This Week's Content

 This week's content was powerful. This is my 6th year teaching and these videos still hit home for me. I am amazed to see these students speaking so powerfully to teachers/educators. But first I will start with what I learned from the first two videos, Did you Know 2017 and Shift Happens.  First, in one of the videos it said we are preparing students for jobs that do not exist yet. This really shocked me. It made some really good points that we need to help make our students problem solvers. I feel in the world today most people do not think for themselves. I need to make sure that my students are ready for anything. We do not know what the future holds for them but I can help make them life long learners and problem solvers. Technology is taking over our lives, as shown in the "Did You Know 4.0" video. I, as an educator, need to make sure my students are prepared to enter a world full of technology. 

Now to talk about my 2 favorite videos: Adora Svitak and Dalton Sherman. Adora seems like an amazing child who has better public speaking skill than I do. She said, "kids don't think about limitations." This statement really stuck with me. Adults seem to set limits for children. I understand there is a time and a place for limits, but in the classroom teachers should let students explore. I really feel like teachers do not let students explore enough. When a child is interested in something, teachers can make this a learning opportunity. After watching the 21st century videos that I found for my case study, I realize I have been limiting student learning. I really want to change this. Students can be in charge of their learning with their teacher's guidance. Some educators continue to teach the same way because they do not know any better. After listening to Adora speak I realized I need to change my teaching practice to include more student based inquiry (as seen in my case study). She also mentioned that if we give the students low expectations, they will sink to those low expectations. So, educators need to continue to give high exceptions to all students. I have seen some teachers give lower expectations to students who they think can not do the work, but I have noticed that if you give the same high expectations to all students they strive to be their best. Dalton was also an amazing speaker. When he was talking about how we need to believe in each and ever child, I know it makes a difference. When you have someone who believes you can achieve greatness then you will achieve greatness. I want to continue to make sure that my students know that I believe in them and encourage them to do their best. He also talked about believing in your co workers too. That was interesting because I never thought about that. I love to share and collaborate with others but I want to make an effort to show my colleges that I believe in them also. I feel it would change the atmosphere at the school to more positive (especially for the new teachers).

I really enjoyed all of the videos that I watched this week. I feel it put certain aspects of my teaching in perspective and helped me realize things I need to work on.