Blog #9- Thinking about Educating for the Future

I read Chapter 10 in Bellanca and Brandt (Preparing Students for Mastery of 21st Century Skills) and it summed up the common themes I read throughout the book about educating our students for the future.  There are many important themes or characteristics that I feel will have to be addressed moving forward in order to better educate students and enable them to be productive/successful members of society.  I am going to key in on three that I feel are extremely important and need to be considered when creating a list of ways to benefit our students:

1) Technology Needs to be Moved to the Forefront. It is time we embrace technology and stop shying away from using it in our schools and in our classrooms.  Our students communicate, listen, network, search, share, and store all through some sort of technology tool.  Whether they are using cell phones to text message, networking or communicating on Twitter, Facebook, listening to iTunes, streaming media, searching on Google, YouTube, or listening to Ipods/MP3 players, our students are growing up in a society that is based on technological advances. So why are we denying these advances/changes and not using this in our schools?  Many classrooms now look exactly the same as they did in the early 1900s.  We need to update our classrooms to include computers, smartboards, as well as incorporate cell phones into our lessons.  In order to incorporate technology into the classroom it has to be readily available to both teachers and students.  Also, our teachers must be educated and trained to use these pieces of technology in order to support students and guide student learning.

2) Lecturing Gone Bad, Collaborative Learning Succeeds.  The days of teachers standing in front of the classroom lecturing students need to be abandoned if they haven't already been.  Students learn more through interaction with peers, collaborative engagement, and student-centered work environments that feature hands-on projects.  Teachers need to take a step back so to speak and allow "students at work."  The teacher now needs to be there more for guidance and less for teacher-directed whole group instruction.  When students engage with fellow classmates, they can solve complex problems, practice critical thinking skills, bounce ideas off one another and handle group/team responsibilities.

3) Life Lessons.  Responsibility, Accountability, and Communication. These three attributes/characteristics are vital for students to acquire in our schools, because they will benefit them for life.  Being responsible for work you have created, being held accountable for actions (good or bad), and developing good communication skills are all extremely important in order to be a successful student and a productive member of society.  In my experience as a teacher so far, I feel many of my students lack responsibility and accountability for actions and work.  In life, you will learn that there are consequences for poor decisions made, and many of my students are not responsible individuals yet.  They need to understand that you will have due dates, deadlines, rules, requirements, etc. and you have to time manage in order to complete necessary work.  Also, I feel as though students' communication skills have taken a hit through the years. Although cell phones have so many benefits, I think text messaging on cell phones has hurt our students' communication skills.  They are use to using slang in text messages, and face-to-face (group speaking) has taken a dive.

Incorporating technology, collaborative student work, and learning important life skills are all things that I feel need to be discussed and considered when we talk about how and what we need to do as educators in order to improve our students' learning in the future.  It obviously is not going to be an overnight change, but can be done overtime.  All hands need to be on deck as we move into the future of education!

Class #10-Survs

I found Ozge Karaoglu's Blog entitled 100 Web Tools to Enhance Collaboration to be rather eye-opening.  I had no idea there were so many web tools, programs, and applications available that could help the average person in a number of ways.  This blog does an amazing job of allowing users the freedom to find these programs (via links) and explore all of the wonderful web tools out there for all to use. 

I was asked to pick a web tool from Part 2 of the blog and after looking at a few, I found one to be particularly interesting called Survs: http://www.survs.com/.  According to the website, Survs function is to "let you create, distribute, and analyze online surveys and questionnaires with a friendly interface, and powerful features.  Survs gives you everything you need to gather feedback."  Users of the website rave about the easy-to-use features and attention to details. 

I am a firm believer that having research (that includes statistics, facts, percentages, surveys, etc.) to back up your points/opinions/beliefs is vital in our profession of teaching.  Certain pieces of information can really get through to students when the students hear facts based off of quality research.  Surveys are a great way to poll students in a number of areas and gain valuable feedback from them.  Everyday you see different surveys in the newspaper that poll various people in order for others to voice their opinions, make a decision, or just to see what is important.  Just recently in one of my health classes, we completed an Organ Donation Unit.  I really wanted to know what the students thought before/after videos they saw and information that was presented to them.  I had them take a survey, and shared the results with the whole class.  Students were involved and this stimulated class discussions.  I wish I knew about Survs beforehand as I could have created a better survey to engage my students. In the future, I will definitely look into using Survs to create surveys, and analyze information in a more organized and effective matter.

