Blog Post #5

If You Built A School

     Krissy Vensodale's post If I Built A School" was very inspirational. She described creative yet effective techniques for a successful school. The school walls would be full of neon paint and comfortable seats in the classrooms. She would have a school bus which would take them on community service events, career fairs, and universities. She would completely abolish state tests and curriculum with project based learning, and passion. Students would get take-home work to do on their iPads, Tablets, ect. It wouldn't be about regulations but about developing trust, respect, an"d knowledge of using technology. And to top everything off, a very thoughtful parking sign for every teacher to show how much they are appreciated. Sounds like a school I would want to go to!

     If I were to build my own school? Where do I start?! I would definitely paint all of the walls with chalk paint. Teachers would all have smart boards and take workshops on how to use them. Students would get either laptops or iPads to learn how to use technology for several different things. There would be field trips at least once a month to museums, colleges, aquariums, community service events, and many more! Students would be assigned their own blog page to express themselves and be creative with their writing skills. The cafeteria would be like an enormous living room/kitchen where students could lounge after receiving their healthy meals. There are so many more ideas, but I am going to stop here.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

     Wow!! 185 people all harmonizing together and not even close to being in the same room. It amazes me how even though they were over the internet, no ones video was delayed. I wonder how Whitacre came up this this idea, and how he got the specific singers as he did.

     In the NPR interview with Eric,he says he got the idea from a friend and posted a blog to call out any aspiring singers. He put the video up and people individually recorded themselves, then sent it to Whitacre. Scott Haynes volunteered to edit all of the videos together; making sure they all started at them same time. Technology is amazing the way it can bring such unity.


Teaching In The 21st Century

     In the video Teaching In The 21st Century, by John Strange, -originally by Kevin Roberts- teaching in the 21st century must revolve around being technically literate in my opinion. Roberts believes that  teachers are the filter of knowledge. This, in fact, is correct. Since anyone can gather information from the internet, teachers need to engage with students and tech them how to use it exceptionally well. Engaging this knowledge by assigning projects with internet based research required but yet can still let them kids be creative. These projects will then give students the skills they need for the future, such as researching how to fix a car. As an educator in the future, I feel like technology will definitely out-do the knowledge and wisdom of teachers, but it will never out-do the methods and techniques to teach students how to do hands-on activities or to how research a topic.


Why I Flipped My Classroom

     Katie Gimbar's, Mrs. Minafo's, and Dr. Lodge McCammon's videos were all very interesting and effective ways to excel in a classroom  It is a fact, that not every student may be at the same learning level, and this helps conquer those problems. Standing within all of the students instead of in front of the students, gives the students more comfort and attention. Students will be more obligated to ask questions and engage when they can be closer to their teacher. Why it is this way? I'm not sure, but interacting and engaging is the key to understanding and solving a problem.

     I think it is very smart  to have assigned and sent out videos to students that they can watch and go over outside the classroom. This allows students to go at their own pace and to give them the opportunity to ask questions in class. They can pause, rewind, and watch the video as many times as needed to effectively understand the information. Teachers then become facilitators. This method seems to be very effective and I may even flip my classroom in the future!