Blog Post #5

Venspired

Krissy Venosdale is an innovated gifted education teacher living in Missouri. She uses her blog, Venspired, to reflect on her teaching and discuss the people who help inspire her. In her blog post If I Built A School Mrs. Venosdale describes the amazing playground for learning she would create if given the chance to build a school. She dreams of building a school where students and learning can thrive. It would be as school where students don't have to fit a certain model or standard. It's cozy, free, and open atmosphere would help to inspire students and teachers. If I had the means to build my own school it would be very similar to Mrs. Venosdale's. Every class would be equipped with latest and greatest technology for students and teachers to use. I would do away with standardized testing and create a school focused on learning and comphrehenending instead of "burp-back" education. It would be a place where students can't wait to show up and are ready to explore and learn new things, places, and ideas.

Virtual Choir

In Jennifer Chamber's post she shared a video of Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir that is absolutely breathtaking and awe-inspiring . The video is a compilation of about 2,000 indiviudal recordings to create the one masterpiece. Through the video hundreds of people who have never meet brought their voices together to make a beautiful rendition of 'Lux Aurumque.' In the NPR interview with the composer Eric Whitacre, talks about how the video shows a wonderfully pure and positive view of technology usage. I would agree that technology tends to get a bad name and is often discussed in a negative light. However, the video in my opinion brings about a positive light on the subject of technology connecting people globally. I think the video definitely opened my eyes. I know I've talked about the ablity to use technology and social media to help collaborate with teachers around the world but this video puts that into perspective. It really was only an idea, a possibility before the video. Now, it is real. I can really work with teachers around the world with a click of my mouse.

21st Century Teaching

In Teaching in the 21st Century (John Strange version) Kevin Roberts presents ideas about education in today's society. From the video I would say that Mr. Roberts sees teaching and teachers changing from giving facts and information and moving to showing how and where students can find this information on their own. He knows that today's students are able to google and ransack the web on their own to find answers but wonders if someone shown them how to check the credibility. We continue to create new technology but our students are too often pushed away from using it because they will possibly cheat or use technology in a negative way. But what if we gave them the opportunity to actually their phones, twitter accounts, and so on to connect to a bigger world and greater range of knowledge outside of their own classes, teachers, and community? Roberts sees teaching changing to engage students with the help of technology instead of just keeping them entertained. I think that change will eventually happen throughout education. We're teaching a generation that has lived most, if not all, of their lives with technology, social media, and gadgets that connect them to knowledge all the time and use these frequently. We have to provide them with an environment where they learn to use technology to positively affect their lives and add creations to society.

Flipped Classroom

Flipped classroom is a new approach being used in classrooms across the nation to change from using a large amount of class time for lecture and flipping to recording lectures for students to view before class time. The time that was originally used to give lectures in class is now available for application time. Students are placed in groups according to how they learn. So they're able to learn at the same speed according to each group's ability. I think this is a great way to create the right atmosphere for learning. Students come to class already prepared and ready to apply their knowledge. It's helping students learn to work with others by placing them in groups and in turn helping them to challenge each other to think outside of the box. Now, the teacher is able to help and answer questions during class time instead of leaving the student to struggle at home independently. And as Katie Gimbar discussed in her Flipped Classroom-FAQ videos, students who don't have internet or computer access are able to view lectures during school hours or with a DVD copy. I think this system is definitely transferable to every class in the nation and I'm very interested in using it, or a version in my own classroom.