The central message of the video is that even though Mr. Dancealot may be able to teach someone how to dance if he does not let the students actually participate in the lesson they will never be able to learn. When the final test came and the teacher left the students to look at their notes and figure out how to dance without any instruction. This proved that the students had not learned how to dance from the class, because they did not get the chance to actually practice the moves with the teacher there to correct them. Just like with any sport or instrument, practice makes perfect and that is the same for dancing. I believe that to be able to understand something, you must be able to experience it for yourself, which the students were not able to do. I agree the author on the idea that without a structured plan, or syllabus, the class will not be productive.
Teaching in the 21st Century
Kevin Robert's short movie, Teaching in the 21st Century, focuses on the growth of technology in the lives of the students. The teacher's job is to be able to understand what the students are using to find their knowledge and show the students the ways to verify and use the information that is easily handed to them through Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter and various other websites that cater to the databasing of information, whether it be correct or fabricated. However, Mr. Robert is not saying that technology should not be allowed in the learning environment, but harnessed in order to be used as an advantage to the teachers. The job of a teacher has changed from the database to the filter of unwanted and unneeded information. A teacher is supposed to guide the student to learn and find the answers on their own. When I was in class my teachers always told us to learn what was in our books, which sometimes would not even apply to our future daily lives. Mr. Robert asked at the fairly beginning of the movie a question that should be asked to almost everyone, "Where do I get reliable news?". I think this is an amazing question, because students today are believing everything that they hear from peers, Facebook, and Twitter, when they should be taught how to look up the actual newspapers websites. Kevin Roberts approach to teaching is one that should be taught to everyone that will be teaching 21st century students.
Networked Student
"Why does a networked students even need a teacher?" This is the question asked at the end of the movie after you, as a viewer, watch the student start the class and expand his knowledge of the American Psyche through the different resources that he found through wikis and blogs. The reason he needed a teacher was because his teacher was the one who showed him how to set up his network, how to verify the websites reliability, and how to share his own knowledge with others on his own blog. Without his teacher, the student would have been lost in the sea of knowledge that is technology. This is also relevant to any type of teacher that helps to guide his or her students what to learn and what not to learn. Teachers are the building blocks of education, because without teachers to help guide the students, the students would never succeed.
Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
The idea of Davis' video is to show how technology can be used to connect students all over the world and that while technology is in some schools taboo, in Davis' classroom she encourages her students to use every bit of technology they have to better themselves. Her students have set up blogs, just like we are doing, to communicate with other students in different schools, such as the schools in the middle east. Davis' points out the fact that all students are curious and while she may have to explain some words or ideas to her students, she expects them all to Google what they do not know and learn more than what she has given them. Her students even taught Davis' how to terraform, which she states that she did not know how to do until her students had taught her. While she is a full time student, the fact that she has helped to set up two international programs to educate students in technology and more about the connectivity that it provides is completely astounding!
Who's Ahead In The Learning Race?
My answer would have to be third graders, because of the access they have to the Macs and iPads. Two days with a Mac and the third graders could already use iMovie and myself, as an undergraduate, have never even opened iMovie on my Macbook Pro. On my first class of EDM 310, I felt like I had accomplished something because I had a Mac and I can use it fairly well, but seeing those third graders use programs I did not even know existed make me embarrassed. However, when I was a third grader I remember going into the computer lab and doing my typing lessons and playing The Oregon Trail. That is the extent of technology from when I was in elementary school. Seeing students with the eagerness and drive to learn more about technology is very inspiring to me. I feel like I need to advance with technology as third grade students are so I will be better adapt to teaching in a technologically advanced school.
Flipping the Classroom
Before watching this video, I had no idea what the process of "flipping" a classroom could be. After watching more about the idea of giving students the lesson before teaching it to them the next day, I think that this would be useful, but also extremely time consuming. Using this idea would be productive if the lesson was extremely in-depth and would need extra time to have the students process the concept. While I do not think I will be using this idea in my classroom at all times, I can see the advantages of giving the students the lesson before hand if needed.
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