Blog Post #2

1. The main message in Mr. Dancelot is that you can't just feed students info all day (especially a subject like dance) and not have demonstrations and hands on activities to coordinate with the information. It is more effective to try things for yourself in a hands on manner. The author of this video rests his case at the end when all of the students had no clue how to dance because they weren't allowed to practice a hands on approach, they were only given diagrams and information about dancing. I agree fully with this conclusion. You will never learn by just listening to someone teach, you need to learn from applying the information given and executing the task on your own.

2. To me it seems like Roberts is trying to convey that teaching in the 21st century means that we need to stop underestimating the power of students ability to self teach and engage in a more meaningful way. We need to aid them in learning through the resources given to them through technology. Stepping outside the box of the normal "burp back" learning.

 I. Teaching in the 21st century
      a. "Burp back" vs. technologically advanced teaching
       b. How will students engage and apply
         c. What are the resources available
  II. How will you teach in the 21st century

I love the message in this video. I believe that this way of teaching can greatly impact and improve upon how I have always been taught. Students should step outside of their comfort zones and ENGAGE in all of the resources and information that is so easily available to them. We should have discussions and hands on projects instead of just receiving information and trying to prove that we listened by answering multiple choice questions. I think that this will be challenging at times but it will make teaching more interesting and more effective.

3. The Networked Student really made  me think about if a teacher was even needed with students having the access to so much information and resources. I have had the thought before that online classes would become more abundant and teachers would become obsolete. Why would educators be needed when we could just teach ourselves from the resources and ever growing amount of information available to us? This video made me realize and understand that we can never get rid of educators. If it weren't for them we would struggle to understand our resources and how to put them to good use. We definitely need the guidance and help to be effective in networking and sharing information.

4. The main focus of Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts is that students have the ability to design and execute by engaging in the information and resources provided to them. The students in the video were able to blog and network with other students around the world to share ideas and figure out solutions for their project. I like that she talks about not knowing everything and that the students teach her. She is right, students and educators should learn from each other not just the students learning from the teacher. This creates a better learning environment because students feel like their thoughts and ideas matter and are greatly appreciated by not only their teacher but their peers in the classroom and around the globe.

5. It is very obvious that elementary students are ahead of undergrad and grad students in the learning race. I am currently an undergrad student and I have not worked with half the technology that the elementary students are using. It has always been apparent to me that this is this case. Yes undergrad and grad students hold more knowledge in most things but these elementary students are learning new and improved ideas and technology every day. For instance, my nephew, who is in kindergarten, knows how to do certain things on a computer that I had no idea even existed. I blame this on the fact that when we were elementary students these things weren't available to us so know we are making up for lost time. It's no excuse though, that we aren't on the same level. We should be miles ahead of them in this race.

6. The concept of flipping the classroom is new to me. I do think that this is a creative way to not only save time in the classroom but to help get parents involved in knowing what their child is learning and what is expected of them. I definitely think this could be useful for me as a future educator. It gives students time to actually think about the lesson and the different strategies that can be executed to get answers. It would be convenient for them to be prepared to discuss these strategies and this creates the opportunity for them to teach me something I may have not thought of.

7. As a future educator I believe that team work is very important. We are all striving for the same goal in each class that we take so learning from each other plays a significant role. I want to make it a point to incorporate having the students discuss concepts and ideas as a class. I don't want to be their main focus and just stand there spitting out facts. I actually experienced this type of class last semester. It seemed irritating at first but it actually was effective for me in the end. We as a class discussed the material and threw in our opinions for everyone to comment on. It helped me retain the information and go beyond what was written in the book and what the professor had to say. That class was one of the only classes I have actually enjoyed and was not bored in.