and it is more like what we do in college, which would prepare students for a college experience. I also think that it can only be effective if students and parents are active participants in the idea. I can see a lot of parents being not on board with this type of idea. I personally am a parent and a future teacher and love the idea, I think there is a lot of valuable time wasted in the classroom explaining and teaching the basic ideas of a topic when those could be taught via videos. Making the students watch the videos and complete the practice problems and come to school prepared for the lesson, teaches them accountability and responsibility.