Blog Post 2

Professor Dancealot
While watching the movie Mr. Dancealot by Ms. Kari Johnson I am reminded of the media disclaimer, “Please do not try this at home,” or as educators, not in the classroom. To this viewer the message is that this so called style of teaching is not very effective.

The author demonstrates this in ways, that as students ourselves, we have all seen or even experienced in a class. In Professor Dancealot’s class the students are not encouraged to participate and in a short period of time most are not even slightly excited to be there. Even the students with an initial interest eventually become apathetic. The author further brings the message of this ineffective teaching method home when it is time for the final exam and the students are totally loss as to what they are expected to do. I would have to agree with the author and also conclude that Professor Dancealot’s teaching methods are very ineffective. I know that I would not enjoy being a student in this class as I would not find very engaging and would soon become bored.

Teaching in the 21st Century
In his presentation, Teaching in the 21st Century, Mr. Roberts expresses his opinion that the role of teachers in the 21st. century has to change. With an ever growing number of technological resources available to students the traditional role of the teacher as a primary source of information is no longer viable. Mr. Roberts thinks the modern teacher needs to evolve into one that embraces this technology as a tool and uses it to engage students.

The following is a not so brief outline of Mr. Roberts’ points:
   •Teaching in the 21st Century.
   •What does it mean to teach in the 21st century?
       •Teachers can no longer simply provide data
       •Students in the 21st century can find data.
       •A limitless amount of data is viable at the stroke of a keyboard.
           •Wikipedia.
           •Youtube.
           •Google.
   •How do we instruct students so that they may benefit from these resources?
       •Have students been taught how to utilize this data?
           •Validate information.
           •Leverage information.
           •Problem solve with information.
   •Should we teach facts and content or skills?
       •Think about the numerous tasks and choices you face in your daily adult life.
           •What resources do you use to accomplish these?
           •How would students complete these tasks or make these choices?
   •Creating in the 21st century means using technology.
       •Tech skills needed to be creative in the 21st century.
   •Modern technology and professional conduct.
   •Technology in the classroom.
       •Gathering and discussing data.
       •Defining reliable sources.
       •Publishing and evaluating work.
       •Collaboration.
       •Benefits for struggling students.
   •Problem solving using online resources.
   •Managing technology in the classroom.
   •Entertainment versus engagement
   •A modern 21st century classroom starts with you, the teacher.
   •What does it mean to teach?

I feel Mr. Roberts makes several valid points. I especially like his suggestion of not teaching content but skills. I know from my experience as a tutor a common question is “How will I ever use this in real life?” To answer this, one of my goals is to bring real life problems into the classroom by introducing some of the day to day examples I encountered as a professional surveyor. Finally, I have to say, excellent presentation Mr. Roberts! I found it most interesting and watched it twice.

Networked Student
In the short video Networked Student Ms. Wendy Drexler introduces the viewer to the use of connectivism which she defines as, “A theory that presumes that learning occurs as a part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties.” In the video Ms. Drexler contends that in the 21st century high school learning should be based on the use of technology to find and share information within network.

The use of online resources such as Google, iTunes, Skype, and blogs are highly recommended as ways to utilize technology in the sharing of information. While I do recognize that there are several benefits to this method of teaching; such as multiple sources of information with varying views, using the student’s interest to engage them, teaching skills needed in a digital community, and so on. I question where the student is learning the basic building blocks of the material. By that I mean a person can type calculus into a key board and get 1000s of links but if that person does not know basic algebra then what have they accomplished? As I see it connectivism can be a powerful tool but at the end of the day it should be just one of many tools in your toolbox.

Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts
In Ms. Vicki Davis’ movie entitled Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts I feel the theme was along the line of; todays digital student learns with so much more than pencil and paper. Ms. Davis teaches in a small rural south Georgia school system but her class is connected to the world through the use of technology. Ms. Davis firmly believes in encouraging her students to develop skills needed in today’s digital community. One of the stated goals of her class is learning how to use new technology and software. One of the points in the movie I appreciate most is when Ms. Davis proclaims, “So many teachers think I have to know everything before I can teach it and that is absolutely the wrong thing to think.” Yes! I so agree this attitude. I know that when I was tutoring I would learn so much from the students. In fact, the motto of the math lab was, “We learn through helping others .”

Flipping the Classroom
Have you heard of the concept of “flipping” the classroom? In the short YouTube video Flipping the Classroom – 4th Grade Stem Ms. Munafo outlines this exciting new concept. In this video Ms. Munafo explains that flipping the classroom is a way of, “teaching to 21st century learners.” In this sitting the lecture or instructional aspect of learning that is normally done in the classroom is viewed at home the night before class. While the practicing of skills, which has always been done in the form of homework, is done in the classroom. Ms. Munafo highlights the merits of this concept and I must say that I agree with several of them. As a student of math, and after taking numerous math classes, I know that a lot of the already limited class time is often used for homework questions. In fact, I have seen entire classes where all we did was solve homework problems. I also know that many of my math professors have repeatedly informed me that, “you must do the homework, that is how you learn.” Thus, flipping the classroom seems like a win-win concept. As a teacher, your lecture or instruction time is not limited by how much time is left on the clock after answering home questions. Plus, if “homework is how you learn,” then in a flipped classroom your students should be benefiting from the time in class spent in guided practice. Additional, unlike in the traditional sitting, you are now assured that the students are doing at least some practice. With all of its advantages the concept of flipping the classroom is slowly starting to make its way into more school systems. Just this past summer I spoke with two educators, one in middle school and one in community college, who were planning to implement it in their classes.

Also, I am the only one that finds talking with your hands distracting and air quotes kind of creepy. Just saying.