Today, I watched video called Shift Happens. I found it hard to watch actually: a slightly-too-fast-paced slide slow of "Did You Know?" facts about how the world is not the same as it was a few years ago, set to very distracting music. The video focused on the population changes and technological changes that have happened recently--just the sort of things that would spark my boyfriend's interest.
For me though, the most interesting fact presented by the video was this: "There are over 12 billion Google searches performed each month." The video then followed up this fact with a question that really struck me:
"To whom were these questions addressed before Google???"
As an aspiring educator, I can't help but think that many of these questions were previously asked of teachers before the internet age! This idea made me feel sad and at a loss for how I can impact students in a relevant way when Google seems to have a corner on my job.
But then I watched another video, this one called A Vision of 21st Century Teachers. This is a very encouraging video for any teacher who is feeling dwarfed by technology. The simple video style and friendly faces calmed me down at once, reminding me that yes, technology has a huge impact on us all nowadays, but teachers still have a big role to play!
Teachers can use tech in the classroom in so many different ways--which means that no creativity is lost on our part! It's up to us to not only utilize technology as a learning tool to teach other materials, but in doing so we may also shape how students view and use technology throughout the rest of their lives.
So whether you're the type of person who relishes at the thought of change or someone who is a little less ready to jump into a new world, rest assured that as a teacher you will always have a massively important job to do.
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post.
I must say the same question struck me too: To whom were these questions addressed before? And there are many more like how we lived without cellphones in the past? How did we tell our friends we were running late? Or were we always on time? When I started using a cellphone, I was in high school, so I remember living without cellphones. But it is still hard to imagine how life was when we did not have all these smart phones, google, youtube etc. I do remember going through encyclopedias in order to do my school assignments though. And yes. teachers will always have a very important job to do.
To whom were these questions asked? Teachers and LIBRARIANS. They were another indispensable resource. I remember that librarians were like otherworldly fonts of knowledge (still are!) but that was a huge place where you went to find answers. You hunted through the card catalog and got the reference librarian to help you. It was a time-consuming task and one which is definitely made better by the advent of technology. However, technology has not rendered librarians or teachers as obsolete as many have feared: it has just redefined our roles as facilitators and guides or learning. The 2nd video is really a complement to the 1st in my opinion. The 1st tells us the numbers and facts as they are and the 2nd tells us how teachers will react to the changing world that the 1st describes. Nice work integrating the two videos into your post.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that teachers are having less of an impact than they have in the past, while the medium has changed, teachers are still there to offer help and support to their students. While 12 billion searches is a lot, many of the searches performed may not lead us directly to the answer we are trying to find. Within a classroom, teachers can now provide a new way for their students to learn and adapt but with different tools than would've previously been used.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily,
ReplyDeleteI like the video "A vision of 21st Century teachers". I totally agree that technologies have changed our living styles nowadays and also have great impacts in teaching and acquiring knowledge. Using technologies like multimedia and blogging as tools in teaching, they are very helpful to attract students’ interest in learning a subject and engage them in the teaching and learning process.