This video presented many different "did you know" facts that were really interesting. Two of these facts really caught my attention. The first fact, "China will soon become the number one speaking English country in the world," really shocked me. Wow! This just blows my mind when it's the official language of our country or should I say it is supposed to be. Although I do not have a problem with foreign languages being spoken in the United States, I do believe English must be learned, taught, and actively used in this country. Let me give an example to back up this belief. The Gulf Oil Spill greatly impacted the Bayou La Batre seafood industry. An industry that is made up of 75% Vietnamese and Laotians who do not speak English at all. That's one of the reasons why the claims process has been so difficult in that area because one side can not understand the other. I think it should be a requirement by law to know the English language to live in the United States. I think it's sad that a foreign country such as China will be speaking more English than America. It is our country's language and we should be speaking it the most.
The other fact is that we are currently preparing students for jobs that do not exist yet. This is why today's learner will have 10 to 14 different jobs by the time they are 38. This is a sad fact to me. We spend so much money on our education, a price that is continuing to rise each year. We should have permanent jobs ready and waiting when we graduate. This is one of the reasons why the unemployment rate is so high in our country and why so many people are in debt before their lives ever begin. The price for my graduate degree from the University of Southern Mississippi was $35,000.00 and I think that is a crying shame! I'll be paying for my education the rest of my life.
Mr. Winkle awoke from a hundred year sleep to find the world as he remembered it, had changed so much. He visited different buildings to see what he could find and heard strange noises coming from machines that he had never seen or heard of before. All this "newness" was making him feel seek so he made his way to a hospital where he observed people being kept alive and made well by more machines. He knew there was no way the hospital could make him feel better so he left. As he was walking he came across a school that he entered and immediately it was familiar to him. Nothing had changed there. Students sat in neat little rows, taking notes while their teacher lectured for hours, just like he remembered. He did notice one of those new devices in the back of the class room but it was old and dusty and had not been used. Mr. Winkle enjoyed school because "even after one hundred years" it was still the same.
I actually disagree with the message in this video very much. I believe our way of teaching and learning in the class room has changed tremendously in the past 100 years, even since I graduated high school back in 2000. Children are growing up with computers, smart boards, lap tops, tablets, and smart phones at their disposal in class rooms now. When I was in school the only technology we had was a computer and they were only in the library. Now they are common in every class room and students are learning to use them even before they get to grade school. Technology has advanced greatly in the past 100 years and continues to do so on a daily basis.
Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson's lecture on The Importance of Creativity was highly entertaining. This video kept me laughing. He basically says that "creativity is as important in education as literacy". This is so true. We need children to stay creative and not be afraid of being original. It is important for a child who is extremely talented in drama or dance, and maybe not as good in math or science, to feel like their talent is just as worthy in school and in life as their peers. Sir Robinson is right! There is a hierarchy of subjects in our schools and that translates in to your degree of worth in college and in your future career. I am one of those students who is creative. My first degree was a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drama from USA and do you want to know how many high paying jobs I have had with this degree that I am very proud of? None. I did get a job with Pirates of the Caribbean II & III immediately after graduation but it wasn't because of my degree, it was because my uncle owned the ship yard where the Black Pearl was being built. I also worked in television but that was on a salary of $23,000.00 a year with a college education. So I went back to get my masters degree in Communications so I could be a reporter and no television station would hire me because I did not have experience. How do you get experience if no one will give you a chance? So now I am in school again, working on my third degree,so maybe this time I will get it right and my education will be good enough to teach children that creativity is important and it does matter in life.
Four Ways to Use Pinterest in Education explains there are four ways that Pinterest can be useful in the class room: Lesson Planning, Sharing Ideas, Organization, and Student Use. I will definitely be using Pinterest for all of these categories as a teacher. I am new to Pinterest this year but I have already started creating a board for my class room. I have been pinning lesson plan ideas from my other friends who are already teachers in elementary school. I have also been pinning organizational ideas for my class room. Especially creative ways to set it up so that kids feel energized and eager to learn in my class room. I will utilize Pinterest in my class room as well for student use, so that kids and parents can share ideas and see what is going on in my class.
Go Red Sox! Sorry. i lived in Boston for 17 years and my kids apparently thought the Fenway park was home.
ReplyDelete"I think it should be a requirement by law to know the English language to live in the United States." Hoe long would you have to learn English? Would any of your ancestors have been affected by this rule?
"...would higher me..." hire, not higher
A degree in education also does not come with an iron clad guarantee of a job!
Thoughtful. Interesting.
Wow Red Sox fan! Boooo! Just kidding Dr. Strange! The Red Sox and Yankees are the best rivalry in baseball.
ReplyDeleteI think immigrants should be allowed at least a year to learn basic English so they can have a way to communicate in time of emergencies, natural disasters, and just in everyday life with other Americans. And I also think it should be offered to them for free because we are an equal opportunity country. It is really hard to help people in this country when they cannot understand Basic English. Language barriers make communication very difficult in any situation when teaching and learning and especially in times of need.
Thank you for pointing out my error, it has been corrected.
Jamie,
ReplyDeleteReading this gave me as much insight into who you are as much as what the assignment was, I really enjoyed that. I believe very much our experience in life shape who we are and how we will view things very differently. That is one thing that does make EDM310 great, is that it gives us a chance to see people's different point of views and experiences.
I agree completely about the issue with the English language in the U.S., one reason I think that maybe is because we are such a "melting pot." Your example you used about the oil spill is very insightful. I haven't lived in the gulf coast area long, even though no matter where you are from you view it as something that is terrible, and I would have never know that was one of the reasons that there were such issues with the claims.
One thing I would like to point out that not everyone thinks about sometimes. In the U.S. we focus so hard to drill teach our children the same language that they always have been taught and most part been speaking their entire lives. We dedicate 13 years of their lives to teach them the same things and the same rules over and over. Most developed countries abbreviate that. They will teach them the basic in x amount of time and spend the other time teaching them a different language...English. Many foreigners will be fluent in at least two languages, while as my sister says, "We stupid Americans think the world revolves around us." Maybe we should take the time to learn another language and be fluent in it. What would that do to America? Just food for thought.
I think you have felt a lot of the pains I have had, the doing what you love issue. Finding something you love to do with your whole heart and not being about to make a living off of it. Been there in my life. If it helps your feelings at all I think part of the reason people have so many jobs before they have there career is because they are trying to figure out what they love, the thing that makes them happy and that will actually give them money so they can have food on the table. I personally have had nine different jobs since I was fourteen, I will be twenty-five in March. But I think a lot of this is because kids are forced through school with the idea that you attend school thirteen years, you go to college and get the degree that you think you will make the most money with, then you graduate find and job and live happily ever after. We both know that’s not reality. I think that is one that Sir Ken is trying to convey.
I really enjoyed your blog it was very much worth the read and made me think and believe even more that our system as a whole education and work is messed up. If it wasn't a smart hard-working person like you wouldn't be back in school for the third time because she had to be, but because she wanted to be.
Feel free to check out my blog post I did on the whole subject. Your opinion would be very interesting to read on the subject.