Blog Post #13

Blog Post #13

Back to the Future

 This is a video of Brian Crosby during a seminar about how he utilized technology in his classroom. The majority of Mr. Crosby's class was made up of students who used English as a second language. That sounds so challenging to me!He talks about how his students were taught on a narrow curriculum which hinders their learning capabilities. A narrowed curriculum only brings down the student's level of creativity. Each student is required to have a blog and record everything they do in it. He also required his students to set goals, but not just for themselves. They set them for their community, their school, and their country. He challenges his students to better the world around them through their own goals. He then conducted a hot air balloon experiment with his students, this experiment captured attention from all over the world! Mr. Crosby's class then constructed their own hot air balloon,it flew into the atmosphere until it exploded. They put all the recorded hopes inside the balloon. This experiment made students want to learn on their own. It also helped break the language barrier because so many students had to learn how to interpret written and spoken English. Mr. Crosby even had a student brought into his class via Skype because she had leukemia and she was treated as if she were a normal day-to-day student. Mr. Crosby's classroom was very inspirational to me, as an educator. His balloon experiment created a higher sense of confidence in the children and an overall sense of importance. It showed what kind of an impact an ordinary sixth grade classroom can make. With each assignment we are given in this class I more clearly see the importance of blogs in the classroom. With a classroom dynamic like Mr. Crosby's the possibilities are endless. With teachers that are like Mr. Crosby, there is a better future
 for our students.

 A Vision of Students

 
 This video very clearly illustrated every thought of every college student ever. It covered topics ranging from professors never learning your name to spending thousands of dollars on textbooks deemed important but are never used.Which I happen to have two of from this semester alone, myself! However, the assignment very clearly stated not to view this video from a students prospective, but to view it from the prospective of teachers or University presidents. In that case, I'd feel very poorly about my performance as an educator and a leader. It's one thing for a student to pay for a class and never show up, that's their decision. But assigning material that is irrelevant to their field of study or not adapting to today's lifestyle is a problem for the administration. I actually can relate to this, I had a class this semester sadly at our school that I took online, which cost more than a regular class at the school, in which the professor merely assigned a forum and a 10 question quiz every week. The class was easy, however what did I get out of it? Also, how much money was wasted on a poor excuse for a college level course? In the case of this video though we must ask, why? Why is this student ignoring a class that he or she paid a lot of money to be enrolled into? This is a question Dr. Strange mentions at almost every class meeting when students do not show up. This makes perfect sense to me, why waste your money! Is it because they are lazy? Most, I'm sure would assume so. Maybe it's because the instructor never covers any relevant material. Maybe they never teach. It is possible that the instructor is not giving quality information. As said in the video, college students are multi-taskers because they have to be. They have to make sure the time they spend is productive. As an educator you cannot waste a student's time, just as much as they are expected not to waste yours. Instructors and educational leaders need to be thinking of the needs of the student. Sadly, this is almost never the case when dealing with a University. It's always about money. That's why textbooks are so expensive. That's why you cannot graduate from a college or university without taking at least 36 hours first. It's all about money.