Blog #7- Chapter Six in Bellanca and Brandt

Last week I read Chapter Six- Designing New Learning Environments to Support 21^st Century Skills in Bellanca and Brandt.  There were many points that the authors tried to bring to the forefront in Chapter Six, but there were three in particular that I thought they emphasized.  One is that we as educators/teachers must make a move away from teacher-directed whole group instruction.  Students should be the focal point at all times in a learning environment centered on collaboration amongst students.  We need to create learner-centered workplaces that encourage a collaborative culture of students at work.  The authors point out that research now indicates that students learn best when they are engaged in learning activities and they can now do most of the work.  “Telling/lecturing,” needs to take a backseat to the “new pedagogy of kids teaching themselves with the teacher’s guidance.”  The second main point the authors illustrated in my opinion was the changes we need to make to the learning environment/school design.  Most classrooms are rows and rows of students focused on a lecturing teacher in the front of the classroom.  The design of the classrooms and schools needs to change to incorporate the technology we now have.  Computers, Smart boards, LCD Projectors, and digital cameras/phones are just some of the technology that is now used in the schools and we need to make sure the environment is conducive to learning and this technology.  An example would be to have open spaces (no walls/barriers) where students are grouped in teams which can enable collaboration and allow for all students to easily see computer projections in the front of the room/area.  Finally I thought the authors tried to make a point that we must give the students lots of hands-on projects or initiate more Project-Based Learning (PBL).  PBL engages and challenges our students and leads to 21^st century knowledge skills.  Complex problems, critical thinking skills, presentations, collaboration/teams, posting online, and effective assessments for learning are all skills that are needed for our students.  These skills enable our students to be competitive on a global level and prepare them for the world they will be facing upon completion of school.

I found this chapter in the book to be very interesting, because it relates directly to many of the videos and ideas we have recently shared in class.  Ideas that we as teachers need to adapt to the “new learning environments,” and make changes in order to prepare our students for the future.  Just this marking period in my classes, I have made an effort to give more collaborative teamwork assignments where I assign groups and allow students to take roles within the groups.  Leaders develop in each group and students really dip into their creative sides for the various projects.  I have set up projects where the students use their computers and cell phones to gather information and complete assignments.  Students are given more flexibility to be creative and think on their own to come up with incredible projects.  I think Bellanca and Brandt highlighted some of these thoughts in Chapter Six.  “Building Schools of the Future,” is the name of the eighty billon dollar movement in the UK to prepare students for the changes that have occurred in our world today.  Rethinking how students learn best and preparing them with these 21^st century skills is the movement that is taking place and we can either jump on board or continue to fall behind.  I completely agreed with the author’s thoughts on a focused work environment, collaborative work, and hands-on projects for our students.  Bellanca and Brandt stated that the signature characteristic of 21^st century schools is, “students at work.”  This central idea in Chapter Six that the students need to be at work through critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork is right on point in my opinion.  Students learn more from being engaged and challenged than they do from listening to a teacher lecture for an entire period.  Many times as a student, I found myself daydreaming or my mind wandering when a teacher just lectured in front of the classroom for a long period of time.  When I was involved in the lesson and required to think in groups or on my own, I learned more (not only about the subject matter, but about myself).

Obviously implementation of these ideas is not an easy task.  On pages 129-144, the authors gave examples of five schools in the US and UK that exemplify the best of the new learning environments.  These schools have built technology-equipped students at work both individually and in collaborative teams. These schools are great models for technology-based schools for the future and should be used as the blueprint for schools trying to make their schools more conducive to 21^st century learning.  Hard work, effort, and dedication are required by school districts, staff, and students.  In order to completely change a school’s design and classroom environment to make sure it is conducive to technological learning, money is going to be needed to bring in the technology.  Money is going to be needed to make the necessary changes to the school layout and classroom design.  Implementation does not happen overnight, but yet is a long, slow process, but if it starts now, goals can be met in the future little by little.  Involving the community (parents) is the key to implementation.  You must educate the community as to why these changes are imperative.  You will need all hands on deck in order to accomplish school goals.  Voting ‘yes’ to the budgets each year will be important, and so the teachers/staff need to promote the good things that are occurring in our schools.  Parents need to be kept apprised to the changes that are occurring and the ones that need to occur in order to help our students achieve 21^st century skills.

