Thing 16: Teach Digital

Wow! Lots to think about. Didn't care for the last video, but the first two were excellent. I really enjoyed Ken Robinson's talk on creativity. I have to admit, when I first saw that it was 20 minutes long, my reaction was ugh! but it was very well done, and it didn't hurt that he has a great sense of humor! I felt that after viewing both videos, that to best encourage potential in all students is an incredibly hard balancing act for teachers. I see my kids and their friends growing up with so much technology, that texting, podcasting, and face book and Twitter are all just a part of their lives. I imagine that children today who grow up to be teachers won't even need to think about integrating technology. It will be such a natural way of communicating that they will mostly need to concentrate on what to communicate and not the how. Myself and my colleagues struggle because we are frantically trying to squeeze in the time to learn the newest technology while still trying to stay on top of what we are mandated to teach. This class is a testiment to that for me. I've struggled with fitting in learning about Web 2.0 while lesson planning, correcting papers, and trying to fit in time to sleep and talk to my kids! I totally get that some technology needs to be integrated to meet students needs and prepare them for the future, but the first video created by college students seemed to be too far one way. If we (teachers) integrate all types of technology all the time and no traditional lecture or written tasks, aren't we just creating students who can collaborate and create online, but have a hard time in the future work place getting along and collaborating with live people? Like I said, it's a balancing act. I do feel that the strong message that came out in both videos was that teachers need to be more open to letting students create and present what they've learned in a variety of ways that build on their strengths instead of just forcing certain products all the time.