The readings for this week highlight one important fact 21st century teachers need to know: the 21st century student is unlike any other. He or she has a world of literacy that most of us are still trying to develop, but they have grown up immersed in social media that technology is nothing new to them. Furthermore, this immersion in social media has created new, more flexible boundaries concerning privacy. The articles talk about this being a tough situation for educators and adults to handle, but I think this makes teaching easier. Students are willingly looking up information on their own and effectively educating themselves. This isn't a problem! This is what we can hope for as educators. Now the trick becomes finding a way point students in the direction of an effective education, but I think we also need to be careful. If students willingly enter an educative atmosphere on their own, it would be criminal to deter them from this path (like it was for me to climb aboard the Pequod).
However, the other article speaks to the problems that can arise from allowing students so much leniency: they become mindless typers who read without purpose. But, I think he gives 21st century students too little credit. That is not to say students don't waste time on the internet or are occasionally disengaged when doing research, but students are going to type something into google, bing, or facebook unless they are at least curious about a topic. Therefore, as educators we need to learn from students' search histories what their interests are and develop techniques to harness this interest in a focused manner.
The ship is approaching the end of its voyage. I have dealt with Fedallah, the Doubloon, and have seen the white whale (only at a glance). Normally these things strike fear in the heart of a sailor, but this sailor welcomes the challenge because when used effectively what is Fedallah but another crewman? What more is the doubloon than currency? And, is the white whale anything more than beauteous animal?
I agree that the younger generation tends to get less credit than they may deserve. True, they appear pretty self-centered and oblivious crossing busy streets while buried in their IPhones. But I think they are no different from any other generation of young people dealing with a set of circumstances that they did not create. Older generations have a tendency to forget that kids did not invent the IPhone, the internet, and shallow reality TV - adults did! Now that it's out there, we can't take it back. We need to positively channel youthful curiosity, using the tools they have been given. A wise man once said that we must "develop techniques to harness this interest in a focused manner."
ReplyDeleteWe know so little about reading comprehension online compared to our decades of study about online reading, but we do know that students tend to move quickly to another site if they don't instantly scan and find what they are looking for. Hmmm ... this gives me an idea for fall/winter. Oh, Jeff????
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