Teaching to Techies

Teaching to the Techies

As I was reading through the Millenials Rising article, I started to think about Dr. Barbour’s question, “Does any of what you read sound like your students?” My answer was immediately no. I was relieved when I finally reached the reading by Thomas Reeves (2006) to see that most generational studies were based on “data collected from young people from middle and upper middle socioeconomic groups” (p.4). This group does not include my former students. Does that mean that my former K-12th grade students were not constantly “connected?” No, they were; they had cell phones, mp3 players, video gaming systems, computers, and some had access to the Internet at home, but they definitely were not “better educated, and more ethnically diverse” (Howe & Strauss, 2000, p.4), or “happy, confident, and positive” (p.7) as the article suggests. And my students weren’t using these above mentioned tools for educational purposes, but mostly for playing games, listening to music, and socialization. The reading also suggested that the millenials “are becoming the world’s first generation to grow up thinking of itself as global” (Howe & Strauss, 2000, p.15). This is where you can really see the impact of data collection not coming from all socioeconomic groups. My former students barely have the opportunity to leave their neighborhoods, and if they do it is to travel to a neighboring suburb or state. I couldn’t imagine them thinking globally.

These articles also discuss students in higher education and the technological skills and thought processes of the faculty. I think this in important area to address since such said faculties are the ones preparing our future K-12 educators for their classrooms. I attended an hour long discussion the other day with faculty and graduate teacher assistants which focused on, “Classroom Challenges: When, How, and Why to Allow PDAs and Laptops.” Some faculty said that it is discouraging to look out at the class and see the lids of laptops, or to hear students typing and clicking away as they lecture. I think the main concept here is engagement. If you’re students are engaged they are going to be listening and actively participating. I may not want to divulge this information, but I will anyway, just to show a comparison. What’s the difference in seeing my laptop lid and me typing away compared to the top of my head and the thousands of doodles I have etched out in my notebook? Or the blank stares when I’m thinking, “Gosh, I’m hungry. What am I going to make for dinner?” These scenarios have always been happening in classrooms, but the tools being used are different. Many professors are including on their syllabi that “no cell phones allowed in class.” Food for thought: I use my cell phone as a calculator, date book, and sending myself a text as a reminder to do something. Would it be ok though if I got out my date book and wrote my reminder with a pen instead? Speaking of cell phones, the woman leading the presentation had all of us pull out our cell phones and participate in a live audience poll. She asked us a question, gave us directions on where to send our text to, and WHAM! Our answers were immediately displayed in a graph within her power point! I have yet to try this, but am dying to. Here is the website address: http://www.polleverywhere.com/


Another area of the Reeves (p.8) literature review I found interesting was in the findings from the Twenge 2006 study. One of the bulleted items is
• In the 1960s, 42% of high school students expected to work in professional jobs whereas in the late 1990s, 70% of high schools expected to work as a professional.
I don’t really find this shocking, since we teach kids that the way to be successful is to finish high school, attend college, graduate and become a professional. We teach them that that is the path to success, and kids want to be successful.

My main research area resides in professional development for K-12 educators as it relates to technology. I’ve gone back and have re-read my first paragraph and have become a little disappointed in myself. I mentioned that my students have the technology tools and devices, but were only using them for their own self interest. Gosh, I was their TECHNOLOGY TEACHER why wasn’t I integrating these tools in my lessons? The fact of the matter is I knew these different tools, websites, and other various technology gadgets were available, but I never had “time” to explore them. When I say didn’t have time to explore them, I should probably be saying that I was always overwhelmed by the thousands and thousands of possibilities that were available that I didn’t take the time to concentrate and focus on anything specific. Plus, it was never supported, encouraged, or mandated by administration. Websites were blocked; students couldn’t access the computers and I thought it would be best to start with the basics: Microsoft Office. The list could go on and on, but my point here is that if I, the technology teacher, am not integrating the best of the best gadgets, software, or other technological tools available for “today’s student,” because I’m not fully aware what’s available and best for classroom learning, and I’m under 30, how to we expect other teachers to be utilizing these devices? Are we providing appropriate professional development? Are we providing support with those skills afterwards? I’ll wrap up with this question for you: What, if any, professional development are you being given at your school as it relates to technology? Are you receiving support after the training?

One last quick shout out to a former professor of mine, Karl Kapp, for being referenced in the Reeves article. Check out his site. http://karlkapp.com/