Blog #6- Collaborative Technology

The website that I decided to select was the one that I was assigned in class, because I found it very interesting and something that is completely relevant to the changes in education as we move towards on emphasis on 21^st century skills.  The website was under the third link: Technology Information Center for Administrative Leadership. ‘A Collaborative School Embracing Digital Media’ was the article I selected.  First I want to give a brief overview of what the video included.  Landmark Elementary School, which is part of Pajaro Valley Unified School District, in Watsonville, California has made major strides for equipping the staff and students with the latest technological gadgets.  Under the direction of Principal Jennifer Wildman there has been a foundation of trust and collaboration built around digital media.  After years of raising money by fundraising events and working with the parents/community, Landmark Elementary School obtained $80,000.  The money was put towards building a computer lab with LCD Projectors, six Smart Boards, flip phones/digital cameras. 

The video focuses though on the flip cameras and the use of these phones (camera function) in the classrooms.  Providing staff and students with access to these technological tools, has enhanced both the teaching and learning at Landmark Elementary School.  The camera function on the Flip Phones is used in a variety of ways to improve the education at the school and has completely changed the teacher evaluation process.  Flip cameras allow teachers to go back and observe their own lessons, when in the past and in most schools, teachers never get to see their own lessons. It gives teachers an opportunity to critique their own lessons and self-evaluate which can be very helpful.  Another great function of the flip cameras is Peer Teacher evaluations.  Teachers meet after observations and provide feedback to one another on lessons (after watching observation videos), as well as give teachers the opportunity to see new practices, share ideas, and participate in quality data.  The evaluation process is cost-effective as well, because no substitutes are needed.  The teachers have bought into the new evaluation system and feedback has been extremely positive.  Most teachers have indicated that they have found the phones to be very helpful in their teaching process.

Students also benefit from the flip cameras, because they are able to see their own work/performance.  The students take a certain pride in knowing that their work is “published,” and is significant.  Another great thing about having the students see videos of classroom lessons, presentations, themselves, peers, etc. is that they can go back whenever they desire and see the video.  They can learn skills such as analyzing, critiquing, adjusting/revising, and computer functions that go with the videos.  It also enables the students as much time as they need to analyze their work, because of the pause and rewind features of the videos. 

I really enjoyed this video for many reasons.  I believe Principal Wildman, her staff, and the students are all benefiting from the flip cameras.  Both teachers and students are learning so much about themselves through this process.  Implementing technology into the classroom is imperative for all schools as we move on in the 21^st century, and this school has it right!  Principal Wildman had several thoughts that I loved, because of the simplicity and vision she has for the future of her school.  She said, “implementation is a process.”  She knows this is a marathon and not a sprint.  Capturing promising practices is so important and this school has that advantage through the technology they are using.  I also love how Principal Wildman talks about the fact that she encourages her staff to, “not be afraid of the technology,” but yet embrace it.  Trial and error, exploration, sharing strategies, collaboration of both staff and students are all ways Landmark School is trying to sustain technology.  Principal Wildman said herself on the video that she still has no idea on how to use the Smart Boards they have in the computer lab.  She says she understands that some teachers/students will be more tech savvy than others, but she does not want that to deter the members of her school from trying everything and working hard to obtain the skills to use the technology.  Constant collaboration of staff and students as well as building such a positive atmosphere in the school can only help this school move forward.  

