Blog Assignment #2

Mr. Dancealot video 
The central message of this video is to teach the basics of the Foxtrot, Waltz, Swing, and Tango. Professor Dancealot will not let the students participate in this class while he is teaching. He only lectures and expects the children to understand it. The message I got from this video is that students do not learn unless they are able to practice the actual dance moves during class. The author makes a case for conclusion by stating that the final will be next week, and it is open notes. When the students get to the final exam, the professor makes them preform the moves he has taught. It shows that the students do not do well when they have never practiced something before. I do not agree with his conclusion and the way he went about teaching this class. It is not right of him to expect the students to perform a final exam when they have never had a chance to practice the material. Everyone should be given adequate amount of time to learn the material.

Teaching in the 21st Century
Roberts says that teaching in the 21st century means that teachers are only filters. In today's world, teaching consists of Facebook, Google, Blogs, Twitter, YouTube, and many more media outlets. Students must learn to network, link, upload, and comment. Plagiarism, copywriting, and professionalism are all concepts students must understand. Students need to learn how to collaborate with things such as Skype. Students must justify, explain, and evaluate. Below, is an outline of how this may be accomplished.

TEACHING IN THE 21st CENTURY OUTLINE
A. Be familiar with what is out there (understand social media outlets)
     1. Facebook
     2. Twitter
     3. YouTube
     4. Skype
B. Start Small (learn each website step by step)
     1. Create one account at a time
     2. Understand your first account
     3. Create your second account
     4. Explain, justify, and evaluate each site and account
C. Collaborate
     1. Work with others
     2. Collaborate on Skype
     3. Search video lessons (be prepared to learn by watching a video online)
D. Take a risk
     1. Don't be afraid to post to a blog or any account.
     2. Search the terms and conditions of the site before working with it
E. Understand the differences between entertaining and engaging
     1. Entertaining
         a. Enjoyment
         b. Passive
         c. Creativity of others
     2. Engaging
         a. Active
         b. Long-term
         c. Creativity of the participant

I feel that Roberts way of describing teaching is somewhat true. I do agree that technology is advancing and will always continue advancing. I do not agree that everyone needs to know how to do every kind of social media there is, and that everyone needs to know how to create blogs and links. People got along just fine before all of the internet and social media sites were created. Yes, I think a good knowledge of certain sites and technological ways is necessary, but not to the extreme as Roberts described in the video.

The Networked Student
I do understand the concept of this video, although I do not agree. I really do not like the way of teaching when the teacher is only there to help you develop onto technology. I would rather the teacher take each task step by step instead of saying, "Here is the information, and now you go explore." I would rather have a structure to the course, instead of just being thrown out there with materials to explore on my own about something I have no clue about. In this type of class, the teacher is there only to help with organization of the mountains of information, turning web searches into scavenger hunts, and develop a modeler. I understand how this is helpful and beneficial to the student, but I do not like this way of learning.

Harness your Students Digital Smarts
Davis's thesis is, "It is important to teach children how to accomplish curriculum by collaborating effectively and teaching students ways to effectively use technology."

I was very interested in Ms. Vicki Davis's way of teaching. I agree with her thesis. It is really neat how the students are able to teach the teacher through a program by finding out new ways the program works and functions. Ms. Davis did walk around her classroom and teach the students different ways to perform different functions which I did like about her teaching style. She did let the students figure out how to do some things on there own, but she also gave them a guide as to how to start the projects.

Flipping Classrooms
I have never heard of flipping the classroom. This is a new concept to me. I think this teaching strategy will be useful for me as a teacher because I will be able to do more activities in the class and hands on activities rather than just lecturing. This provides more thinking on the students part as they must watch the lesson at home the night before and come with questions to class the next day. We are really able to see who is understanding what as the teacher when they come with questions from the video assignment. This will be a useful teaching tool when I become a teacher.