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media type="custom" key="12702280" The amount of information coming out everyday is exhilarating and terrifying. We expect students to know so much more in one week than was ever expected of them 100 years ago. Just to help students understand this information is a full time job, not to mention trying to teach them State and National Curriculum. One of the facts I found the most interesting was the one about India: India has more honors students than the U.S. has students. It really puts things into perspectives. We think we are so ahead in everything, and our education systems isn't nearly as good as those in other countries.

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Technological Autobiography: I have grown up around computers my entire life. Both my parents used them for work on a daily basis. However, I have not always had the best luck with technology. While everyone in my family uses a computer or smart phone, or dvd player like it is an extension of their right arm, I am still trying to figure out how to turn it on or search for something. I cannot run virus scans on my own and I'm terrified that there is a red button that will make anything explode and I will be the one to find it. Hopefully over time I will learn more about technological devices and I will learn for sure they won't blow up in my face, but until then, I get outside help and carry on just doing the basics.

media type="custom" key="16084440" I thought her ideas were so interesting. I love the ancient Roman and Greek ideas of HAVING a genius rather than BEING a genius. Most people claim to believe in God but if they create a masterpiece or write a best seller it was only that person, no higher power helped. I liked when Gilbert described the poem as thundering across the field and you have to beat it to the house so you can find a pen and write it down before it moves on. I have definitely had moments like that. I found it amusing when she talked about taking control of the "muses" or "geniuses" and saying that if they are not going to come at a more opportune tune time, then they should go bother someone else. It's nice to know that something is out there helping us succeed, but also if we fail we are not entirely to blame (In a world where we want to blame everyone else you would think this concept would be much more popular).media type="custom" key="16089356" I have always known that boys and girls learn and think differently; but it was really eye-opening to see how female centered schools really are. Just because 93% of our teachers are female doesn't mean 93% of the student body is. I had never considered the zero tolerance policy as a bad thing before. But most toys for boys have weapons attached to them. So in stores and at home they can play with these toys and it is fine and comfortable for them. So we are discouraging boys from school even more by saying they aren't allowed to play their own games. Another thing Ali talks about is writing in schools. Not letting a student write about what is interesting and important to them kills creativity. How can we expect students to like school if they can't do anything they like to do while in class? media type="custom" key="16318802" The main reason I picked this TED Talk was for the story about the ballet dancer. Students today are over medicated and misunderstood. Children are not physically able to sit still for long periods of time; their tail bones are still growing and it's physically painful for them. We have condensed the public school curriculum so much that students don't get a chance to be kids, they have to be students from the time they are five years old. And when we noticed them struggling we can't understand them, so we give them pills that take their personalities away. Of course we are killing creativity in schools, we won't let the students dance or paint or sing. It amazes me that with all the studies proving that art and music and dance and theater help improve students' learning in the classroom we are still determined to remove it from the schools. media type="custom" key="16322476" D. Eggers has an amazing story. I love that this group of writers took such an interest in their community. The provided an invaluable experience for all the students who walked through their doors. Creating a fun space like the pirate store and the Superhero store is a great way to get kids in the door. Providing a very different and more fun atmosphere to work in is sometimes all a student needs. When he talked about asking the students to write a book to be published, I was blown away. Those students thoughts, ideas, and creativity is forever validated and will be read through out the world. If I had an experience like that when I was in school I would have worked so much harder on everything I did. Students' ideas are important and should be heard; this was a great way to do it.