Phelan, Davidson and Yu point out that students percieve and define the world including to the contexts in which they live. Schools are places where they accept or reject not just the message but also the medium if these dont match up with students prior and emerging knowledge. In other words if kids see schools or teachers as incompatable with their way of knowing and see little mediation between the two, it makes sense to exsersize their agency and "check out" or seek ways to gain knowledge in ways that moves them forward. OK having said all that teachers need to be able to mediate the area between what we understand as school and what kids understand. This area is particularly wide in the area of technology because of the "digital native and immigrant" status. We need to at least match tech knowledge that kids have
Ray, that pretty deep. But it makes perfect sense. An awareness of these attributes must not go unrecognized in our persuit of a better education for our children. I think there is one common thread here that comes from technology however. Regardless of what kind of human being you are or where you come from one aspect is paramount to all humans and that is the fact that we are all, in a large capacity, visual learners. And technology brings us closer to that manner of learning. If that learning takes us closer to reading, then all of the better. The ultimate is to be curious and seek that satisfaction of curiosity and in the process learn and learn again, and forever know how to learn. And Yet understand that we will all be learning even up to the point we draw our last breath. If a student can embrace that part of the then hopefully they will be one step ahead of the herd.
What you said took a little bit of time to understand but when I did it made me think. some of my students work with parents and together can mediate the gap with some help. those that can not do need parent training that puts them infront of a computer doing the same things that we as teacher as their children to do. Each of my students value the use of technology differently not all see the value of it other than something that they can play games on but that is a start. From this I can build on and hopefully the next teacher can build something more.
Good points, Ray. I think many times our students go home to projects of their own that have much more rigor than we are asking of them at school- writing music, posting video to YouTube, getting involved in their community in various ways. With more access to technology at school, I think we are starting to do a better job of bringing those worlds together. When a student can respond to a class assignment in a variety of ways, there can be more engagement with content, more time spent (sometimes on content, sometimes on fonts and graphics), and more interaction as students ask questions not only about the content but the delivery system- Where did you find that? How did you do that? -and the message- Was it clear?, accurate?, credible?
There are also many opportunities for us to interact with students about decisions regarding technology use and ethics that usually otherwise are influenced mainly by peers- intellectual property, credibility, privacy, how anonymity changes our decision-making, etc.
In many cases, students have more experiences and more skill with technologies, but that's not a bad thing for us if we come together as a community of learners. They are gracious and generous teachers when we give them the chance.
This is a fairly esoteric discussion- I'm reminded of the line of poetry - "A man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's a heaven for." The notion we should try to encourage all of our students to extend themselves. There is a bit of a divide regarding technology in our classes with some students exceeding our limits and others on the beginning of their digital journey. Perhaps our role is to show the "techies" how they can utilize an application or system for more than recreation. With the less experienced students, offering them a view of the possible is often what we do across the curriculum.
Wow all of these blogs hit home in so many ways. And it makes me think of my upbringing where I was the student with limited resources as oppose to my teacher. I guess it depends on the family but those same limitations is what pushed my parents to realizing what I was going to need if I wanted to success in this country (in this life). And therefore work hard with me to not let my limitations stop us. I totally understand when it's said to realize where our students are coming from. I know. And I totally agree that alternatives need to be in place but my expectations will always be to have them think that they need to reach for the sky. And yes sacrifices will need to take place.
So many great points and great posts. This notion of "multiple students worlds" was one of the biggest frustrations I felt myself come up against as a new teacher a few years ago. I'm kind of on the cusp between "digital native" and "digital immigrant" in that computers were just staring to be integrated into schools in the mid-1980s when I stared going to school, so I've been using this kind of technology throughout my schooling. When I completed my masters/teacher-prep program in 2007, there was a heavy emphasis on integrating technology and Web 2.0 into our teaching. So when I started out in Sunnyside a few years ago, it felt like I had to relearn a lot of stuff based upon older modalities of classroom practice. (As it says earlier in the Project RED reading, "the rate of change outside schools has always been faster than inside schools" (p 6); add to this a high-poverty, urban situation and it makes sense that current practices in schools would lag behind what was actually possible.) I am SO hopeful, excited and optimistic about the changes 1:1 will bring about with how we "do" school in Sunnyside. Too often, I've felt uncomfortable and traitorous by being in the position of pushing students to "do school" in a way that has little relavance to their current levels of tech-savviness, or their current problems in the world. (Cough Cough - reading benchmark testing and all associated readiness materials!) It's nice to think about a day when such materials will be a means rather than an end -- where the emphasis will be on personalized learning, collaboration and solving real-world problems.
Interesting point..the challenge of staying relevant to the learner. What percentage of educators are doing this well, k-12 and beyond?
All these are all good points. It is important to consider students' background and prior knowledge so we can do a bettter job at bridging both worlds (home and school.) However, I feel that technology is a good way of doing this only when students have internet at home. If students don't have access to internet from home; they WILL begin to see school and home as two different worlds. On the other hand, if students are able to access websites that were visited at school, they are able to share them with their families. The whole family would become involved with what the child is learning at school. Also, the internet allows students an opporutnity to visit websites and search for topics of famly interests. These are all topics of interest that motivate students, creates family bonds, and are brought back to school as students share with their peers what they discovered. Great things are happening in the classroom already and would be nice if students would be able to share with their family members.
I agree that access to the internet at home is extremely important. My daughter is a 6th grade student and while she does not have her own computer, she is often asked to do assignments that need internet access. Without access and my limited knowledge of technology, computers, and the internet, I feel she would not be as successful. I often wonder how her classmates do without the internet and the support of the home. I think the district is on the right track when setting up access to the internet within the community, but how many parents will actually have the time to take their child to the library or any other place that provides wifi? What's the next step to support our students?
Monica, you have made some really good points. I think we teachers often forget that our students do not have the same home life that we have. Many of them do not have computers or access to the internet at home. Even though the student may realize that he or she has two different worlds--the static one at home, and the dynamic one at school--he or she will realize that both worlds can have something important for them in the game of life. And at least they have the opportunity at school to access the world of technology and the internet for endless possibilities.
Monica, you make some excellent points. We need to always keep in mind that our students may not have the same accessability to technology that our own children may have. That being said, we need to provide them with options on how to complete assignments that may not utilize technology. Blasphemous, I know, but until we can assure that all students have the ability to connect to the internet from home , then we shouldn't penalize them for completing an assignment the old fashioned way.
I also think the key is remembering that this is all a progression. We cannot expect perfection from any of us (students included) at the beginning. We are moving along a continuum and that means we will all be at different points at different times. The important thing is we are all moving along this continuum - teachers, students, schools, admin, parents, community. It is only through this movement as a group that we can truly see change - the second order change that we are all talking about wanting to see. And this takes time. It is not immediate. We have to be patient as we make this move. If we are all commited we will all get there, eventually. It is not instantaneous and not easy.