Blog Post #10

Morgan Bayda’s post “An Open Letter to Educators” was great. I really enjoyed watching the video by Dan Brown. Here is my comment that I posted on her post:

Morgan,
My name is Tiffany Fey and I am an EDM 310 student in Dr. Strange’s class at the University of South Alabama. I am majoring in Elementary/ Early Childhood Education and I really enjoy watching videos like the one you posted. It makes me feel liberated and empowered to change our education system. Like you said, I would not drop out of school like Dan did in the video, but I almost feel like dropping out after sitting in an hour and fifteen minute lecture where all I did was struggle to keep my eyes open! I hardly ever learn anything in classes like those, I memorize the material just long enough to take the test and then the information disappears. I learn much better in a class that actually allows me to be one-on-one with my teacher, whether it be through technology or in person, and be interactive with my classmates (Like Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class). Thank you for sharing this video! It’s something everyone needs to think about. If you would like to view my blog you can click Here. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Tiffany Fey

Like I said in my comment, videos like Dan Brown’s makes me feel empowered to change the school system, because I do believe that “schooling is hindering my education.” Although I would not take such extreme measures as dropping out of school, like Dan did, I do believe that, as a future teacher, I have the responsibility of changing the school system to make students like Dan want to stay in school and actually educate them instead of just “school” them. The only way that the school system will change is through a new generation of teachers. Ones who are willing to try new ways of teaching and different technologies in the classroom. I believe that the future teachers who take Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class can be those teachers, just as long as we make an effort to actually change the teaching methods.

 Tom Johnson's Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home!

I think Mr. Johnson’s post makes a lot of sense if you can actually understand what he’s trying to say. He isn’t really talking about actual pencils, he’s talking about technology in and out of the classroom. The moral of the story is: yes some kids might abuse technology outside of school, but you never know if they are actually learning something through the abuse. So then, is it really abusing technology if the students are learning from it? I believe that students can learn through technology just as easily as learning through a teacher. So what is a teacher’s job in today’s society? It’s teaching our students how to use the technology they “abuse” and put it to good use.