Blog Post #2

Did You Know?
The videos "Did You Know?" by Dr. Strange and "Did You Know?" by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod made me really sit back and ponder on the information presented. The numbers presented in both You Tube videos were astonishing! It was mind blowing to sit and really think and consider the outcome in the near future! It is crazy to think we are preparing for jobs that are nonexistent as of right now. I view this as something positive, but it makes you wonder about the future jobs. What are the future jobs? We may not know right now, but it is obvious that technology will be a part of each and every job.
"Information doubles every two years....for students starting a four year technical degree this means that...half of what they will learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study." I believe that fact proves to anyone that technology is a necessity in the classroom. We must prepare our students with the newest technology in the world. If we are not teaching them the newest technologies who will teach them? We need to strive to educate and inform our students to better our country.

Mr. Winkles Wakes
The video of "Mr. Winkles Wake" by Matthew Needlemen is a very simple video, but all the information presented is very true! This video was entertaining and it left me wanting to see more by Mr. Needlemen. He did a great job presenting the information. Mr. Winkle awakes after sleeping for 100 years to a new world. He does not understand all the new inventions and technology, but he find comfort in a school where everything is the same as 100 years ago.
It seems like every where Mr. Winkle went he saw the use of technology but not in schools. Technology is in hospitals, office buildings, but not in schools. It is sad to know that schools are so behind in technology. I think sometimes the school systems may not view technology advancements as a top priority. The reality of this is our students are bored in the classrooms. If they are seeing all these things everywhere else a teacher lecturing is not going to keep their attention. One of our goals as teachers should be to keep students engaged and wanting to learn.
Technonlogy is forever changing but this fact should not scare educators. As educators we should always be learning just like our students. Striving to keep learning throughout our lives should be one of our goals as educators. Just knowing about the newest technology is not enough. We need to be able to understand the newest technology to teach our students how to operate these tools.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
I really enjoyed watching the video "The Importance of Creativity". Sir Ken Robinson was very informative and also entertaining. He did a great job keeping his audience engaged. I have seen this video before in a class at the University of Mobile. Sir Ken Robinson makes several great points about educating children for the future.
I agree with him when he stated that most educators focus only on reading, writing, and mathematics; however it is just as important to educate them in other subjects. For example, in a classroom with 20 children not all of them will be engineers, professors, or writers. Some students in the classroom may be artist, dancers, musicians or athletes. Sir Ken Robinson was trying to teach us that we should encourage every child and their goals. He also stated that we may not be around to see their future, but they will. We need to prepare our students for their future careers though we cannot see the outcome right now!

Classroom Disruption
I think it is obvious which classroom in this video was educating students and keeping them engaged. When we keep students engaged they are wanting to learn and find it exciting. In one classroom, the teacher is exciting, encouraging, and interactive. In the second classroom, the teacher enters the room, monotoned voice, and tells the students to read in their book. The first teacher has an interactive classroom filled with computers and encourages students to use internet and social medias. On the other hand, the second teacher has nothing on the walls, the classroom is boring, and he teaches only from the textbook. He does not use outside sources. The answer is obvious that students find technology interesting and exciting.
Throughout the years of being in school most of my classes have been like the second classroom. A teacher would come in the room, lecture from beginning to end, and then inform us when the next test was coming up. This method turns student brains off and they do not hear or learn anything from the lecture. Educators need to make a change. I want my classroom to be effective place for students to learn, and to do that I will need to incorporate technology.
The objectives of the two classrooms are completely different. The technology based room the teacher wants the students to learn skills that they can use the rest of their lives. The textbook teacher wants the students to learn facts, but they will never remember this information after memorizing information for the test. Right now I need to start preparing myself to be a technology based teacher. I believe it is a necessity to be an effective teacher. Learning how to blog, make videos, make movies, and much more will help me increase my knowledge. EDM 310 will be a great start for my technology knowledge, but I cannot stop learning after this class. I must keep learning and growing my knowledge the rest of my life.