Blog Post Numb. 10

Don't let them take pencils home.

I loved the sarcastic humor John Spencer uses in this blog. He was basically telling us that kids who take pencils home perform less on test than children who rely on technology like laptops, computers, and IPads. Children today use technology to get, define, and review information and pencils are a thing of the past, which our parents would use. Most parents would not be able to keep their children learning with pencils because the excitement of learning has been dwindled down into the small rubber and lead and this is not congruent for children learning today. Also the vast majority of learning is done on the internet and software programs of today. I also agree with the lower test scores statement and with what the author stated because pencils do not facilitate learning. A computer and the internet will help in today's learning environment. People must also learn to use this new technology and also get away from the days of books, pencils, and paper. Children in today's world have access to vasts amounts of information, and this information is not from a pencil. Parents and schools can still let children take pencils home, but the learning will be almost nonexistent.
Video #3
Two Questions That Can Change Your Life.
This was a very fascinating video, for I have never really thought about my future in the terms of only two questions. This video also has a way of making you sit down and think about the way that one's own life has gone. The good news is that the question "What's my Sentence" has the effect of making us look at our own life and analyze it from a more critical angle than what we normally would have. This can then let us know in what direction our lives need to take, and then we can track ourselves through self reflection. My sentence would be: BY THE TIME I HAVE BEEN TEACHING FOR TEN YEARS I WILL HAVE TOUCH 500 CHILDREN'S LIVES FOR THE BETTER. The last question the video brings up "Was I better today than yesterday." This question would impact all of our lives for the better if people would only stop and think about this each and every night. I bet if people did think about that sentence each and ever day then there would not be as much trouble and sorrow in the world right now. This would then allow all of us to analyze ourselves truthfully and the best part of that is that we cannot run away from our own conscious. These two questions will impact me every day because it will make me think about the deeds that I am doing for my children. Children look up to us as teachers and if I can set a positive example hopefully some of my children will embrace the goodness of life and will try harder in school and in their own life.
Blog and video Number 1
An open letter to educators
This video was very informative and I am glad that Morgan Bayda showed us the movie made by Dan Brown. Dan was right on the mark when he said that "Universities must also learn to expand their educational horizons for their students." I also agree that our educational experiences have failed us in today's world. There have been many days that I have sat in classes falling asleep and wondering isn't there a easier way to get ones education. Thinking on my own education I wonder how long it will actually take our public schools and universities to adapt before they get left behind. The internet is the new university of the twenty-first century and universitie's must learn to both become more student oriented and student active in the internet schooling before they lose the pull they have with students.
Dan was also correct in the fact that the knowledge base is also falling apart and more and more people have access to information today than they did one-hundred years ago. This is not a bad thing, but the best thing ever in the whole of our history as a people. Information is power and in today's world everyone has the opportunity to be powerful in knowledge. Unlike Dan though I feel strongly against people from Dropping out of school. Schools provide the foundation that we need as a people to understand where and how we come about and were we are going from here. People must also learn to incorporate the knowledge they get from schools and Universities with new internet sites like Google, Twitter, You Tube, and Wikipedia. Only then will people begin to understand the whole picture. This makes me think of all the possibilities that I can begin to show my children when I start to teach in a few years. In the end it is up to us as teachers to nurture and support our children's push into this new technological era.