When I read the article called, "Moving my English class to the Computer Lab," I was very interested. I think that every class will have a student like Robert. He will not complete reading assignments and will do bad on tests and quizzes about the content of the book. Then he will do fine when there are class debates and discussions. Our job as teachers is to get to know our students and differentiate the teaching strategies to make sure all the students can use the book or the themes from a book in some way or another. I thought it was interesting when the teacher said that she took her class to the computer lab to do some computer work like typing up a paper or maybe doing something similar to that and the students would browse other websites as well. These websites could include their email or some website they go onto like Facebook. The part that interested me about this was that she let them go and look at these websites because the kids were still doing the work intended but would just glance over at the other website. Then she would see that in their work did not falter even though these students were multitasking. I think that this can be true for some students. Although, it is not something to generalize with all students. As a student myself, I have a hard time concentrating if I know there is something I would rather be looking at or doing is in the other tab. I need to concentrate on the thing at hand or else I would end up on the other website a lot more. I like the idea of having students make up their own websites about a novel that they are reading. I had a teacher in 12th grade and he has us do a very similar activity but we did it seperately and not with a group and we did it with characters from the book. I thought it was a lot of fun and think other students would think the same thing. I also like how when they talk about vocabulary the students have to include everyone's definitions and ideas and discuss what should be put on the website. It makes the students communicate which is really important to learning. I absolutely loved the idea of the students making a trailer for the project after they read a novel. They have to show some major parts of the book but don't give stuff away just like a movie trailer does and this means students have to know the major parts of the novel. I think this is such a great idea for students to get creative and use technology about a book. There are endless possibilities and I love that since the students' work can be seen by anyone on the internet, the students worked harder to make sure everything is right. I also love that the students learned from each other. The teacher can be a "on-the-side guide" and the students could help each other out with aspects of technology that they each know. Technology in this case is very good and can help struggling readers that have a hard time reading parts of the book to come to class to discuss or to take a quiz on. The students get more excited to come to class prepared when they are doing something they enjoy.
According to Nicholas Carr when we go on the computer to make sure we read less we are depriving oursleves of reading anything offline. Is this true? Are we going to end up reading everything off the computer instead of books? Will we have "feeds" in the future to take out the middle man? Will we have artificial intelligence? It is a scary thought because we are more into technology than those who came before us and apparently we are "The Dumbest Generation," according to Bauerlein because we know more about what is on tv than our nation's history because of our results from our class discussion on Wednesday. I think we are getting close to being a "dumb" generation, but I do not think we are the dumbest. We have many more generations after us and they might be even worse. Are we leading them to be so dependent on computers and technology rather than movies and history of our nation. In the future, will there be regular classes or will it be dominated by technology? How did we become the "dumbest" generation of this age? Did we do this to oursleves, or is it just a coincidence that everyone is getting the same result with the "The Dumbest Generation," test? I am afraid for the generations to come because we are their future teachers and in classes and in life we are being told that using technology is a great thing to do in the classroom. In this case, I think it is not. I think it is scary how little we know about our nation and how much we know about tv and honestly I don't watch much tv anymore.
I think there are good and bad aspects of including technology in the classroom and into our child's lives. Students are growing up in a world where technology is everywhere and they know how to use computers and other types of technology at young ages. If a student will read a book because they get to do projects that involve the students talking with each other and working on a computer, should we use it? Or should we refrain because they already use enough technology at home and we don't want them to be as "dumb" as we apprently are. I think we are very smart, especially because we are in school and we are furthering our education, but I think that we do focus a lot of our time on media and technology. Although, I think that the reason we remembered more of the media questions is because most of them were recent. When we listen to the radio, we heard that song over and over. When we watch tv we see commercials for certain shows over and over. Then there is the history questions. I haven't talked about those topics since high school. My college history classes were more about other countries than our own. In high school we would talk a little about those topics then get tested on them and never hear about it again until maybe the next year. It is different that how the tv or a radio is. I think I want to use technology in my classroom but I think I might limit myself. I think that sometimes, it makes the students more "dumb."
I liked how you mentioned about how you thought that the skill of multi-tasking does work for some students but that you can’t generalize it with all students. I think that you must really know your students before becoming lenient in your ways with technologies because some students will really just abuse the privilege and not be learning anything.
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed the idea of using a movie trailer as an assignment with a novel. Not only then do they get to use technology and be creative like you said, but students will also be able to connect what they are doing to their lives, since they constantly see movie trailers on television and the internet, and it also brings students interests into it. Another benefit to this is that students collaborate and learn from each other, which I love because I think students often pick up even more this way and often times they don’t even realize it.
In regards to Bauerlein, I don’t necessarily think that we are the dumb generation, but rather we have strengths in areas different from the previous generation. I do think however that our generation’s heavy reliance on technology could hurt us in the end because what if something goes wrong with technology, as it often does? Many people from our generation would be completely lost and not have the skills needed to function in society, which is scary to think about. I do think that if things continue in the way that they are, our generations will get “dumber and dumber”. I think that part of my responsibility as a teacher is to help change this outcome and incorporate a variety of both technology and other things as well into the classroom so that students can become well-rounded individuals.
I really enjoyed reading the questions that you had regarding the dumbest generation and using technology in the class. You questioned the use of technology in the classroom, asking if we should use it because it gets students talking or if we should discard it because it "makes us dumb."
ReplyDeleteI would say that we should definitely use it if it really is engaging students! I do not think that it is technology that is "making us dumb" but rather our overall limited use of it. Just to further this point: think about how many different sites there are on the Internet, and then think about how many you actually use. I know I only use a handful of websites, despite the seemingly unlimited wealth of sites out there! So, if we are able to introduce these sites and teach students ways to tap into the full potential of technology, then I believe implementing technology in the classroom should be essential.
I agree with you when you say we are a "dumb" generation but not the "dumbest". I think it is important to know what is going in the world, specifically things that are going to or have affected us, but I think technology is kind of making sure we don't get even more dumb. For example, I would not be able to tell you anything about the world if I didn't have msn today pop up on my screen. I don't think it makes us dumb, it just makes us lazy. We don't have to look at books and find critical essays...they are on online databases. We don't have to go and buy a newspaper...we can type it in online. I don't think it matters where you read what as long as you are reading something. There is definitely going to be kids who refuse to read books but if we can get them to read online then that's a start..half the time they don't even realize that it's reading because it is fun to them. I also like how you said group work is good because they "learn from each other". That is definitely true because students are more willing to accept views of those who are on the same level as them and not someone who is older. Some students may hate authority or feel that they can't be themselves in front of teachers so it is a good idea to have them work with others so they can express their views and ideas without holding back. I do believe teachers need to be in the picture but they don't have to be the center of the classroom. Instead, they just need to give an extra push to make sure the class is progressing and is not stagnant. I think you had a lot of good things to say and technology is a must in the classroom now a days. We need to keep up with our students because that is the only way we are going to be able to relate to them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you talk about how we shouldn't be stereotyped as the "dumbest generation." Like you said, we're not exposed to the classic materials as much we are with pop culture. We hear the same songs on the radio everyday and even if you don't like it, you still know every word to it. But when it comes to things like history, we've studied it once, took a test, then moved on. Obviously we're not going to remember it as well because teacher's don't put as much emphasis on it. Part of today's dumb generation could be due the educators also. As teachers, we need to remember that using technology in the classroom will engage our students more, therefore they will learn more. Even if we're totally against it, it's important to keep in mind before judging our students.
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