Blog Post #13

Back To the Future 

In the video, Back to the Future by Brian Crosby, he shows how his classroom is set up. He talks about how his students roll over with him, so he is there teacher while they are in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. He talks about what kind of students he teaches and they are of poverty and 2nd language learners. He then talks about his method of teaching.

His students use technology while learning. Mr. Crosby provides every student with a laptop. They also have their own blogs. He has a fascinating way of teaching. He has his students do very hand on lessons. For example, he has his students demonstrate how a hot air balloon goes through different layers of the Earth’s atmosphere. The project is titled “High Hope.”

 Mr. Crosby had his students write a high hope about their school, community, and the world. They posted them online to their blogs. They started getting a lot of feedback to their blog posts. Then all of the students started commenting on other student’s blog posts. It was great to see how he got his students connected with students from all over the world.

 Mr. Crosby`s way of teaching is amazing. It is great to see how he gets his students involved. One part of the video that is fascinating is how Mr. Crosby incorporates a new student with leukemia who cannot come to class. He Skype’s with her like she is really in class. I know I learn more by being hands on. I think Mr. Crosby is a really good teacher. I also like how he moved on with his students from 4th through 6th grade. It is great to see more teachers using technology to get more students involved.

A Vision of Students Today

The video A Vision of Students Today is by Michael Wesch and a college class from Kansas State University in the spring of 2007. The video is from a college students perspective. The students talk about how they are on Facebook more than they are educational sites. They also talked about how only 18% of a student’s professors know his/her name.

As a student I understand how students can veer off during lesson and go on Facebook or Twitter. For this reason I do not take my laptop with me to class unless I absolutely need it. Educators need to incorporate more technology into the classroom so students do not have the chance to veer off. At the end of the video it show how boring a chalk board can be because you cannot show interesting=g videos relating to the lesson being taught, pictures, animations, or networks. The video is very fascinating, because all throughout the video you are reading the students thoughts on a sheet of paper on their laptop screen.