Did you know Mr. Winkle? Digital Smarts = Creativity

Mr. Winkle Wakes
Wondering what I'm talking about?

As many people probably noticed first-hand, Mr. [Rip Van?] Winkle IS quite adorable... The fact that he slept for 100 years is, while severely far-fetched, important in comprehending his confusion upon waking. His trip to the offices and hospitals deepened his confusion and overwhelming want of old times - old times that he found when he stumbled upon a school: nothing had changed. Despite all the technological advances made throughout his century of slumber, the schools were still using the same methods of teaching that were used before Mr. Winkle went into his comatose nap.

I think this says a lot of things about school systems today: either schools should start making a century's worth of upgrades to catch up with the advancements utilized everywhere upon stepping out the front door of the school... OR, what worked a century ago as far as teaching STILL works today. However, the diction the narrator uses when describing the school environment suggests that some upgrades should be implemented: he observed that the teachers "lectured [the students] all day long on reading, writing, and arithmetic... This went on all day with no intrusion from the outside world."

After watching "Did You Know 3.0," it's hard for me to believe that this is even POSSIBLE. How could the world be advancing without teaching students the appropriate information about - or even just by USING - the technology they'll need to survive in the fast-advancing world?!


Did You Know 3.0
Interested in watching this video?

This video was full of shocking statistics, starting with, "If you were one in a million in China... there are 1,300 people just like you." Immediately, any sense of individualism is challenged. The more I read, the more nervous I became: how am I supposed to keep up with technology without making it a full-time study? Apparently for those who ARE studying it within a four-year college, their first year of knowledge is out-dated by the time they reach their third year. How is anyone to keep up with this? Also, how do you prepare for a job that doesn't even exist yet?

It actually wasn't very surprising to know that one in four employees has only been with his/her current employer for less than one year. If the top 10 in-demand jobs of 2010 didn't exist in 2004, new opportunities must be to blame for the short-term employment. It also wasn't very surprising to find out that if MySpace were a country, it would be the 5th-largest in the world; this gives MySpace an alarming amount of potential power and influence of its users. Google's influence over internet searches seems to be the strongest, and if 31 billion questions are presented every month, 31 billion people put their trust into Google for finding them what they need. This is an immense amount responsibility...

I definitely recommend this video to anyone curious about new technology or the technological state of the entire planet.



Schools Kill Creativity
Want to hear the debate?

This was a very interesting piece! Mr. Robinson made the analogy that "creativity is as important in education as literacy - and should be treated with the same status." I couldn't agree more; however, it is in education where children lose touch with their creative side: if the child deviates from what is expected, the child is "wrong," not "creative." It's a shame that originality is only found in the circumstance of being "wrong" by standards. As Mr. Robinson points out, children aren't initially afraid to be wrong, but as they grow, they are taught the "right" way, thus they are educated OUT of creativity.

Discouraging a child to be more like other children is not only an insult to the child, but it could potentially be in an insult to that child's art; a perfect example is that which Mr. Robinson gave about Shakespeare: could you imagine telling young Shakespeare, "Stop speaking like that. It's confusing everybody." How much would the world of literature have lost!

I have also heard that giving a child a coloring book instead of a blank sheet of paper discourages creativity. Children do seem to grow out of creativity as they age and are taught "the way that things SHOULD be." As a future educator, I hope to learn as many ways to help my students embrace their creativity, opening as many doors as possible to better the rest of the creative world.


Harnessing Your Students' Digital Smarts
Learn more here!

Using technology enables students to empower themselves to excel in the workplace, either as an employee using a program or as a creator of a program. Being a part of a digital world seems to be an effective method for the students in Vicki Davis's classroom in Georgia. Not only is Vicki Davis teaching these students fundamental and critical skills for a technological world, but she is encouraging these students' creativity by placing them quite literally into a virtual world of their creating.

I think that I would enjoy this type of classroom; it's not just, "Here's a program, and this is how you use it..." but instead, "You can use this to help you create whatever you need..." - which throws the students' creative side into their work. Originality is not lost or discouraged, but it is essential in the progression of each individual project.

I believe Mr. Ken Robinson would approve of Ms. Vicki Davis's techniques...