Preparing Students to Live in the 21st Century

I think I'll do a good job at preparing my students for the 21st century because I am always willing to change with the technology. I think I'm interested and flexible enough to learn about what is new and what is relevant in the technology world. I also spent most of my life with computers and cellphones so I think it makes it easier for me to understand what it takes to have 21st century skills. In my classroom, I will try to implement technology in my lessons and activities as much as I can to expose my students to what is out there and why it is important in the real world.

Movie Comparison Paper

Stand and Deliver 

The teacher in this movie did not seem daunted by the attitudes of his students even though he was a first time teacher. He seemed confident and at ease with them right from the beginning. I think the students appreciated that he came from a similar background and they were able to relate to him. The teacher was also very direct with his students, which seemed to work well. I liked how he used comedy and creativity to engage his students. I thought the use of the apple at the beginning of the movie was a great visual and worked well to engage his class. I think it was great how much he challenged his students. He obviously had high expectations for them. At one point he told his coworkers that “students will rise to the level of expectations.” I thought that was an excellent statement and really proves how he was a great teacher and motivator. At times, I thought he took it a little far with the teasing and challenging of his students. I don’t think that approach would work in every environment. However, he always proved that he would protect his students and had their best interest in mind. Another important thing that he did was that he explained to students why it was important to learn math. He did a great job of connecting math to the real world and demonstrating that you need math to graduate from school in order to have a better life. I think the students really connected with this teacher because he showed that he truly cared about them and believed in them. 

Freedom Writers 

The teacher in this movie had a lot of similar qualities to the teacher in Stand and Deliver. I think she struggled more with the racial tensions in her class because she did not have a similar 

background as her students. It took her a little longer to gain her confidence. However, she took the time to understand her students and their background, which proved that she cared about them. She developed relationships with her students, which in turn developed into trust and respect. She also had the mentality that students will rise to the occasion if you have high expectations. She refused to give her class the old and lower level books because she knew that they could succeed if she showed them that she believed it. Like the teacher in Stand and Deliver, she showed her class why it was important to get an education. She gave the content meaning and related it to them by choosing books that they would connect with. Both teachers in these movies went above and beyond the call of duty. As a result, they left a legacy and had a lasting impression on their students. 

Setback with Technology

I recently had to upload a video to Vimeo for a class and had the hardest time. Although we talked about video editing and converting videos in this class, I struggled a lot with this project. It took me hours to figure out how to reformat it and then the upload process was extremely slow. I wanted to give up several times but through trial and error and watching instructional videos online, I was finally able to upload it and post it successfully!