Here are 4 incredibly thought provoking videos and my response to each.

Did You Know? 3.0
by Karl Fisch

Did You Know??? I did not! Perhaps I knew the conclusions, but had never seen the statistics broken down so shockingly. Each screen of the video was thought provoking a noteworthy, but as an educator, I was most struck by the statement “We are currently preparing students for jobs that did not exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented, in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.”

I am very familiar with Dr. Strange’s philosophies of teaching (coaching/mentoring/whatever you call it) and my head knows he is exactly right in regard to the regurgitation methods we frequently employ. My classroom, however, doesn’t support that. I “fall victim” to the traditional methods of teaching and do things the way they have always been done. This video reminds me, creating life-long learners is not the best way to teach, it is the ONLY way to teach. It is the only way to impact students in a way that will make a difference in their lives as adults.



Mr. Winkle Wakes
by Mathew Needleman

How disappointing. When I think of my own school, the school I once attended and now teach, those nostalgic, comforting similarities to 25 years ago now make me uncomfortable. How have we changed so little? What can we now do to catch up? How much of my math curriculum should be formulas and equations? Will these be relevant and applicable to my students in 10 more years?

To some degree, what I am teaching is relevant, but I am not sure how to structure my lessons in a way that pushes them beyond memorizing or even applying, to learning how to learn. I don’t want Mr. Winkle to be comfortable in my classroom. I don’t even want the parents of my students to be “comfortable”. I want to teach my students to embrace new information rather than shun the unknown or unfamiliar. I want to master the “I don’t know, let’s find out!” philosophy of teaching.




Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
TEDS website

As I listen to Ken Robinson speak so eloquently, I am not thinking of my students, but of my children, my niece and nephew, and all the children around me whom I love and want to see succeed. I am the mother of 3 young children, and their creativity and imaginations amaze me. Am I nurturing that small flame and creating an environment where they need not fear failure? Not consistently I am afraid.

This lecture was so thought provoking, my mind is flooded with people I want to share this with: the new Head of Schools whom I work for who will have a unique opportunity to revamp our curriculum in the upcoming months, my young nephew who is showing such promise in his artwork, my friends who have recently decided to home school. We all need to hear this. Education did change (or begin) to meet the demands of the industrial age, therefore it makes sense it should drastically change again in the technological age.




Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
edutopia.org website

Employing this kind of technology really is possible in our classrooms, right here in Mobile Alabama. I think this teacher is remarkably daring and brave. Daring to dream big and ask for what she needs (hardware), and daring to design and create an environment where kids teach themselves. It is so much easier to do the work for them than it is to plan it so they can successfully discover on their own.

Her bravado is a willingness not to have all the answers. To allow your students to teach you shows a great deal of confidence in your classroom management. This Spring I had a completely new experience, teaching Art to students ages 3-14. I often felt, particularly with the junior high, that if I didn’t have the answers to their every question, I might appear to be an inadequate Art teacher (which is exactly what I felt I was). Being willing to learn with your students takes a great deal of confidence, and is a trait I feel is highly desirable.