“Let’s make our teachers better,” Principal Wildman stated towards the end of the video.  She said that all of these pieces of technology the school has acquired have been great, but the main focus is on making the teachers better.  Better teaching leads to more student learning.  This video related directly to many class discussions we have had, ideas in Bellanca and Brandt, and how I personally see schools moving forward.  Technology is no longer going to be a rare sight in a classroom, but yet be the driving force behind the classroom.  Why would we deny the technology, when our students are using it all day, everyday?  This video opened my eyes to ways to incorporate a few pieces of technology into productive lessons.  Teacher evaluation is changing as well, and this school highlighted great ways to evaluate teachers.  Many times there is little to no feedback after a lesson I get observed in.  If I had the opportunity to see my own lessons as well as see other teacher’s lessons, I could gain so much beneficial feedback. I work at the HS level, so if a school filled with children as young as the Kindergarten level can use technology to help their education, then anyone is capable of doing this!

Class Activity #5 (URL)

http://www.portical.org/tv/a-collaborative-school-embracing-digital-media/97.htm

Implementing technology into the classroom with a focus on Flip Phones and their camera function

Blooming # 4 Activity

The Blooming Questions activity demonstrated 21^st century approaches to education, because it made each member of the class think about the future of education.  Where is education headed?  How will education be shaped in the future?   This activity made me personally think about the ever changing educational field and how societal changes play a direct role in our classrooms.  Technology has moved to the forefront in our world/society, and it is our job as teachers to not deny, but yet embrace technology in the classrooms. How can I find ways as the teacher to incorporate more technology into the classroom?  Many educators feel as though our students (U.S.A.) are falling behind the rest of the world, because they are missing the skills that are needed on a global market.  Global awareness, media/technology skills, as well as innovation and creativity are just some of the skills that our students need and many districts/schools are just sticking to teaching our basic core subjects. 

This activity was an enjoyable activity for me personally, because I was able to share with my thoughts and opinions on the current state of education and where I see education headed towards with fellow classmates. I was also able to hear great ideas from my peers that made me think and reflect upon current issues as well as work collaboratively to reach beneficial questions for the rest of the class.  I also enjoyed the fact that we were then able to add to other group’s thoughts/questions, and by doing so, maybe this allowed our peers to reflect more upon their work.  It was interesting to see what other classmates thought about our questions, and their tips or recommendations to add to our thoughts.  I have always believed that it is more beneficial to have others read over and offer opinions to improve upon one’s work.  It is always great to hear from others, because many times someone else may see or be able to add to something you wrote that will enhance your knowledge base.

I believe it would be harder for our group to elevate our own questions, because once you come to a group consensus on an answer, you have to believe that your answer is the best possible option at the time.  You would not write an answer that was poorly worded or lacked substance if you have pride in your work.  I feel as though you always try to put forth your best effort, ideas, and thoughts into your answers, and to go back and try to raise the quality of the answer/question, would be difficult.  If you believe your question properly reflects your group’s mindset, then why would you want to change your question/answer?

There was a direct connection between this activity and educational leadership for a number of reasons. For one, each group I’m sure had group members that took charge and were more authoritative in their sharing approach.  Usually during collaborative assignments, there is at least one group member who tries to lead or steer the group in the right direction.  There are always some group members that are apprehensive about sharing their ideas and while they may have great ideas, usually the vocal leaders have their ideas used more often.  Another reason would be that to be a good leader in my opinion, you must be able to take constructive criticism, and be able to adjust, and adapt ideas to meet the needs of others.  All of your thoughts/opinions may not always be the best idea as a whole, and a good leader must realize this.  Leadership in education requires you to be able to remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create all the time!  This assignment made us reflect on Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy and these skills are a great guideline tool for all educational leaders.

