TED-Dr. Michael Wesch

  I really enjoyed Dr. Wesch's view points on society, media, and education.  As a new "qualified" educator in America, I find the structure of education to be based on a society that no longer exists.  Furthermore, this structure is skewed to fit a model of upper middle class caucasian people that could be plucked out of a Norman Rockwell work of art. Life is a game and the rules are created by the people with power and/or money.  These rules are essentially a reflection in fear of change and the unknown, set not to enhance and progress society, but instead to retard the uprising of others whom the rules were created to stifle in order to protect these particular individuals greed and need for control.
  When I substitute at various schools around the county, I often pose questions to the students that are completely open ended and unusual in a "traditional" school setting; for example "Why are you here today in this class? Explain."  Usually, I get blank stares and then cookie cutter answers.  Dr. Wesch's view of creating the motivation to learn and fix complex issues collaboratively is astonishing, especially the route he takes to enlighten his students.
  As an educator, I want students to have a drive to find answers to questions they do not know exist yet.  I believe this can only happen when they feel comfortable in a low anxiety environment and are not pigeonholed into studying to the test.  A major issue I see, is being an educator who wants to differ from the system, yet would like to keep his position (not that I have a full time gig, but you get the drift)  as a teacher in a fractured/broken system.  I truly believe that we have not discovered the cure for cancer and many, many other elusive solutions due to how we educated, or lack there of, only a small population of our own people.

Dr. White-Tall Blog-Visitors and Residents

     I believe it is important to have a working knowledge of technology and how it pertains to both, our lives as well as the students we are attempting to educates lives.  I currently see myself as a Resident under the conditions Dr. White detailed.  I was initially resistant to Facebook when it arrived several years ago due to the segregation of admitted users; i.e. only University students had access to FB.  I wasn't happy about that as I deemed it unfair for a variety of reasons.  Even after FB went mainstream, I resisted creating an account for over a year.  I now use FB daily for many different reasons and see it as a valuable tool in staying "in the know" for things I personally deem important, regardless of what others may think.
  I was pretty clueless to the power and speed in which Twitter operated, now that I was "forced" to sign up, I can see the value is vast and in real time...quite an amazing tool.  I will definitely use technology such as Twitter, Edmodo, and other communication devices in my classroom (if/when I get one) in the future.  I can only imagine what the next platform to be released will be; I'm actually excited!
  When it comes to personal/family related information, I tend to lean on the Visitor side of the internet/social media.  As for things that I like to do and/or learn about (i.e. tickets for events, travel, what friends are up to, educational information I can use to better my craft, etc.) I am progressing more and more to the Resident side of the matter.

Darrell 9/24/2012

Oh boy!