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media type="custom" key="12152802"media type="custom" key="12087497"media type="custom" key="12683150"Did you Know?: This video reminds me that we have to teach students to adapt and to apply knowledge they have to new situations. Regergitating facts is no longer helpful to children of this age - there is too much information for them to remember. This requires teachers to make judgement calls about what information is absolutly necessary. Is it more important for a student to know which is faster, the speed of sound or the speed of light? Or is it better for them to be able to figure it out through experimentation? In their everchanging world, they need to experiment and be comfortable doing so. This new, ever-changing world will also require teachers to adapt and change. Letting students explore means giving up some control. Teachers become facilitators rather than disseminators of knowledge. Also, it means that the way you taught something five years ago is most likely irrelevant now. Lastly, we as Americans need to start thinking more globally. We need the other countries to help us to be better, We need to work for the betterment of the world, not just our own country.

My Technology Experience As I have grown, computers have slowly become an integral part of my life and of society. I grew up in the age when computers were just coming into the home. Since my father was a doctor and we were affluent, we had a computer pretty much before anyone else did, when I was in elementary school. But we really couldn’t do anything with it. I remember writing the program to make a smiley face appear on the screen with the touch of a button. That was so cool. No one knew what else to do with it, so it just sat on the desk. Of course, there were no computers in the school until I got to high school. In high school, we continued to write “smiley face” programs and to use the computer as a word processor. The internet came about during my last years in college. After graduating, I was resistant to have an e-mail and when I finally got an account, I only checked it every few months. I was actually pushed into the digital age by my husband, who used the internet and computers at work. I actually thought the first computer purchase we made was an unnecessary luxury. I didn’t really use it at work or at home. Now of course, with children and work that requires me to stay connected, a computer seems as necessary to my family as my refrigerator and my washing machine. Computers are an integral part of our lives. Therefore, they must be an integral part of our students’ education. In order to fully participate in employment and society, they have to be fluent in computer technology. Teachers have a responsibility to integrate technology into their lessons in a variety of ways. They have to allow students to use technology, explore with technology, create with technology, and interact with technology. Students need to have access to technology, both in school and out of school. This may require that teachers become advocates for their students in the school and the community. This also means that if a teacher requires a student to use technology, they have to be able to access it. As a parent, it has been frustrating when my child has come home with computer work he cannot complete. It is unfair to him, and then he doesn’t learn anything from not being able to do the assignment. And making him come in an hour before school is not fair either. However, introducing him to the technology is crucial, so there has to be class time afforded to these technologies until the technologies become commonplace. Additionally, students that are taught appropriate uses of technology and are already comfortable with technology will be less likely to fight having to use technology in the way that I fought it. They will embrace it. They will need it. They will thrive from its use. media type="custom" key="12683074"This concept of innovation in education for the world is somewhat overwhelming for me. It feels like an insurmountable problem because I am foucused on how I can even get through my first year. But it also gives me hope. If I change the way I teach my students, teaching them information that they can use and build upon for a lifelong education and career, then I can move them into education that is relevant and life-changing. It will take some inventiveness on my part because I still need to stick to the Standards given to me by the district. I will know I am successful when my students can make decisions based on content knowledge and critical thinking. media type="custom" key="12687106"I completely agree that math education in this country needs to change. I, too, took calculus in high school and have not used it since and cannot tell you anything I learned at the time. However, I took statistics in college and still use it to understand information given to me from a variety of sources. As the speaker mentioned, I use this to assess risk and to assess the accuracy of information portrayed in the media. Additionally, in doing probability and statistics, you are still using real numbers, which translates better to the real world. I do think, though, that it will take a lot to get those in charge of curriculum to change their minds.We have been falling further and further behind the rest of the world, but so many people want to keep things the same. The core content standards are a start. At least we have a national plan now. media type="custom" key="12723814" I love the idea of getting the community involved in the education of the children that live there. So often now, you hear people insist that education is the responsibility of the teacher and the parent of the child. But that isn't realistic. We know that the more help a child recieves, the better. This concept of the tutoring stores also challenges the traditional school model. Students are learning a lot and want to be there. The idea of using what they know to create something real seems to be a common theme among students about what makes school fun and engaging. media type="custom" key="12742488"I feel that the colleges of education are trying to teach future educators flexibility, differentiation, and to have students work collaboritively. They know what the research says and what is best for the children. However, I think that the districts and the standards being set forth by the states make it nearly impossible for teachers to be able to run the classroom as they know would be best. The standards and curriculum maps come to the teachers as a one size fits all. They have some flexibilty in how to teach it, but they have a limited amount of time and limited funds. I also agree completely with the overmedication of our children. I used to be a clinician responsible for diagnosing children. When I wouldn't diagnose a child, the parents usually went over my head and got the child diagnosed. Then they would be drugged and the life was sucked out of them. If the lesson is interesting, maybe they wouldn't be so bored.