Teaching in the 21st Century will prove to be challenging unless we-as educators-change the way we teach. Lectures, texts, and pen and paper will prove to be all but obsolete when compared to the amount of technology students are exposed to in their everyday lives. Resources are now at hand both at home and in the classroom that will provide more opportunities to help students and teachers move forward as learners. It will then be our job as teachers to provide a safe environment to teach students the necessary tools and skills in order to empower them in becoming life-long learners.
Professor Dancealot is about a professor who chooses to teach in the manner most lecture based classes are, "death by PowerPoint". However, the content that he is teaching is ballroom dancing. The author makes a sounds argument against classical teaching and expresses it through the completely irrational teaching of Professor Dancealot. The students were not taught the proper skills or tools in order to perform to the fullest on their final exam. I do believe that each lesson or subject must be taught in a way that students are able to collaborate and discuss to be able to solve the problems either themselves or be able to figure it out through the tools they are provided.
Teaching in the 21st Century is a wonderful video that really puts things into perspective for me. Students now have access to countless amounts of information. Roberts believes that we as educators must be able to allow students to use these venues for information; however, they must be able to ensure what they are researching is valid. He touches on a few key points that I agree with wholeheartedly. Students must be able to validate, synthesize, leverage, communicate, collaborate, and be able to problem solve with the information they find. Teaching is helping the students use information and analyze it while creating a product to show that knowledge, per Roberts. I believe this is true. In my field of Secondary Education/English students need to be able to grasp the stories at hand and do more than write an essay. I would love to expand on their writing skills by using blogs to check grammar and understanding. As well as, using forums where they can discuss and ask questions while grasping the literature or assignment fully. Like in the video I must be able to use the technology wisely and maintain order by keeping the assignments relevant, challenging, and engaging. All of this will be possible because it will have to start with me. I will have to become the change.
The Networked Student is an interesting video. During the course of the video it seems as though the students is unsupervised in his learning endeavors and is figuring it all out on his own through PLNs, wikis, and other informative portals. However, he does still need an instructor to help him start off in the right direction, help him when he is stuck, and give him advice about speaking to these other professors and professionals in an appropriate manner when he wants to make contact. It is the teacher's hope that given the tools she has instilled him with he will be able to go forward and "solve the world's problems". I think this is a great idea that should be taught in all classrooms and in all subjects.
Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts is about Mrs. Davis's class where she enjoys collaborating. She looks at their strengths and interests and adjusts the curriculum so that they can learn effectively. She talks about teaching students how to learn. I really enjoyed her mentality when it comes to letting the students figure it out and have them teach her something in turn. I truly love how she allows students to collaborate not only with classmates but with students around the world and lets them learn together. She expands their horizons and view of the world and it does empower them to push forward to learn more.
Who's Ahead in the Learning Race? I definitely believe the young ones have us beat. They have only known a time with technology whereas those of us in Undergrad and Graduate level schools are either just now coming in contact with it or not at all. It is disappointing to know that we will be teaching these students and not know the technology that they are growing up using. These tools are very useful and will help them expand the ways in which they learn and advance their knowledge. It is fun to use different kinds of technology and tools and is rewarding due to the fact that they are effective.
Flipping the Classroom is a cool video that does something different in the classroom. It allows students to have access to the lessons the night before so that the next day they are able to create questions and problems to move forward with the lesson. This will give students the opportunity to access a higher level of thinking by asking, imagining, planning, creating and improving. This is definitely a newer idea to me.
Bringing the Locker Room to the Classroom is an interesting article that talks about fully engaging students and having them "take a shot in the dark" during discussions. Here they are able to work it out among themselves and the teacher just helps them by guiding them through the discussion. The students use a form of Socratic method with each other to problem-solve. I think this will be great for my English students because they will learn the 'system' from me and will be able to figure out the literature or assignments at hand with a guided discussion.Also, they won't be afraid to say something wrong so that they can build on it.
These videos truly opened my eyes on the differences in teaching. However, teaching methods should always revolve around the students' style of learning so that they can utilize the tools and skills used or taught to learn more than originally thought.
