Comments For Teachers #2

Teaching in the 21st Century
In this blog Dr. Strange writes about some of the fears students that are going to be future teachers have for the future of education. Students are scared of many things and technology is one of them. They do not want their students to have to depend on technology. Some of the students even said that they are afraid that technology might take over their jobs. They spoke about inappropriate information that can be found on the internet and how it could hinder a students learning experience.

Dr. Strange posted a video for them to watch called Teaching in the 21st Century. We have to be able to guide and engage our students through their technological learning experiences. We have to be able to teach our students skills not facts. These are the kinds of things that will help them in the future to keep learning even when we are not there to facilitate. He stresses that we must not teach the way we were taught (burp-back education method)but we should advance our teaching skills with the advancements of technology throughout the world. We should incorporate new ideas and methods of teaching that actually ENGAGE our students.

In my comment to Dr. Strange I admitted that I had some of the same fears as some of his past students. I also said that after watching the video I decided that this fear is a good thing. It will help motivate me to really learn new things and to keep up with the changing world that education has become. After watching the video I realized that I cannot be scared, instead I have to jump right into the change and embrace it. I realize that I will have to work extra hard to catch up and stay caught up, but it will be well worth it.

Serendipity
In Dr. Strange's post there was a video posted from one of the EDM 310 alumni. It was very interesting, and taught a lesson that was full of inspiration. Some people in Sweden decided to do a little creative research. They took boring stairs that were next to an escalator, and turned them into piano keys that made noise when you walked up them. They called this the "fun theory." They wanted to see if making these boring stairs "not so boring" would make people use them instead of the escalator. At the end of their study they found that 60% more people used the piano stairs that day, then they used the boring stairs on any other day of the year. This shows how far a little creativity can go to get people engaged in activities they never usually like to do.

In my comment to Dr. Strange I noted that the "fun theory" actually works! It was fantastic to watch these people get involved in something they do not normally do because it was fun. This can be related to education in so many ways. You have to make your classroom fun to appropriately engage your students. It has to be interesting, and as you can see, a little bit of simple creativity can go a really long way. People thrive on what they like to do, and what they think is fun. By sparking students interest with a little creativity you can get them involved in learning, and they might actually find that they like it. As a teacher it is our job to step out of the box and find new ways for our students to become engaged. If we get creative, so will our students.