Did you know? 3.0 and Mr. Winkle Wakes
Mr. Winkle Wakes was a very interesting film. I have never really thought about how much technology has evolved over time. As the years pass, there are new inventions and new technologies that evolve and today we are used to the idea of using technology in our everyday lives. We rely on technology for the majority of what we do today all the way from education and employment to simply heating up food (microwave). Life used to be so much simpler and everyone did things for themselves. Before long, people won't be needed for jobs such as banking because a computer can do everything for you.
On the other hand, technology can bring out the creative side in some. For instance, my brother was not a very good "student," traditionally speaking. He lacked in reading, mathematics, science, and so on. He thought school was simply not for him until he realized there was a whole new area of schooling he could pursue, computer animation. He loved working with computers and knew a lot about them. He excelled in school and graduated with a degree in Computer/Digital Animation. This is prime example of technology saving a person and giving them a sense of self, not to mention a career and way of living.
Technology is a wonderful tool for the human race. Today the human race relies on technology for communication, entertainment, transportation, and even cooking. In the old days, life was simpler and communication was by means of a telephone instead of email; entertainment was gathering in an arena for shows instead of movie theaters and blue ray DVDs; transportation was by horse, wagon, or foot rather than airplanes and fancy cars; and cooking was simply done over an open flame. I am not saying by any means that I would rather live in simpler times, just that technology has evolved the same as the human race has, just at a faster rate. (and thank goodness it has, I could not live without my cell phone or laptop!)
The film did you know 3.0 shows us that technology has not only evolved but it has also opened an avenue for people to undercut the working people. Artists make money selling their albums and art. Now you can download artists work on your computer for free. There are programs that require you to pay for a download and there are programs that allow you to download things for free. The Internet for instance is your key to anything you want. You can acquire just about anything you want from simply typing it in Google. It is scary to think that your life is at the fingertips of the world.
Both films really made me realize how dependent the world is on technology. Mr. Winkle Wakes was very mind opening. We take for granted all the things we have and how easily accessible information is now whereas, in the past you actually had to work for things. Jobs were harder to do because everything was done by hand. Computers do just about everything for you now with the use of calculators, word processing, and spreadsheets. I have just never really thought about how easy life is now compared to the past. I enjoyed watching these two films.
Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
Let me start by saying I loved this film. Sir Ken Robinson made great points with integrating stories to give examples of his point he was trying to make, not to mention he was quite humorous. I believe the whole point to his speech was the schools are taking the creativity out of children. One story he told really caught my attention because it was so true. It was about Jenny. She was a very active little girl that could not sit still. Her teacher spoke to her mother and told her about Jenny's "problems" with school and asked her to look at the little girl. She was dancing to the music on the radio and doing what she loved to do. She was a dancer. The teacher advised the mother to put her in a dance school because that is what she was good at doing. Jenny went on to be a multi-millionaire with her own studio because of one teacher seeing her strengths and not just her weaknesses. She was a dancer. Sir Robinson went on to say that if that happened today the child would have been put on medication and diagnosed as ADHD. Her "creativity" would have been bottled up and wasted. All kids have talents and we squander them!
Sir Robinson said, "Education runs deep with people like religion and money." This is very true. Education is taken very seriously. He commented that creativity is equal to literacy. They should be treated the same. I would have to agree with him. Some children have a gift of creativity. They may not be good at traditional school subjects but excel in performing arts. There are artists making a wonderful and prosperous living whereas there are some college graduates out there without a job.
Sir Robinson said, "Degrees aren't worth anything due to academic inflation." College graduates are not guaranteed jobs anymore. Most jobs that used to require a Bachelor's degree now require a Master's degree or a PhD. He also said that intelligence is divided into 3 parts: diversity, dynamics, and distinct. Everyone is different and intelligence should not be measured by one's academic performance. Creativity should count for something. The last line of the film really stuck with me and that is:"See creative capacities for what they are, children for hope that they are, and help children make something of their future!" This could not have been said any better.
Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Vicki Davis is and IT director/teacher at a school in Camilla, Georgia. She is the creator of Cool Cat Teacher Blog which won the best teacher blog in the world award. She expects her students to learn through technology and if they have a question, they are to Google it first before asking for assistance. This promotes literacy and gives them to the chance to find new meanings themselves. She said, "Every student can learn. If you only have a pencil and a piece of paper, then only certain students are going to learn." She works her class around her student's strengths and abilities. She wants her students to be comfortable with every form of technology.
The class participates in a program called Open Sims, which teaches them about life situations. Another program is Digi- Teen, which is a program that involves digital citizenship. They communicate through 2 digital portals with other teens throughout the world. They not only participate in social networking, but also blog and share ideas as well as post reports on certain topics. The class created the flat classroom project which allows the students to study, experience trends among other students and post reports and videos to outsource to other students. This is a valuable tool. The students are not only learning for themselves but helping each other in the process.
The students in her class are in groups and they learn how to use certain software and do particular projects and then the students actually teach their classmates how to properly use the software. She said that she believes in empowering children and allowing them to share with one another. The students in her class do group projects with little or no help. They teach themselves how to do things and in return they teach her. One particular project her students did was in Terra forming. She said she had no idea how to Terra form and her students taught her all about it. They work as a team in order to accomplish one goal, learning technology.
Vicki Davis not only cares about her students' educational success, but has also made the class interesting and prosperous. Her students are not only learning new technologies, but also how to network with other students in order to get new ideas and see other points of views. I wish there were more teachers like Vicki Davis that structured their classes for their students' success!