Technology for the Future- Assignment #3

I decided to watch the video by Sugata Mitra before reading the two readings in the Bellanca and Brandt book.  I found the video to be rather interesting and thought Mr. Mitra had an interesting take on education and how children learn best.  What I really liked about the video presentation was that Mr. Mitra did several studies and experiments and used his research to draw conclusions about how children learn.  He started the video by talking about how there are four central ideas or points that he drew from his experiments and four ideas he would like the audience to think about after his presentation concludes.  The first was the idea of remoteness and the quality of education.  Sugata Mitra wanted to know the further you are from the urban center (in what he terms remotal areas), what happens to the education?  Were those that were further from the larger metropolitan areas (slums and poor areas) socially and economically remote from the rest of the city?  Schools in remote areas generally have below average teachers, have trouble retaining good teachers, have poor infrastructures, and maintenance issues.  He showed a graph of the Total Performance on Tests vs. Distance from New Delhi and sure enough the further from Delhi, the worse the test scores were.  Also, 69% of the teachers polled at the “remote schools” wanted to teach at better schools and schools located in the city of Delhi.  Mr. Mitra then began to dive into Educational Technology and a study he performed for five to six years throughout several cities in India.  The project he embarked on is what he referred to as the, “Hole in the Wall Projects.”  Sugata and others would go into these cities and place touch-tone screen computers into poor areas and leave a video camera running to see what would happen.  Obviously the children that would come up and use the computer had never even seen these computers, let alone any computers before, and most, if not all, do not speak or understand the English language.  Mr. Mitra would only leave one computer in each city as well to prove a point.  In one city after only eight hours a young boy was teaching a young girl how to browse.  In the next city, a 13 year old dropout was browsing within eight minutes and seventy children were browsing the Web by day’s end.  Finally in one of the last cities that he spoke about he left one computer and several CD’s and returned three months after the fact to see how the children were progressing.  Upon returning, eight and twelve year olds were playing games on the computer and turned to Mr. Mitra and said, “We need a faster processor and a better mouse.”  Many of the children of the community had learned over two hundred English words including children as young as six years old.  In fact in many cases, the younger children were teaching the older children different functions of the computer (ages 6-13).  The videotape footage caught many of the children teaching one another the various ins and outs of the computer and working collaboratively to solve issues/problems that arose.  Mr. Mitra points out that all this learning took place with only one computer per city, so imagine what the kids could do given ample tools/supplies to work with.  300 children became computer literate in three months with only one computer.  Language, furthermore, the English language was not a barrier even though these children didn’t know any English before getting their hands on the computer screen. This experiment concluded that primary education can happen on its own and that it does not have to be imposed.  Many children learn best when exploring, thinking, and learning on their own and within groups of other children (collaboratively).  The children were learning just as much by watching their peers explore the computer than by using the computer for themselves.  Mr. Mitra ended his presentation by saying that he believes our society as it all wrong when it comes to piloting educational technology in the schools.  Most piloting programs start in the affluent schools and leave the poorer schools out to dry.  Research has indicated that the “remote schools,” see a much bigger jump in test scores than the affluent school districts when given the necessary technology.  Mr. Mitra believes that remoteness affects quality of education, educational technology should be introduced into remote areas first, values are acquired (should not be imposed), and learning is a self-organizing system.  What I took from his presentation is that he believes many children do learn more or at a faster rate on their own or collaboratively instead of having sometimes useless information thrown in their face.  Machines also should replace teachers if the teachers can not effectively help the students grow and learn.

Next was the foreword entitled, “21^st Century Skills: Why they matter, what they are, and how we got there,” by Ken Kay.  Ken Kay is the President of the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills in which he is a firm believer that our current educational system needs to be refined and reflect actually what is going on in our society/world today.  Our children are not prepared for the “real world,” or work force and do not have the necessary skills needed to compete on a global market.  Mr. Kay believes we need to reconceptualize and revigorate public education to meet the needs of a changing world.  After reading his thoughts, I could not agree more that we need to prepare our students for a world that is now dominated by technology and global competition.  US schools for the most part have not adapted to the changing world.  Innovation, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, flexibility, adaptability, leadership, and cross-cultural skills are all imperative to have and our kids don’t have many of these skills.  Ken Kay’s adamant stance that the starting point is the end and how outcomes/results need to be decided before we can even think about how we need to get there, reminded me of a previous educator/class.  Grant Wiggins was somebody that I learned about in a previous class, for his vision on Backward Design.  Backward Design is when the results and outcomes are decided and then you decide how you are going to achieve these outcomes.  What steps or what is the process that would most effectively allow your students to achieve these desired results?  I think it is a great idea and way to attack some of the issues we are facing in terms of our students falling behind in the global market, because we must first decide what we want/need them to understand/learn and then create the correct recipe for meeting these goals.  Ken Kay gave his example of the framework for 21^st Century learning in which there is a heavy emphasis placed on four areas and there are four areas that will help us gauge and lead our students to mastering those four desired areas.  The final skills/goals of his framework are for students to master:

1. Core subjects and 21^st Century themes
2. Information, media, and technology skills
3. Life and career skills
4. Learning and innovation skills

Well-measured Standards/Assessments, effective Curriculum/Instruction, Professional Development opportunities, and positive Learning Environments will help our students master these areas.  As Mr. Kay says, “vision needs to turn into commitment for outcomes.”

