In Morgan’s post, she talks about the points Dan Brown makes in his video, “An Open Letter to Educators,” and she also tells us her opinion about what he says. She agreed with Dan that we as students are basically cheated out of a proper education. She also talks about how useful her PLN is.
I agree with Morgan and Dan that the education system in place is outdated. It is failing us as students. We are not receiving the education we deserve because we are not learning things we need to be learning about. Most classes you read the book, come to class for a lecture about what you have read, you “burp back” the information on the test, and then forget all about what you learned as soon as you are done. This system is useless and ineffective.
On that note, I think that teachers should encourage the use of PLN’s and have students actively engaged in learning activities where they can research things online and use all of the tools technology has to offer them. Having students learn this way will keep them interested and involved. It is a great way to learn. It definitely beats sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher talk about something I have already read.
As a student, I appreciate a class like EDM 310, because it is not only challenging, it also introduces students to tools than can help them in the “real world.” As a future teacher, I plan to embrace technology and learn as much as I can so that I can teach my students how to be lifelong learners. I want to give them tools they can use for many different things, not just what they are doing for my class. I want to help them succeed and be assets to society. I want to make a difference to my students.
As I read this post, I laughed at the absurd thought that children should not be allowed to take pencils home, but at the same time I was sad. How could we, as educators, ever tell a student they could not take a pencil home based on some journal article that says it lowers test scores? I mean really?! How could we have possibly gotten so far away from what is best for the students? Education should be solely based on what is best for the students, NOT based on one or two standardized test scores. What have school systems and education in general, come to? In a way it makes me want to take my passion for teaching and use it by homeschooling my daughter so that she is not forced into this mess we call education. If I did that, she might actually learn something other than answers to a few certain test questions.
Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.
Two Questions That Can Change Your Life- Daniel Pink
In Daniel Pink’s video, “Two Questions That Can Change Your Life,” he asks:
1.) What is your sentence?
2.) Was I better today than yesterday?
If you really think about these questions and set goals then they really could change your life. If you had one main goal you wanted your life to be focused on, question one, and you strive each day to be better, question two, then you have something to motivate you to accomplish what you want to accomplish. After much thought, this is the sentence I came up with:
“I will make a difference in many children’s lives through education.”
I am sure this sentence may need revising later on, but this is what I want to do with my life.
Hey Teri,
ReplyDeleteI see that you will become a great teacher in your school, because you will have the upper hand on many teachers. Thank you for embracing technology and giving your students a better education.
I think that the "Don't Let Them Take Their Pencil Home" post was a very clever post. There are many things that we can tell students to not do because the "statistics" show that they will do worse on test scores because of it. You can take the word "pencil" in this post and replace it with almost anything and people will believe that it is hurting our students education.
Good post Teri,
Stephen Akins
Hello Teri,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I have to agree with you when mentioned that we are not received an effective education when we are in big lecture class as we just memorize the information we need for the test and "burp it out". I think that teachers should be willing to use technology and make the classes much more interesting and interactive.
Good job. :)