This class has had a great impact on how I view my teaching responsibilities. I have both clarified my thoughts about how to best teach today’s students and have radically realigned my beliefs about the generation called “Digital Natives” by Mark Prensky (2001). I had felt that today’s students needed a dose of the old-fashioned teaching to help them gain patience, to slow down and think critically, and to simply focus on a subject. I felt their immediate gratification, entertainment-centered world left them unprepared for the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
After a significant number of readings focused on the different ways that “Digital Natives” process information, I admit that I had to rethink my attitude. Different has never meant better or worse, it simply means different. Our young people today process information in a different way than most teachers did at their age. I felt they needed to learn to use the previous way, now I believe that it is I not them who must change.
I still believe that they have an expectation of entitlement that includes entertainment, instant gratification, and easy solutions. But we can use that to our advantage by utilizing their natural comfort with technology. By designing assignments and challenges that engage them in their learning, they will develop skills that reward patience and diligence. In fact, I now believe it is irresponsible for teachers to not develop their repertoire to include student designed tasks and technology based assignments to engage learners.
From our first reading by November (2008) to the last by Prensky (2005) the focus has been on the changing education needs of our students. We must prepare them for the new world of employment that demands many new technology based skills. There is a much quoted comment that today’s students will have jobs that haven’t been created yet. There is already evidence that those jobs are here and our employees aren’t ready for them. There’s a disconnect between the unemployment rate and the unfilled jobs being advertised. Many tech companies and tech focused job markets are unable to find qualified employees. We must accept our responsibility for adding technology skills to the “three R’s”. The traditional skills haven’t gone away – they still need to do reading, writing and arithmetic – but those skills must be applied in new ways. Reading skills must include critical analysis of the source, writing must include the ability to write for an authentic audience, and arithmetic must be understood from a practical application. Applications could include web site analysis, blogging and computer aided design.
Many of the readings focused on the need to teach responsible use of Web 2.0 tools. Many institutions are afraid of Web 2.0 because it allows student control. That’s the very reason we must teach it. Students will be using Web 2.0 with or without our assistance. Without guidance they will continue to post inappropriate comments and pictures. With guidance they can learn netiquette, proper usage, and understand the consequences for irresponsible actions.
Changing a classroom takes time and planning. I plan to incorporate more technology immediately, but will be also working towards a student-led model of teaching.
Goal one: Incorporate Web 2.0 tools to allow students the opportunity to develop their own collaboration and critical thinking skills.
I am in the process of developing a student designed wiki. Students have already started the brainstorming portion so I can set up an appropriate site for them to work with. Small groups of students have been tasked with coming up with topics and rules for the wiki. This will serve as a beta test before I implement a wiki or blog into the graded assignments.
Goal two: Move more of the process to learner-centered and away from teacher-centered.
This will come more slowly as I am able to find ways to challenge students to find ways to reach the objectives. I am working with sixth graders. They have unlimited enthusiasm and a sense of fearlessness about learning, but lack experience in how to achieve their academic goals. Some guidance and limitations must be in place. I liken it to learning to bowl. The bumpers keep the ball out of the gutter, but it is still up to the student to get the ball down the lane to score. For example, I have several activities that guide the students to the well-defined objective of being able to critically analyze a web site, but the students are restricted to the sites of my choosing. The next step will be to allow them to apply their knowledge to the Internet at large and trust that they will apply their knowledge appropriately. This is one small step in allowing more learner-centered control. True learner-centered would be to give the students the objective and challenge them to design their own way to reach it.
In our first week we were asked to do a self-analysis of our instructional practices and activities. At the time, I felt satisfied that my classroom was meeting most of these goals through my emphasis on the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy in my activities and focus on project based assessments of learning. In week seven I realize that I have a long journey ahead. I have started the trip by already using Internet resources, activities that require critical thinking and projects. To truly prepare my students for the challenges ahead and to appropriately use the current technology available to them outside of school, I must incorporate more Web 2.0 technologies and give them more responsibility over their own learning outcomes.
November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5).
Prensky, M. (2005). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8–13.
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