Finally, I read chapter 13 in Bellanca and Brandt entitled, “Navigating Social Networks as Learning Tools.”  This chapter focused on the rise of the virtual global classroom and how as educators we need to not only embrace this change in our society/schools, but take the necessary steps to improve and incorporate technology into our classrooms.  The “tectonic shift,” is what the offers allude to when talking about the future.  Instead of shying away or denying this change, we need to model technology and prepare our students for the technology/network driven world.  Network literacy was once thought to be a nice bonus for some or only needed for those headed into computer driven jobs, but now everyone needs to be technology literate.  Teachers, parents, and the community all need to help model safe, effective, and ethical ways of learning and using the web/internet.  While there are many great things about having so much information at your fingertips, there are many dangers or pitfalls if not used correctly.  Sharing is a common on the internet with such programs as Youtube and blog pages, but many students do not realize the public nature of some of their actions and they are not educated into the severity of how powerful words can be.  We have seen a rise in cyber-bullying and shared pictures/videos that have caused many tragedies many times indirectly.  The Global Classroom is the new landscape of learning and teachers need to educate themselves and their students in order to help these students succeed in the future. 

Article #2 stood out the most to me, because of my shared beliefs with Ken Kay.  Our schools have always been about teaching students core subjects (such as mathematics, English, science, history, etc.), but now our students need much more.  They need to understand technology, life and career skills, innovation and 21^st century themes.  Some areas/themes that Mr. Kay gave that I think should be required in our schools are global awareness, communication and collaboration, media literacy, initiative and self-direction, etc.  It is a shame that so many schools and school districts have not woken up to the fact that our society is completely different from what it was ten years ago.  We need to change our curriculums, educational goals, and standards to reflect these changes.

While I agree with some of things Sugata Mitra alluded to in his video presentation I also have some questions for him and disagree with some of his thoughts.  For one, although his research basically summarized that the children all learned how to use a computer on their own and they didn’t need any guidance, I hesitate to believe that allowing children to just learn on their own over the long haul will be very beneficial.  For one, there are so many children in our schools that have IEP’s, learning disabilities, handicaps, behavioral issues, and so on and so forth.  Are you telling me that these students would pick up on a foreign language and learn how to use all functions of the computer without any supervision/guidance?  While many children may be able to learn the basic functions of a computer on their own given adequate time, I have my doubts about them gaining a high-level of competency by just being allowed to explore on their own.  I agree that children need to be able to explore on their own and with other children, but I also believe it is important for children to have some guidance and be challenged by teachers who can help the students critically think and solve more complex problems.  Curious as to what type of research is out there regarding if students learn more on their own, or do they learn more with some sort of guidance/teaching?

I believe the views all three of these authors/speakers regarding Technology are spot on.  They all encouraged the US to have our educators, and students become more technology savvy and incorporate technology into our classrooms.  The days of a pencil and paper are fading fast, and being pushed aside by computers, Ipods, cell phones, and other forms of technology.  On a global level, the US is starting to see that we are not as prepared or knowledgeable as we need to be to compete in the global market.  It starts in our classrooms!

Week Two: Video Assignment- Thinking About the Future

The two videos I decided to pick and watch were John Seely Brown and Nichole Pinkard. 

