Creativity and Curiosity:My Thoughts-Special Post #12A

In this post, Dr. Strange asked his EDM students to respond to a few questions pertaining to curiosity and creativity. In response to the first question, I do believe that most schools in this country destroy curiosity and/or creativity because of their lack of care. What I mean by this is what we've been learning to do all semester, and that's to strive to be creative, and it takes curiosity to do that. One of the biggest problems with our school system is that it has, for the most part, remained the same for a long period of time. This happens because so many teachers in the system nowadays are afraid of change. Luckily, I have been a victim in this case, coming from a small country community, but have managed to pull myself out of the rut and begin adapting to the new online learning community with the help of EDM 310.
          We are asked next if there is a curriculum that can inspire curiosity? My answer is yes. In order to create this curriculum, however, we must learn new ways to use online tools in order to create a spark in our students. This happened to me this semester when I enrolled into South and began EDM. At first, I despised this class because I never realized how much easier the online tools(Blogger,Google+,etc.), made life as a future Educator. It really hit me about halfway through when I witnessed one of my college professors using Flickr, an online tool we used in EDM a few weeks prior.

          The next question we were presented with was is there a curriculum that can be developed to inspire creativity? My answer to this is of course, I mean after all, that is what we've been learning this entire semester!! The key components would be the tools of the new online learning system such as:Blogging,Skype, Twitter, Flickr, etc. I want to draw off the conclusion that Mrs. Cassidy mentioned and say that we, as teachers are responsible for changing our style in order to adapt to the new generation of students. The beauty of the online learning system is that it allows your students to connect with students across the globe, not only in America. This will inspire the students of this country, as it has me, to witness how far we are behind in our educational system. For example, look at the kids whose blogs we've been commenting on all term, they're only children and have their own blogs!!
          Next, we are presented with two questions of whether or not teachers actions can inspire curiosity and/or creativity? Both of my answers are yes. The reason being, as a teacher, our students pay attention to many things we do. Meaning, if they see us continually supporting this new style of teaching it will rub off and give them curiosity for the online learning tools as well. Furthermore, the video we viewed a few weeks ago about the difference of being a teacher or an educator hits the nail right on the head. Within the video it mentions that an educator is a Mentor, and if we reach out to our students and get them to accept this new style of learning, we can inspire both curiosity and creativity.
          For the last two questions we are asked what would help us become more curious/creative and what role would schools and teachers play in this. In response, in order for myself to become more curious, I must take initiative to help drive our education system forward. To do this, it is important that I stay connected with educators that are trying to help the cause and inspire the system to evolve. I plan on doing this by using Twitter and Skype to stay connected with educators dedicated to improving education,which will cause the school system to improve as well. As Dr. Strange mentioned in class, his main goal with EDM is to release a new revolutionary style of teacher into the old system so that we can reach out and inspire our students and fellow educators alike.