Blog Post 2- What Will Teaching In The 21st Century Be Like?

Mr. Dancealot

Every year scientists and teachers come up with new and exciting ways to teach their students. Which is an excellent thing, because as technology advances, our teaching skills need to as well. But one thing that has not changed and never will, is the fact that students have to practice with hands on activities in order for them to learn. We were asked to watch a video called Mr. Dancealot and to answer some questions about it. In the video, Mr. Dancealot is a professor in a college based classroom. The purpose of his class is for the students to learn specific dances and to be more confident when dancing. Throughout the whole semester he stood behind a large podium and science table. He lectured with pictures from a slideshow.  He tried to show the students the dances moves but he stayed behind the table. When the students got up to try and practice it themselves, he told them to sit down, he was trying to teach a dance class. Not once did they get to practice dancing in the class. When it was time to take the final exam, Mr. Dancealot expected them to get up and know each dance but, they knew nothing. This video proves that students learn better by doing and they need practice. The college I am attending, The University of South Alabama, added some hands on courses a few years ago. They also have what is called JagSuccess, where students can go for extra practice and help in any of their courses. Remember, practice makes perfect, if you want to master a skill.

Teaching In the 21st Century 

Technology has impacted society in a big way in the last decade but, even more in the past few years. You can look around at kids today and it seems like they are already totally dependent on their technology, whether it be a phone, iPod/mp3, tablet/ipad ext. Technology is even starting to be introduced into the school systems. In Kevin Roberts video Teaching in the 21st Century, he argues
that teacher can no longer just use paper and pencil. He says that because students can now find information anytime and anywhere, we as teachers "are no longer the main source of knowledge," we

are just a filter. I believe what he is saying, times are changing and we have to change with them. But I do not think we need to get rid of paper and pencil use all together. I think we as teachers still need to teach students, how to use the public library and how to look up a word in a dictionary. I do not think it is a good idea to teach students to be fully dependent on technology. I think the technology should be a reward for good behavior and maybe some educational games here and there, involving the whole class. Roberts made one really good point that stood out to me, he said, students need to be engaged not entertained. Entertainment is only short-lived while, a student who is engaged will have long-term results. So, we as teachers, need to engage our students and to help them learn and grow in todays society.

The Networked Student 

The Network Student by Wendy Drexler is another example of how technology is being applied in the school systems. Drexler talks about connectivism in her video. "Connectivism is a theory that presumes, that learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties" (Drexler). With this technology, students can build a learning network and communicate with other students to strengthen the learning process. Students learn what websites are trustworthy. Such as, Google Scholar which, is a simple way to search for scholarly literature. Students can also create a blog and comment on other peoples blogs from around the world to leave their own knowledge and opinion.   So, why do students need a teacher? The teacher helps the students build the network and helps to solve any problems one might have. Teachers are there to make sure the student is communicating properly with other people online and they also help the students stay organized. Do I think this is a good idea? Would I use this in my classroom? I think this is a great learning experience for students but I would not want my student's only source of knowledge coming from this. I would use this technology in my classroom but only for a couple hours. I do not like the idea of students staring at a computer
screen all day. 

Harness You Students' Digital Smarts

Vicki Davis is a teacher at a school in rural south Georgia. She uses all kinds of technology to connect her students to the world. Davis say, that she believes every student can learn but every student can not learn with paper and pencil. She focuses on teaching them how to use new software, wiki, blogs and to learn how to learn. She expects her students to look up a word if they do not know it. She does not teach her students all day everyday. Sometimes, she allows her students to get up and teach the class. I think this is a very effective way of teaching. In my opinion, the fact that she allows her students to teach to class is a great way of learning. It show that the student knows the material taught and they can recite it back to you. In a way it is also hands on learning because the student is being forced to look up unknown words.

Flipping The Classroom

Flipping The Classroom is a fabulous way to encourage students to learn all they possibly can. Flipping the Classroom are prerecorded videos, by the teacher, that are sent home with the students, to start teaching them what they will be learning the next day. With these videos comes a few practice problems and examples to help students have a better understanding of the material. My opinion as a future teacher, I think this is a great way to help students learn and have more time in class to answer questions and practice. With the students already having the basic understanding when they arrive in class, it will save time for practice problems and to be able to cover more material. 

Blog Post 1

I have heard so much about this EDM310 course and I have to say that everything I have heard thus far has proven to be true and we have only had one class meeting. This is a required course for all education majors at the University of South Alabama so, a lot of people had their own opinion about this course. People warned me that this class was time consuming, hard, stressful and had lots of work due each week. Someone also told me that the best thing to do is take this course in the summer and nothing else. So, here I am taking sixteen hours and basically trying to keep my cool.

With all that being said, I am trying to come into this course with an open mind. When I first signed up for this class I was intimidated and overwhelmed and the class had not even started yet. It seemed like right after I added this class to my schedule, I was bombarded with emails of things I needed to do for a class that had not even started yet. Needless to say I was already stressing. What I fear most in this course is that I will forget an assignment and fail the course. But honestly, this whole self reflection instead of grades scares me to death. I do not understand, so am I grading myself or am I getting graded on how I see myself.

In high school and in college I had computer and lab based classes that were 100% web based. That being said, the 75% of this class that is on the internet does not scare me or even the 25% that is in the class room. I am ready and prepared for that. However, I have never had a class that published things to the internet for everyone to see. I think that is my biggest fear in this class, that I will make some kind of grammar mistake and everyone will see it.

As of right now, I only have one question about this course. But I am sure as I proceed in this course I will have a million more questions. I will do my best to not get stressed and when I have a question I will ask and keep asking until I understand it. I think I will learn a lot in this class but I am curious as to what we supposed to comment on and how much? I am excited to learn all I can about todays technology for the classroom.

Practice Blog Post

My name is Kelly Campbell and growing up in my family was a lot different than most families. All my life I have been surrounded by people with special needs. Both of my parents professions allowed them to work with individuals with special needs. I also have an older sister named Amy with special needs. She has whats called Cri-Du-Chat Syndrome basically, part of her 5th chromosome is missing. Since, Amy has Cri-Du-Chat, it allowed us to travel all over the United States like, Ohio, Utah, California, New York and that is just to name a few. My family and I have lived in Alabama most of my life, but we also lived in Arkansas for some time as well. Alabama is where I am meant to live because I do not like cold weather at all. I love spending time with my friends and family but I also love being outside especially at the beach. My favorite place to spend my summer vacation is Camp Smile, an over night camp for kids and adults with mild and severe disabilities.

I am attending the University of South Alabama mainly because it is where I received the most scholarship money. My dream college would have been Auburn University, I mean after all it is where I am from and it is the team I cheer for. I am majoring in Elementary Special Education. You might be able to guess my passion, which is working with kids with special needs. Although you might think that this has always been my passion, sadly it has not. When I was a kid I was always known as Amy's sister and no one really knew me as anything else. So, like most confused kids I tried to ignore it, instead of accept it. Now, I am not saying that I did not accept her as a sister because I did, I was still trying to find out who I wanted to be. It was not until 2008 when I found my passion in life. That was my first year at Camp Smile and it totally changed my life. It taught me to always put others first and to lend a helping hand when ever it is needed. Camp has also taught me to ask for help when ever I need it, but that is still the thing I need to get better at doing. Most importantly, it helped me realize that it is okay to be known as Amy's sister and it opened the door to my future.

2nd post test

My 2nd post

Test Profile

This is my First Post. I clicked the HTML button which I should always do in EDM310. I am now a Blogger!