Technology Self Assessment

The School 2.0 Self Assessment allowed you to assess how well you are prepared to use and teach technology in the classroom. Based on our results we explored one aspect of edtech and watch a video that related to that topic. The NETS-T standards that this accounts for includes: 1.

I took a look at Module 1: Enabling students to use technology to demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge and develop innovative products and processes. I chose this section because I truly believe that tapping into students creativity allows students the opportunity to express what they know through a means that they are comfortable with. Not all students succeed in academics, the way that the system is currently set up. As such, it is important to allow all students the opportunity to express their knowledge in different ways.
Here, I viewed a speech by Sir Ken Robinson on creativity. In the video, he discussed that children are born creative. Through our education system, however, creativity gets stamped out.  The reason behind this, he says, is that making mistakes in the school system is unacceptable. But it is important to make mistakes if you are ever going to create anything new. The education system today is very harsh towards creativity. Sir Ken Robinson launched into an anecdote about a very successful dancer who struggled in school as a child. She could not concentrate or sit still. At the time, the 1930s, ADHD did not exist. And given a description of her symptoms many today would assume that a child who could not sit still had ADHD. So the mother of the child took her to a specialist where they simply observed her. They saw her moving to the music that was playing and the specialist suggested the mother enroll her in dance classes. The point that this story was meant to convey was that children who do not conform to the educational system are often cast aside or diagnosed with a learning disability. However, if you allow them to tap into their movement or whatever it is that they having a liking towards they will really be able to express themselves and their capabilities.
Creativity is essential to future generations because there is no way to tell what the world will be like sixty years, or even five years from now. It is our duty to prepare the children to face the future, and creativity is the key to that success. According to Sir Ken Robinson dance, music and art are just as important in education as are mathematics and science and should be given the same status. The video was truly inspiring because it allows those of us who are not necessarily gifted in the main subjects in school the opportunity to show our own capabilities and succeed at what we are inherently good at.