Blog Post #13

A Vision of Students Today by Michael Wesch

This video drives home many of the problems in university classrooms today. The video starts with a boring and out-dated classroom; Mr. Wesch points out that students don't learn what they should be just sitting at a desk and MAYBE listening to the professor lecture. I think most teachers of the 21st century are not equipped to teach and engage the students of the 21st century. Most teachers expect students to come to class and pay attention to a boring lesson and then pass a test. THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE. Students have so much other stuff going on with all their classes, homework, work, studying, blogging, Facebook, texting, and talking on the phone that the last thing they want to do is pay attention to a boring lecture given by a monotone professor. Story of my life. Considering that most students are lacking sleep from trying to fit everything in, this only makes them want to nap in class.

Simply stated, students are professional multitaskers. Teachers should step up to the plate and operate on the same level the students do. I think students are so used to a fast paced world that maybe we can't absorb all the information given to us in a boring, lecture style fashion. We need to learn the same way we function everyday, multitasking and fast paced. $100+ textbooks should become a thing of the past, we hardly ever open them. It is baffling to me why teachers are still using chalk boards! Technology is the way to go!

How Will You Teach Me In The 21st Century?

This was an amazing video by a graduate student at Full Sail University! In Mr. Wesch's video we saw the student's point of view, now in this video we see what the teacher should do. They were great to watch together. This graduate student has a list of things she thinks is necessary to teach in the 21st century. The list includes using technology, communicating effectively, understanding the impact of media, interacting in a global economy, collaborating, and exploring individual creativity. All of these things are extremely important to master in the 21st century.

This video inspired to think on what I want to teach my future students so that they are successful in the 21st century. I thought about so many things that seem important, but I want to take a different approach from the standard chapter to chapter World History lessons. I want my students to know what it means to be literate in the 21st century and to understand and appreciate the technology that will be available to them compared to classrooms years ago. I want my students to be able to communicate with other students from all over world. I want them to blog, interact, Skype effectively and positively, and know how and where to find reliable information using technology like the internet safely. I want my students to experience the best education possible. I want them to experience communicating via Skype with someone across the world to learn about their culture. Simply I want them to experience the type of education not available to us when we were in elementary school. I would like to create a video centered around my students. I want to show their struggles, their improvements, and their success throughout the year.

Exemplar Of Students' Work With Video by Myles Webb

First I want to say Carlton is an amazing little boy! I loved his enthusiasm and joy about life even though he is legally blind. I think that could teach a lot of people to be thankful for what they have.

I think Mr. Webb is advocating the use of technology, specifically videoing. I think he is promoting the use of videoing and other technology in schools. It is clear that Mr. Webb is passionate about what he does and genuinely cares for his (and others teacher's) students. Overall I think he simply wanted his students to be familiar with technology and put it to use.