Blog Post #2

What will teaching in the 21st Century be like?

Professor Dancealot

There are many effective ways to teach, but the example shown in Professor Dancealot, by Karl Johnson, is a way that is not effective. The central message in this video is to show how Professor Dancealot used technology to teach his students simple dances and moves, but he did not apply it properly. The professor demonstrates to his students behind his podium. First off, this creates problems for students to learn efficiently when he is trying to teach visually. Instead of showing his steps in front of the students so they can see the presentation of foot work from power point interpreted to the literal dance moves, he disables the learning process by teaching the foot work behind the podium where no one can see and interpret the lesson properly. In effect, the students could not apply or retain the dance moves because they were not allowed out of their seats all semester. When the final arrived, the students were paired up and were given the opportunity to use their books during the exam, but it would not help them because they never applied or were taught the physical dance moves all semester. The case shows students must be engaged, otherwise it is not effective learning. The conclusion of this case could not be more justifiable and correct. How are students supposed to retain information if they have not applied it all semester or were never given a chance to ask questions? Many times students will stop learning and in result, move onto new things. This often happens in college and in high school. As teachers, we need to engage learning with our students, so we know our students can move onto better things because the results will show they succeeded greatly.


Teaching the 21st Century

In Teaching the 21st Century, Roberts shows many arguments of how teaching should be done in this day and age. Nowadays, he says, teachers are obsolete if they only teach facts in the classroom, so in order to be effective in the classroom, teachers must be facilitators. By doing this, teachers must learn skills from the internet such as blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, etc. like the kids have done. Students find anything, anywhere, and anytime. He also argues through several other examples:

I. Teachers must show students how to validate, synthesize, leverage, collaborate, communicate and problem solve.
a. Again, teachers must teach skills and not facts, which is what curriculum is currently based on.
b. Students need to learn how to CREATE, not just remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, and evaluating skills.
II. Teachers must teach responsibility, reliability, and integrity because students are learning from friends, strangers and are also teaching themselves.
III. Teachers must teach Professionalism.
IV. Teachers must create lessons that are relevant, challenging, and engaging.
V. He reminds us it is no longer about entertainment. Engagement is more active, it is for learning, it has long term results, it is meaningful and applicable, it solves problems, and it uses creativity of the participant. The list before shows how engagement differs from entertainment.

For teachers of the 21st century, it means we need to embrace technology because it is impactful and is now becoming the efficient way of teaching in school systems. Roberts arguments are interesting and I believe that he is saying in the nicest way possible that technology is taking over. As upcoming educators we may believe that old school is the way to go, but we need to change our thinking and embrace what is coming in our near future.



The Networked Student

In the video by Wendy Drexler entitled The Networked Student, I was told to pay very important attention to the question, "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?" The video answers the question by saying the teacher is the one who teaches him how to build this network and take advantage of learning opportunity. It then hit me like a sudden blow. I had the reaction of why did I not think of that? Wendy poses an argument that will make an educator, watching the video, really think. The student picks up information from the teacher because we are in a century where you can teach yourself but you still need guidance from the educator. Wendy says in order to help her student succeed, she taught him: how to communicate properly and respectfully with experts, shows how to differentiate between good information and propaganda, how to turn a web search into a scavenger hunt, and in return for her guidance, the educator got the reward of seeing her student get excited when he found the pearl of content. Generally, I agree with Wendy's teaching method and couldn't find her stance more correct. We are not yet in an age where teachers aren't needed, so we need to use them as guidance because they are useful sources. As an upcoming educator, we need to apply this style of teaching because it is about helping those successfully and not cutting them short. We are here to open new doors and to guide successfully.



Harness Your Students Digital Smarts


In the video, Harness Your Students Digital Smarts, Vicki Davis shares that she feels students need to be more diverse with technology. Davis believes only certain types of children succeed with a pencil and paper. Technology is more broad and it allows educators to focus on her students strengths and weaknesses. Nowadays, she says educators need to make sure that their students are more comfortable with any technology that could be thrown their way. She also believes teachers don't and shouldn't have to know everything. To this day, Davis admits she learns on a daily basis. I agree with Davis. Technology is overpowering our schools and we should be teaching children how to be comfortable with all types of technology, but at the same time they should not be spoon fed. Vicki admits that it is a wonderful feeling to see her students feeling of empowerment when they figure out a problem on their own. We want to teach children that they are invincible and well-rounded with technology and with each other. Once educators teach children how to be connected to the world, we empower our students and have a better classroom overall.



Who's Ahead in the Learning Race? 

Dr. Strange doesn't give us the direct answer to the question in the video, Who's Ahead in the Race,  although, it is inferred that elementary students are ahead in the technology race. As an undergraduate in college, it was difficult to watch the video and see how much further a third grader is along in technology than I was then and even now. When asked if I was technology literate when I first came into EDM310, I thought I was. I can now say I thought wrong. We see children nowadays with smartphones and as ridiculous as that may seem, that is how our world is revolving. Dr. Strange shows us in his visit to Gulf Shores Elementary School that even the children in Kindergarden are learning from day one. The students at Gulf Shores receive a Macbook Air once they progress into third grade and receive one every year following. Many school systems are pushing for taxes to be raised to provide technology for our students and it's spreading quickly. If this doesn't say something about how our generation is behind in the technology race, then I don't know what does.

Flipping the Classroom

Just when I thought I was up more up to date on technology, I was thrown for another loophole of seeing the new method of Flipping the Classroom. Ms. Mufano explains in the video, the lesson is given virtually the night before class for the children to watch. Students then can come in ahead of the game, knowing the lesson coming up, ready to discuss and ask questions. Being ahead of the game shows time being used efficiently. Although there are many expectations, I feel once this system has evolved in all classroom settings, it'll be more efficient. The video stated the subject it's only available in is math so far. Once the flip reaches all subjects, educators can teach students to adjust once they make it apart of the curriculum, making a more efficient use of time in all classrooms in the future.

As an educator, I'm not sure whether it would efficient for my profession or not. I believe it would come with time and training and also time and effort. It would take experimentation in my own classroom before I could completely switch over. As a English major, students are required to read the night before regardless and if they can't do it now, why would it change by assigning a video? Although, I don't want to doubt a upcoming method, so I would be willing to experiment before I agreed to going through with it or not.

Bringing the Locker Room into the Classroom


In the article Bringing the Locker Room into the Classroom by Craig Owens, there is a specific approach he is trying to take. Owens is similarly an English professor, as I am a major. When I read his article, I found his formula to be very useful for when I become a teacher. His formula follows the guidelines of: recognizing patterns, formulating questions and crafting interpretative responses. Owens claims with time, this formula becomes more natural. As a student now, I feel that this process would help if my English professors knew of it. It is said that students need a routine, deeply analyzing content. As student, we should not remotely focus and ask the teacher to spit out the answers or define questions for us and in return, teachers should not be regurgitating the the same questions on exams. With English, comes interpretation but I feel that I've been taught wrong my whole schooling career. I, as an educator, want to change to Owens scenario, for a better working and teaching environment for my future students.