Blog Assignment #10

Do You Teach or Do You Educate

I became an education major first and foremost because I love children. I want to help them and be a part of them growing up. I want to serve an important role in who they become as adults. Teaching is so much more than just filling a head with facts. A teacher needs to be a mentor, a guide, and a confident. I want my students to know I am there for them and will listen to what they have to say. I want them to be excited about learning and to crave new knowledge.

This video shows the differences between a teacher and an educator. Most of the definitions for a teacher focus on giving information and causing someone to learn something. An educator, however, is one who gives not only intellectual instruction but moral and social as well. I want to be a part of my students’ lives. I want to help their creativity to blossom and help them figure out who they are as people. Teachers play a huge role in a child's life. After all, they are with them five days a week for eight hours a day. Teachers grow to know their students on a different level. I want to educate my students but also serve as an open ear and a friend. Students may not have that at home and the teacher might be the only one who truly cares. I hope my students will remember me and what I teach them in a positive way and know that I was there for them in every aspect of their lives.


Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home

I love the approach Tom Johnson took in this post. What I took from this is that there are many issues stemming from the use of technology in schools. The “pencils”, to me, represent technology. So many administrators, teachers, and parents are not able or not willing to see the positive results that can come from the use of technology in the classroom. Tom Johnson explains that even at home, children might be playing a game or surfing the web but there is always a possibility that they are learning something. I think also that if a teacher is properly teaching their students about technology and proper safety measures, then the student will be less likely to abuse the internet or technology at home. Technology engages a child and spurs creativity. Engagement and creativity….hmmmm.. what horrible things to inspire in a child!

The key here is to EDUCATE teachers, students, administrators and parents about technology. Children today are growing up in a technology based society but the older generation did not. You must show those who do not know the positive implications that result from technology. We must also stop focusing so much on test scores. A child must be taught to LEARN and REMEMBER not HEAR and MEMORIZE. I believe a child is more likely to remember a lesson that engaged them and kept their attention then a lesson that is simply full of facts that are crammed into their heads. Technology is a fantastic way to achieve better retention and understanding of lessons being taught.

I like how Tom Johnson used something as ridiculous as not being allowed to take pencils home to show how equally ridiculous it is to have such a resistance to the use of technology in the classroom. In EDM 310, I have learned nothing that convinces me that I should not use technology in my future classroom. I want to be the best and most effective teacher I can be and if there is something to aid in that goal then I surely will be using it. I really enjoyed this post and it was a great take on the need to educate others about technology and focus on its positive aspects. There is good and bad with anything, but if we are teaching our students to be responsible with everything else in their lives then technology should be no different.