The John Seely Brown video dove into John’s belief that there should be an extremely high importance placed on playing (gaming), and tinkering.  He also talked about the latest role of collaboration and collective expertise as it pertains to our students and society.  John described how we live in a constantly changing world and that in order for our youth to embrace change, and solve complex problems they will have to rely on tinkering, playing, and collaborating with others all made possible through digital media.  John stated that the “most important thing for kids growing up today is the love of embracing change.”  He says most if not all students believe, “if they aren’t learning, they aren’t having fun.  Learning is not something you do consciously, it is something you absorb.”  John Seely Brown did a tremendous job in my opinion of giving examples of how our students will do their most serious learning through experiences, integrating, and assimilating.  We live in a world of rapid change, but a world that has a short shelf life for everything, so it forces us to adapt, experiment, tinker, and absorb new ideas and knowledge.  The examples Mr. Brown gave of World of War Craft players and Maui Surfers were both interesting and hit home on some of his points.  World of War Craft players bottom line want to be measured, challenged, and strive for improvement.  They either adjust to the game changing or they change the game themselves.  They have certain strategies and do not run from change, but instead embrace it.  All of these skills learned through this game directly correlate to skills needed in our society.  Maui is not known for famous surfers, but four surfers recently made it big and Mr. Brown found out how.  For one they all compete with one another in order to push each other to get better.  They create new moves, analyze, build ideas, and have a passion for trying new moves and succeeding in the water.  The surfers constantly study surfing moves on the web and then collaborate on ways to incorporate these moves into their repertoire.  Digital media allows these surfers an opportunity to hone their skills and share their own moves with others around the world.  As Mr. Brown said, “tinkering brings thought and action together in very powerful and magical ways.”

Nichole Pinkard is the founder of DYN (Digital Youth Network) a program that reflects the importance of media literacy for 21^st century education in America.  In this program, the youth of Chicago are given the opportunity to use technology in order to gain competence with digital media and use it as an outlet to succeed moving forward in society.  Ms. Pinkard believes that if one is technology savvy/educated, they are literate in a world today that relies on technology.  The DYN has programs including You Media and Remix Learning that offer chances for students to learn and explore.  You Media is a High School (9-12^th graders) digital only space located in the Chicago Library where teens can go to experiment, learn, and be mentored by certified digital mentors/librarians certified to help these teens grow in the technology environment.  Remix Learning is a social network where 24/7 students can interact with other students everywhere and share ideas.  These outlets provide the students with the tools and inspiration to become media literate and develop skill sets for not only themselves, but for society as well.  In many cases the students end up becoming digital mentors where they get an opportunity to be professional, support fellow students, and receive money for their skills.  Ms. Pinkard believes that one of the main reasons for past failures in technology integration is that teachers are trying to teach students, and many times the students know more than the teachers about technology.  The students are not given the chance to explore on their own or do not have the tools available to succeed in a technology-based world. 

The videos I chose have concepts from Bloom’s Taxonomy Blooms Digitally apparent in several places.  There are many concepts highlighted in Andrew Churches’s article under the various categories that I found in the videos from John Seely Brown and Nichole Pinkard.  

-Remembering: social networking, searching or “googling”

-Understanding: commenting

-Applying: running and operating, playing, uploading and sharing, editing

-Analyzing: linking

-Evaluating: posting, testing, collaborating and networking

-Creating: publishing, videocasting, mixing, remixing, filming, directing and producing

In Mr. Brown’s video, he talked in length about how the World of War Craft players have to question/analyze strategies, and introduce higher order thinking.  They remember past strategies, learn to understand why people make certain moves, analyze and evaluate these moves, before creating their final conclusions/decisions.  The same can be said of the Maui surfers.  They all videotape and test out their own moves, then upload their videos onto the internet/web in order to share ideas with other surfers.  They then collaboratively decide on ways to improve their moves and succeed moving forward, before finally creating unique moves and directing their futures.  In Ms. Pinkard’s video, the students are given social networking opportunities through Remix learning.  They can make comments on this platform 24/7 and upload and share thoughts with other students from around the world.  They can test and post ideas, as well as take part in videocasting, filming, and recorded singing, poem reciting, etc.  All of these skills fall directly under the Lower Order Thinking Skills to Higher Order Thinking Skills in Bloom’s Taxonomy.  The practices alluded to in these videos hits on the approaches we have discussed in class in relationship to the 21^st century technology/digital media importance.  Our classrooms are already changing and will change significantly in the future due to constant additions/changes in the technology field.  Our society relies on various pieces of technology and our students will be using these technologies moving forward.  It is our job as teachers to embrace this change, and not deny future changes.  Finding the best ways to incorporate technology into the classroom will help our students succeed in a technology-based society.

