Blog Post 10

An Open Letter To Educators

This was a post about a video that Dan Brown produced on how schools are interfering with education. He talks about how in today's society the world around us is changing and everyone is jumping on board except for our education system. He said you still go into Universities that have one teacher per every 80 to 200 students who doesn't encourage interaction among students and they don't take the time to remember your name or get to know you. You spend an hour sitting in class while the professor is in front of the class lecturing from a power point. You are told to remember the facts that he talks about. Dan goes on to explain that with the use of the internet, all the information is right at our fingers now. We don't have to memorize facts anymore because the professor isn't the only one with this information anymore. The schools just need to jump on board and work with the use of all this information. Dan Brown dropped out of school because he felt it was hindering his education. 

When the video was over, Morgan Bayda goes on to talk about how she agrees with the video and why it had an impact on her. Though she doesn't agree with dropping out of school, she does think that Dan is right about how lecture classes and other things in the school system is being held. There is a need for change or the world will give up on schools. She goes on to talk about how one of her education classes was different thought. She was encouraged to interact with classmates and to use technology such as blogs, twitter, and other articles to improve her education. 

I really enjoyed this blog post. Like so many of the other videos and post we have looked at, it talks about how the school system needs to be changed. This is something that is talked about but when will it be put into action? Like Dan said, if something doesn't happen soon then the use for schools and universities will not be needed. I know that some of my classes are a complete waste of time and money. I pay a lot of money to be in these classes and then we meet to hear these lectures that I don't need to hear. I never open my textbooks; I have even gotten to the point where I don't buy them anymore. Anything I can find in them, I can find on the internet. Now I'm not saying that I would go as far as to dropping out of school because honestly, most jobs now require you to have a college education. Whether I like it or not, I will need a job and a career. I want to influence people to make this change occur and not only talk about it but to put my words into actions!

Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home

This was a very fun and informative blog to read. It was about pencils and how one teacher did not want students to take them home because she saw a study that showed if a student took the pencils home it would decrease their score on a standardized test. The other teacher makes an argument that the study is only comparing it to standardized tests and does not have any other information proving this but the teacher won't budge. She then starts to talk about how if they take them home they will only play horrible games like hangman and not do productive stuff.  The fellow teacher goes on to explain that what he does is make sure he has something interactive and fun his students can take home and do so that they will be doing something productive but if by chance they do play hangman then he is okay with it. He says that there is something they can learn from this and that he can't stop them anyways.

This post is about how teachers focus on the problem more than they focus on the solution. One teacher is so busy worrying about test scores and what will happen if the students take the pencils home and the other is thinking about how he can allow them to take the pencils home but still be in control of the situation at hand. As teachers we will be faced with many problems but this doesn't mean that we are to just take away something. Instead, we need to find ways to make it better for the students without taking away their rights. If we give them options then it will be a lot more beneficial then just taking things away from them. This will also help us to come up with ideas to keep learning fun so that the students do not become bored and uninterested. I will remember these things when I become a teacher to better help my students!