Blog Post #2

Mr. Dancelot

In the video, Mr. Dancelot is teaching a dancing class. Throughout the semester he teaches his class different styles of dance, but instead of actually dancing, the students are sitting in a lecture hall writing notes. If you want to learn how to dance you need to actually practice and be able to see a demonstration. Mr. Dancelot gives a demonstration, but he is behind a counter and the students cannot see what he is doing. When it became time for the final the students, Mr. Dancelot turned music on and told the students good luck. It seemed that none of the students knew what type of dance to do when the music came on and they did not know how to perform the dance either. The two students at the end of the video were talking while trying to figure out which dance to do and one of the students said that his notes did not make any sense when he tried to practice the dances. The message that I took from the video is that for some classes you not only need to visualize different things but you also need hands on experience and practice. I completely agree with this conclusion! Students should be able to learn by actually having demonstrations and having the chance to actually practice with hands on for things. When you actually do something, it sticks with you longer.

Teaching in the 21st Century

Kevin Roberts believes that teaching in the 21st century will involve technology in pretty much everything. I can see that in the future technology will be used in everything when teaching students because it is already true. There are schools that use technology now for everything in the classroom. Some classes do not have textbooks because the student have to go online to read the material for class. Technology is taking over schools and our lives. With technology in schools it greatly affects me by becoming an educator. Educators do not only have to learn material but also have to learn how the technology works. After learning how technology works the educator has to be able to put the material into presentations to present to the students in the classroom.

The Networked Student

While watching the video, The Networked Student, it made me think about how EDM 310 works. We are networked students in this class and this video is great to watch because it gives us ideas for this class. When the student in the video found a website with great information on it, he shared it with his classmates so that they could also use the website and use the information. A networked student does not really need a teacher to give them lectures on things but to really just be there and help them when they are stuck and to also show them how to set up logs that they will need for the class.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

The thesis in Vicki Davis' video is to have students be able to be comfortable with technology and be able to use it. I agree with part of her argument and disagree with other parts. I like the idea that she uses new words and expects students to look up words that they do not know to help expand their vocabulary.  I do not like that she thinks that you should not know how things work before you teach it and that the students teach you how to do it. How are you going to help students if you do not even know how it all works? Yes keep an open mind and if the students figure something out and they show you but you have to know something about things before you teach it. When sharing blogs with teachers and other students you are able to get others opinions and they can also help you. It is another way to get help with things you do not know how to do.

Flipping the Classroom

Flipping the Classroom is a way of letting the students see what they will be doing in the classroom the next day, but seeing it the night before so they will be prepared for class. This is concept is both new and old to me  because some students already read and look at things that they will be doing in the classroom the next day. For previous classes that I have taken, part of the homework was to read some material that we would be talking about the next day and sometimes we would even have a quiz when we walked into to class to see if we actually read or not. It is new because teachers would actually be sending things home to look at, but sometimes the students already have a textbook that they read the material in. This would not be useful to me as a teacher in the future. I would rather talk to the students in the classroom and have the students ask questions as we go along in the lessons. Some students may not understand any of it if they listen to it beforehand and you might have to just reteach it to the class. I, personally, would not use this as a teacher.