Blog Post #2

Did You Know?
This short video shockingly spoke out to me.  It is obvious that technology in general is constantly growing and rapidly changing. The machines we use today as educators are different that 15 years ago when we were students. I remember using floppy disks in Elementary school and even the floppy disks that contained games for the old computers. I don't think floppy disks even exist anymore. Do house phones come with cords still? Technology is ever changing. It is important to be flexible and open to change, because nothing stays the same.
As for our countries issue with education: we need to worry more about bettering our citizens. Our students, children, neighbors, what have you are the future. They will run this country one day. That itself is an extraordinary reason to put more into our education programs. We should want to better ourself as a nation. Each individual should want to try harder to be more educated. We will have less Americans speaking English than there are foreigners speaking English. It is such a small price to pay to push kids a little bit harder in school.

Mr Winkle Wakes

This movie somewhat says the same thing as "Did you know?" It deals with the world constantly changing. Though Mr. Winkle still recognized a few things even after they had changed so much. He saw people being kept alive by machines. Who would have thought a machine could keep a human alive? Technology has become so important in one's every day life. Machines take most people to work every day, we have machines that cook our food, and machines even clean our house.We rely on technology quite heavily these days.
I would have to say that technology isn't a bad thing. It obviously has issues, but the good outweigh the bad. We have come so far in this world. Technology has successfully taken us to the next step in life.

Ken Robinson 

Ken Robinson said, "creativity is educated out of children." I agree with him and that statement. Kids are afraid to be wrong. Everyone knows the phrase "nobody's perfect, everyone makes mistakes." I am a firm believer that you must make mistakes in order to obtain knowledge. You must get out there and not be afraid to fail. If you don't set yourself up to fail you will never push yourself to your true limits and possible success.
He said that there are all different types of intelligence and not one student is the same. You obtain more knowledge by seeing new things, new environments, and things that are different than your normal settings. Education and knowledge is diverse.
I believe that the change must come from the educators. Obviously, we can not force students to be creative or even force them to not be afraid to fail. Students must have the drive to succeed and to fail. Trial and error. A little motivation can go a long way. Some people don't see creativity as a big deal or even important in education. I think the opposite. Students creativity, diversity, and knowledge should be brought out in the classroom and expanded on. I will be sure to praise students for their differences and creativity.
In Ms. Vitulli's class we read "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds. His book was about creativity and a child who felt they were not creative and could not draw well.  The teacher simply told the student to draw a dot and sign his/her name by it. She then framed the dot and hung it on the wall for everyone to see. The student insisted that he/she could do better than the dot, this brought out his/her creativity. From that, I believe you just have to break their shell a little. The student was probably afraid that other classmates might not like his/her drawing and make fun of him/her because of it. The fear of the unknown is always frightening. Sometimes you just have to try it and see if the risk was worth the reward.

Pinterest
Pinterest is a website where people can post pins, repin, and like things from other people's blogs across the world. It is a very useful website. The education pins have many activities and suggestions for teachers. These are especially helpful for teachers on a budget (which is pretty much every teacher).
Pinterest allows people who aren't too inventive to do and create very creative DIY (do it yourself) projects. They are step by step activities that are very simple to follow. It is perfect for children learning how to follow instructions.