Ok, so I had to read through the comments of this post to even understand what in the world was going on...I guess that is more plus to blogging, you get to read everyone's comments, not just see the picture, or read the author's words. Of course once I read it (and I had to Google Ticonderoga, I got it). In an old-school way he is comparing pencils to pencils, which today would be a Mac vs. a PC. Pretty funny because it is a play on the direction education is going. The first step has already happened, students have MacBooks at school. I think it is happening a little backwards though because the students understand technology more than the teachers do for now. Teachers are now learning how to teach with technology. Once that happens, I think we will reap the rewards of having technology in the classroom. I thought this post was extremely clever.
Mr. Spencer
I loved his writing style Why Were Your Kids Playing Games? and >Remember Pencil Quests?. It took me a second to get it, but I thought it was very clever. In the first blog, Why Were Your Kids Playing Games? I believed he was taking a hard shot a standardized testing, and how it unfortunately shapes our education system. I, personally, believe that it is only a matter of time until standardize testing is completely eliminated. I mean, what does it accomplish anyways? In the real world, we all receive training for the job we are hired for, even if we make a 30 on the ACT. Mr. Spencer was making a valid point, he was trying to focus on life skills and things the students will face outside the walls of school.
In the second post I read, Pencil Quests, Mr. Spencer relates to the fact that he is pushing the envelope. Although his students might think it's silly, like he did when he was giving the pencil quest assignment, he understands that it takes those moments to make education evolve. He is truly inspiring, like most teachers/bloggers we have had to study in EDM 310. I love seeing all of the different ways passionate teachers approach education. It is time to have innovators, and teachers that are willing to allow their students to be themselves. I hope sooner rather than later that I am correct, and standardize testing is a thing of the past.
Scott McLeod
Blog Post reactions- I loved this sarcastic way of making his point. Dr. Leod says fine, keep your old ways of teaching, but...it's not working! He understands that technology is the way of the world now, and without it in schools, we are doing the children an injustice. Teachers that are given the freedom to use technology to teach are not doing anything but getting their students ready for the future. They are preparing these kids for life. The longer I'm in EDM 310, the more I really understand that is not IF you know the information, but IF you know how to use it. All the information we need is at our fingertips thanks to the internet...teachers need to being teaching their students how to use and collaborate with the information they find. Teachers jobs' are changing, and change is hard for a lot of people, and those are the ones Dr. Leod says he would put his kids up against at the end of the day. Great read! Dr. McLeod is an extremely educated man, I loved his title, "Director of Innovation." You can tell that his first love is education, and doing it right!
Metaphors and satire. They almost threw you for a loop but you figured them out. Good!
ReplyDeleteSally,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your blog post and others it amazes me how differently we all saw the cartoon. As a beginning teachers it will be hard for us to be able to go against the grain of what we are told to do. I think its important for us to be able to teach our future students the way we feel will work best for them. I really enjoyed your blog post. Thank you for sharing and best of luck to you in EDM!!
-Gabby Williams