Blog Assignment #10

Morgan Bayda

Morgan has made a great post here that discusses education as we know it and what it needs to become. Dan Brown's video is a great example that she uses to discuss her concerns for our learning future. I completely agree with both of them that we need to make some changes. The education system revolves around one professor that spits out facts and we just memorize them and give them back to receive a grade. However, we can get facts anywhere on the internet and school isn't really preparing us for the real world. This idea of teaching is blocking us from creating new things and coming up with new ideas. The best thing I think we can take from Dan's video is that, as educators, we need to evolve with the information age and update as it updates. Continuing to learn as the internet provides us with new information is now essential in making sure everyone is educationally up to date and prepared for what is next; the world.

Morgan Bayda Open Letter To Educators

Tom Johnson's Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home!

Mr. Johnson has allowed his students to take their pencils home and Ms. Gertrude is upset about it. In what seems like a one sided argument by Gertrude; Mr. Johnson shouldn't allow the students to take the pencils home since students that use pencils at home have lower test scores. But, Mr. Johnson has given his students some projects that they can do while using their pencils, which looks like a great way to integrate the school and home learning process.

I think it is a fabulous idea for students to get involved in learning at home as well. Since most kids just want to play or watch television at home, this is a great way to include what is going on in the class to give them more ideas when they show up to class. The idea here, is to make sure that children continue to learn by using their tools that are at home; i.e. computers. If they choose to use their computer as a toy or play childish games, at least it has given them one more chance to be creative. In this case, we can always fall back on the idea that, we only get out of something what we put into it. I think any twisted form of teaching to pull out creativity is awesome. Going back to the first post above this one, teachers need to find ways to grab creative energy. How do we do this? We have to be creative ourselves, and find a project that can be incorporated into boring lessons. If students can explore using their computers at home, maybe it will make them more attentive on the subjects taught in the classroom. Keeping them interested and making the learning experience more fun and memorable in class, could give them ideas they may want to explore at home. So, it works both ways.

Tom Johnson's Adventures in Pencil Integration