Mr. Winkle Wakes was a very interesting film. I have never really thought about how much technology has evolved over time. As the years pass, there are new inventions and new technologies that evolve and today we are used to the idea of using technology in our everyday lives. We rely on technology for the majority of what we do today all the way from education and employment to simply heating up food (microwave). Life used to be so much simpler and everyone did things for themselves. Before long, people won't be needed for jobs such as banking because a computer can do everything for you.
On the other hand, technology can bring out the creative side in some. For instance, my brother was not a very good "student," traditionally speaking. He lacked in reading, mathematics, science, and so on. He thought school was simply not for him until he realized there was a whole new area of schooling he could pursue, computer animation. He loved working with computers and knew a lot about them. He excelled in school and graduated with a degree in Computer/Digital Animation. This is prime example of technology saving a person and giving them a sense of self, not to mention a career and way of living.
Technology is a wonderful tool for the human race. Today the human race relies on technology for communication, entertainment, transportation, and even cooking. In the old days, life was simpler and communication was by means of a telephone instead of email; entertainment was gathering in an arena for shows instead of movie theaters and blue ray DVDs; transportation was by horse, wagon, or foot rather than airplanes and fancy cars; and cooking was simply done over an open flame. I am not saying by any means that I would rather live in simpler times, just that technology has evolved the same as the human race has, just at a faster rate. (and thank goodness it has, I could not live without my cell phone or laptop!)
The film did you know 3.0 shows us that technology has not only evolved but it has also opened an avenue for people to undercut the working people. Artists make money selling their albums and art. Now you can download artists work on your computer for free. There are programs that require you to pay for a download and there are programs that allow you to download things for free. The Internet for instance is your key to anything you want. You can acquire just about anything you want from simply typing it in Google. It is scary to think that your life is at the fingertips of the world.
Both films really made me realize how dependent the world is on technology. Mr. Winkle Wakes was very mind opening. We take for granted all the things we have and how easily accessible information is now whereas, in the past you actually had to work for things. Jobs were harder to do because everything was done by hand. Computers do just about everything for you now with the use of calculators, word processing, and spreadsheets. I have just never really thought about how easy life is now compared to the past. I enjoyed watching these two films.
Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
Let me start by saying I loved this film. Sir Ken Robinson made great points with integrating stories to give examples of his point he was trying to make, not to mention he was quite humorous. I believe the whole point to his speech was the schools are taking the creativity out of children. One story he told really caught my attention because it was so true. It was about Jenny. She was a very active little girl that could not sit still. Her teacher spoke to her mother and told her about Jenny's "problems" with school and asked her to look at the little girl. She was dancing to the music on the radio and doing what she loved to do. She was a dancer. The teacher advised the mother to put her in a dance school because that is what she was good at doing. Jenny went on to be a multi-millionaire with her own studio because of one teacher seeing her strengths and not just her weaknesses. She was a dancer. Sir Robinson went on to say that if that happened today the child would have been put on medication and diagnosed as ADHD. Her "creativity" would have been bottled up and wasted. All kids have talents and we squander them!
Sir Robinson said, "Education runs deep with people like religion and money." This is very true. Education is taken very seriously. He commented that creativity is equal to literacy. They should be treated the same. I would have to agree with him. Some children have a gift of creativity. They may not be good at traditional school subjects but excel in performing arts. There are artists making a wonderful and prosperous living whereas there are some college graduates out there without a job.
Sir Robinson said, "Degrees aren't worth anything due to academic inflation." College graduates are not guaranteed jobs anymore. Most jobs that used to require a Bachelor's degree now require a Master's degree or a PhD. He also said that intelligence is divided into 3 parts: diversity, dynamics, and distinct. Everyone is different and intelligence should not be measured by one's academic performance. Creativity should count for something. The last line of the film really stuck with me and that is:"See creative capacities for what they are, children for hope that they are, and help children make something of their future!" This could not have been said any better.
Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Vicki Davis is and IT director/teacher at a school in Camilla, Georgia. She is the creator of Cool Cat Teacher Blog which won the best teacher blog in the world award. She expects her students to learn through technology and if they have a question, they are to Google it first before asking for assistance. This promotes literacy and gives them to the chance to find new meanings themselves. She said, "Every student can learn. If you only have a pencil and a piece of paper, then only certain students are going to learn." She works her class around her student's strengths and abilities. She wants her students to be comfortable with every form of technology.
The class participates in a program called Open Sims, which teaches them about life situations. Another program is Digi- Teen, which is a program that involves digital citizenship. They communicate through 2 digital portals with other teens throughout the world. They not only participate in social networking, but also blog and share ideas as well as post reports on certain topics. The class created the flat classroom project which allows the students to study, experience trends among other students and post reports and videos to outsource to other students. This is a valuable tool. The students are not only learning for themselves but helping each other in the process.
The students in her class are in groups and they learn how to use certain software and do particular projects and then the students actually teach their classmates how to properly use the software. She said that she believes in empowering children and allowing them to share with one another. The students in her class do group projects with little or no help. They teach themselves how to do things and in return they teach her. One particular project her students did was in Terra forming. She said she had no idea how to Terra form and her students taught her all about it. They work as a team in order to accomplish one goal, learning technology.
Vicki Davis not only cares about her students' educational success, but has also made the class interesting and prosperous. Her students are not only learning new technologies, but also how to network with other students in order to get new ideas and see other points of views. I wish there were more teachers like Vicki Davis that structured their classes for their students' success!
Leigh,
ReplyDeleteYou made an interesting point about how we sometimes take technology for granted. I think our generation tends to forget how far we have come technologically and how far we are going to go in the future. The videos and this class help us realize how much technology has changed in the past 100 years. We need to embrace the fact that technology is here to stay and it can benefit all of our lives.