Blog Post 2

1. The central message in Mr. Dancealot's video is that teaching isn't all about standing in front of students and reading off a slide show or your notes. You must interact with students and let them learn through examples and actions. Ms. Johnson's shows her case by having the teacher describing these dance moves and not letting the students practice them, so when it becomes time for the exam none of the students memorized the steps but they don't know how to actually do them correctly. I do agree with Ms. Johnson, I know from first hand that many of times I catch myself just memorizing and not actually learning, but that doesn't do me or anyone very good. If you just write down notes and study them, you're not learning, sometimes you must critically think and ask why.

2.I think Robert is correct in the way he views teaching, he is right about how we have everything we need at our fingertips. It can benefit you greatly if you use it the right way, teachers don't have to teach facts anymore, we can find that on our own. So with all this technology, teachers can kind of be seen as a professional guide. What we need is teachers that can adapt to the way kids learn, help them use their technology and the internet for engaging and learning, instead of entertainment. He talks about how utilizing all these social networks and search engines could create so many more possibilities of learning and innovation. The use of teaching through technology can be very beneficial and I think Robert has the right idea.

3. In the networked student, I found myself kind of surprised. Many people use the internet for various of reasons, that could be for the better or maybe the worse. But after watching this video it opened my eyes to how blogging and using the internet for educational reasons could benefit me and many others. I personally always thought blogging was just a place where people just wanted to express their opinions, but never have I thought about it towards an education perspective. Wendy Drexler explains how blogs can be used to share information you've found or find interesting, you can find lectures online and listen to them. You can do all these things at your fingertip instead of being hindered by a text book, which I find very interesting because they are way too expensive.
4. Vicki Davis's video is about using technology such as virtual worlds, blogs, podcast and many more tools to teach students. Her main focus is for the kids to work together to achieve their goals and to have fun while doing it. I mean I know when I was younger going to school was always boring to me, but it was kind of shocking to see kids learning through games, I know the younger me would have loved that(still probably would). I would have to agree with Mrs. Davis, it is good for students to be able to learn how to work with others and find a different, more modern style of teaching that could help the kids get more interested in learning.

5. Flipping the classroom is new to me, I've never heard of it before. But I do think this will be very useful for teachers, I know when I am in class and I don't know much about a subject it is a lot harder for me to follow along than when I do know a little about it. I feel like it will benefit both students and teachers because then the teacher does not have to waste time explaining simple concepts and spend more time teaching the important of the lesson, where as the student will have a brief idea about the subject so they don't come in completely lost. I think a preview of a lesson is a great idea and will be very successful.