Mr. Winkle Wakes is a video created by Matthew Needleman . Needleman creates a short humorous video about Mr. Winkle who wakes up after a hundred years to find out changed and advanced out world has become. Mr. Winkle goes to a work place to find co-worker video chatting, telephones constantly ringing, and everyone working on computers. He begins to feel overwhelmed, so he goes to a hospital. At the hospital, Mr. Winkle quickly finds that technology surrounds him there as well. There are so many medical advances saving lives and helping people become healthier, but because Mr. Winkle is so unfamiliar with these things, he decided the hospital cannot help him. Mr. Winkle then goes to a nearby school. At the school, he finds himself sitting in a classroom full of children who are listening to the teacher talk. They seem very uninterested and not engaged in what the teacher is teaching. Mr. Winkle feels comfortable in the school because it is a place where nothing has changed since he took a nap. He spots a dusty, unused computer out of the corner of his eye, but is glad that is not being used. For Mr. Winkle, change is not good.
Needleman's message is that schools and educators are not taking advantage of the progression of technology. While everyone and everything is moving forward, classrooms are stuck in a time period of pencil and paper. Though this is not a negative thing at all times, we should be implementing what interests our children as well. We should be creating a bridge that connects their life at home and their life at school. Technology is always going to be advancing and changing. We should definitely be a part of the movement! I, as an educator, do not want to wake up one day like Mr. Winkle to find that I am unfamiliar with the things around me that I could be using only to better my classroom.
