What Will Teaching in the 21st Century be Like?

"Mr. Dancealot"

The video "Mr. Dancelot" shows why it is important to teach skills rather than just facts. It was very obvious that a dance class cannot be taught with a power-point and a teacher standing behind a desk. Knowing the facts on how to dance means nothing if you cannot perform them correctly. Some of the students tried to engage in the lecture by attempting to perform the dance steps that were taught. Mr. Dancealot quickly shot down their attempts and told them that they were not allowed to interrupt his lecture. The result of Mr. Dancelots teaching methods was a bunch of confused students that probably failed their exam and learned nothing from the course.

Teaching in the 21st Century
After watching "Teaching in the 21st Century" by Kevin Roberts, I can see the importance of teaching skills within the classroom. Kevin Roberts sees how technology is becoming a part of our everyday life and wants to utilize it to enhance teaching. Kids use so much technology everyday, but they probably don't even know the full potential of what they can do with their cell phones, laptops, and other devices. The way the world is using technology is growing and expanding. Useless facts will not be important when applying for jobs. Students should be taught skills that they are actually going to use in their adult life. I agree with Robert's view that students should be engaged instead of entertained. I was a little confused about the difference at first, but after watching a video by Doug Johnson I can really see the difference. I found the best explanation was with a line from the video. "Show a kid a movie, you have entertained her for an hour. Give a kid a camera, you'll engage her for a lifetime." This is the attitude that all teachers should have in their classrooms. Instead of telling students the answers to their questions, we should teach them how to find it for themselves.

The Networked Student
Written by Tyler Malone

Wendy Drexler explains the education of almost all students in the near future. "The Networked Student" talks about the connection between many students, both in the classroom and worldwide. The "Network Connection" idea is great at the root and helps students connect with more people. The issue that I have with this method is that it loses connection with the people who are physically near you everyday. Networking brings together masses but does not help the social concept of connection at all. In my opinion there should be a medium found in this "Networked" method of education. The thought that a classroom does not need a teacher bothers me as well. Even if it is true that this type of teaching does not need a teacher I do not think that completely relying on your own self using the world wide web is a good place to be. Humans are supposed to interact with each other. Learn from the wise and lead those who look up to you. Leaders and followers are two key elements when trying to reach a goal. Those who have the characteristic of leadership should be able to use that for the benefit of others. Teachers are important to the education of students.



Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Written by Kristy Burton

In this Video Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts Vikki Davis says “I believe every student can learn every child can learn but where children have trouble is when you only have paper and only pencil then only certain types of students are going to succeed” I couldn't agree with her more. This is why I believe my major in physical Education in very important to our future society. Everything shouldn't be based off of notes and test. Teaching different types of life skills through technology and actions is very important. In her class she says she used a lot of different software and technology. This is very important for our students to learn especially with all of our advancements in technology. The one thing I completely disagreed with is the fact that she said she expected her students to Google ever word that they didn't know instead of teaching children through vocab. To me if you expect your students to Google everything they don’t understand they will never truly understand it because the answer is always there. The problem with this strategy is we can’t pull out Google during an interview and if we were never expected to actually learn the word how could we conversant and achieve greatness without our handy dandy sidekick Google. Blogging is probably my favorite source of technology in the classrooms mostly because it can connect us to different students and learning styles from around the world. I also believe with this exposure it can help to eliminate some of the horrible stereotypes we have about different cultures from around the world. What Vikki is doing is incredible she has really found a great way to connect with her students and educated them in a great way. There should be a class like Vikki’s in every school but we need to remember to teach the skills and not the facts when everything starts to become web based we start to lose sight of reality. Teaching math or chemistry online is a horrible idea. We need to learn to have a happy balance of both technology and hands on learning.
-Kristy Burton