January 17, 2010 Blog Assignment

1.)Did You Know? 3.0 by Karl Fisch was really one of the most interesting movies I have seen on YouTube in a long time. I had no idea that China was going to be an English speaking country or that India has more advance honors students than America has children! Those facts really surprise me. Also, about the way we use technology to meet people; I started to realize that I have met more people on the internet than I do in person. My favorite part of this movie was the question “what resources did we use before Google?” Then, I began to think how much I use Google a day or a week. I need Google, it is my homepage. It is amazing how these people came up with these questions that most people would never think about. However now, my mind is stuck on it.

2.)Mr. Winkle Wakes by Matthew Needleman was really funny its own way. To me personally, that is my grandpa. He acts just like that. He does not feel comfortable around technology like Mr. Winkle. We have advance in technology so much in the last 100 hundred years. I believe if we were to tell people then what we know now, they would laugh at us. We save people lives with machines. However, the classroom part makes sense. We have advanced in technology everywhere else but we still teach the same material the same way. Teachers lecture and student write on paper with pen or pencil. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with that but I do believe soon that will change.

3.)Schools kill creativity by Sir Ken Robinson was very impressive. It was very entertaining and educational. It shows us how schools and the home life start to ruin our creativity. One point that caught my attention was that he use dance as a way of creativity when most people comment sports and music. No offense to those who play an instrument or play a sport, but dance is not mentioned in school activity much where I live. However, I went to dance class and adults would tell me that I would never become a professional dancer. That dream of mine would never make me any money just like Ken Robinson said. My parents told me that I had to go to college, which I do not regret, and get a decent education. However, I do believe what Ken Robinson says that we start to lose the rest of our body and focus just on our head. I do believe that we need to start showing our children that we appreciate their talents instead of pushing those talents aside.

4.)Harness Your Student’s Digital Smarts by Vicki Davis was a little intriguing. I liked the way she taught her students. It was very different from anything I experienced in high school. Vickie Davis has found way to teach children but also, let those children teach her how to create an avatar. It is very unique to create a virtual character and communicate in a classroom with that avatar. Also, Vicki Davis takes another step and teaches the children to communicate with children all around the world with their avatar.