C4T #3

I was assigned to the blog of Marc Prensky. In Prensky's blog video "How do we help children be brave to be wrong and ask questions?" Prensky and Stephen Heppell discuss ways to motivate children to talk in front of a group. One suggestion Prensky gave was to get students to record each other giving an interview and answering questions. This activity will help students become more comfortable in front of a camera and speaking in front of people. It was said by Prensky that it is important to give people an opportunity to answer. This is something that needs to be addressed by many teachers. We must give our students room not answer and not just give the leading questions to say what we want them to say. As educators, we need to make everyone answer and give students a chance to share their opinion behind their answers. I commented to Mr. Prensky and told him I loved his video and would use his suggestions in my future classroom. I also discussed the importance of allowing children to share the opinion behind their answers. This video blog really makes me think about the importance of student involvement in classroom questions.

In Prensky's blog "What's going to happen next in education?" Prensky and Heppell discuss where education is now and what they think education will start becoming. One thing that was said is that school is not about teaching but motivation for learning. Students have so many resources to learn everything they need to know and teachers should motivate students to want to learn. For example, Prensky does 'open-phone' test. Students can find so many answers from one click on their phone but they need to know to use that phone as a resource and to want to search for that information. 'Open-phone' test were something I had never heard of before this video. I commented to Prensky and questioned him about how he uses this technique to his advantage and how he creates the test. Even now, I am not allowed to have a phone out during a test but if it has already started happening elsewhere how long will it be till it is a common thing? Prensky and Heppell both agreed that changes in education were moving at a slow pace, but I do not agreed with that. Elementary school is completely different than it was when I was in school. Students have computers, iPhones, and iPads in the classroom everyday.Teachers all over use pbl to provide their students with life long skills and more teachers are straying away from multiple choice test. I believe with technology today and how well students adapt to using technology it will be amazing the changes that will occur year by year.