Week One: Article Two

1)      I found many things interesting about Daniel Pink’s article entitled Revenge of the Right Brain.  For one, I completely agree with Mr. Pink that there has been a shift or should be a shift of focus in our society in relationship to the workforce, how one obtains a job, and where we should focus our energies moving forward.  In the past, many people would put all of their focus into studying hard in school, and then pursuing a career based off of their stronger subject areas.  You were evaluated on your ability to acquire and apply knowledge learned in the classroom.  As Mr. Pink states, “this was the path to professional success and personal fulfillment.”  Now there has been more of a shift towards creativeness, artistry, empathy, and seeing the big picture amongst other things.  The left-side of our brains dominated our thinking and drove our career paths.  Now though, the right-side of brains are not taking a back seat so to speak to the left-sides of our brains. 

As Mr. Pink alludes to, changes in society have caused this shift to take place in our brains and by looking at the examples he used of Asia, automation, and abundance, it helped open my eyes.  Many Americans have and/or will lose their jobs to men and women overseas, because they do not require as much money to do left-brain work such as American tax returns, help lines for most of our electronic and technical equipment, etc.  Outsourcing has been on the rise and will continue to be on the rise.  Americans in the workforce are also being replaced by computer applications and technological advances.  If a computer can do something quick and easy, Americans will use it.  The problem with this though is that these programs are replacing people’s jobs.  For example, many people think to themselves, “why should I hire an accountant to do my taxes for a large sum of money, when I can do it myself with TurboTax?”  Finally, most people buy, buy, buy in our society without even blinking.  With quick swipe credit and debit cards, online shopping, and other marketing ideas, buying a new television or piece of furniture is only a swipe or click away.  What has this led to: a society that is overloaded with a lot of junk.  We have an abundance of everything.  We as consumers have many wants, needs, preferences and this has turned into a major problem.  Many times the more expensive product is purchased just because it has some designer’s name on it.  This is all the right side of our brains subliminally demanding beauty, and emotion.  I found this article to be interesting for one because I agree with Daniel Pink.  He made several points that made me say to myself, “he is exactly right.”  We as Americans are moving (if we haven’t already) into a society that needs us and is calling upon us to use both sides of our brains more than ever.  Many people are scratching their heads as to why so many people are without jobs, hurting for money, or struggling to survive.  Reading Daniel Pink’s article helped me see some of the reasons why this is occurring and what we need to do in order to succeed in the future: Look to the right side of the brain!

2)      The only questions I really would have about this article are that I am very curious on the research that is out there regarding brain function and how it plays a role in our lives.  Obviously Mr. Pink hit on the point that researchers have found out which sides of the brain handle which responsibilities/functions, but I would love to know the statistics/percentages as to which side is used more, in what circumstances, etc.  Mr. Pink used only a couple statistics to backup his backup his thoughts/opinions, but I have questions on the validity of his arguments without seeing the research to back it up.  I want to know what percentage of jobs use more functions of the left-side of the brain everyday compared to right-side of the brain functions.  I also want to know exactly the evolution of creative expression.  Are there more jobs out there that require creativeness, or jobs where emotion is extremely important in the decision making process now as compared to ten, twenty, or even thirty years ago?

3)   I don’t have any recommendations for what the author should change about an article they wrote, because this is his thoughts and opinions and he is entitled to his beliefs on the current state of our society and how he sees the future of our society.  Although I might try to include more statistics to backup my argument/opinions, once again this article is just how he sees our society changing.  Whenever I read an article, story, or book, after I finish, I develop my own thoughts and opinions.  Sometimes I completely agree, while other times I completely disagree with what the author has to say.  Sometimes I agree with some points of the article, while other times I agree with little to no points of the article. In my opinion this is what is so great about reading and reacting.  One of the great parts of our society is that everyone is entitled to their own set of opinions and beliefs.  For the most part in this article I completely agree with what Daniel Pink had to say: We as Americans are losing jobs to foreigners and have to make some changes in how we educate our children/society moving forward.  We are a society that feeds off of abundance.  Most people I know have what they want, but way more than what they need.  Finally, technology rules how we live our lives now, and instead of denying that, we need to embrace this and understand it is reality.  Computers can do many things better and faster than humans can, so it is up to us to find ways to use the right side of our brains, because we will have to rely on the right side more than ever.