Pay attention to what children need
And what do students need
We are living in an era when mass media, information and technology expend in geometric progressions. Four or more decades ago computers were not popular because they were heavy and expensive, their function were mainly to calculate large statistic numbers. Two decades ago, the internet started to open up to publics, and the computer had shrank smaller. I remember when I was a kid the teacher took us to the computer room once a week, but we just went there and play some computer games and print some pictures. Twenty years later, the TV, iPod, iPhone, iPad, laptops, cell phones, DVD and CD ROMS, Bluetooth, optical network, Wii, wireless communication…and so on. Firefox, Google, Wiki, blogs, Podcasts, Online Collaboration, Skype, MSN, GPS and Google Maps, YouTube, e-Portfolios and countless others were born according to the internet and new technologies. Everything had advance so quickly that it became harder and harder to keep up with the trend. The question is, how are we going to prepare our children and students to use these new tools?
Statistics show that unlike the generation of young people who probably started to use computers and cell phones in their high school or university, the younger generation started to get a hand on the technologies in an early age, some even started when they were infants. They inevitably will have a better hand on the new technology than their parents or teachers. As teachers or parents, the first issue we have to face is how are we going to reach to them? Students nowadays spend even more time on TVs, internets, texting, iPad, iPods, and Facebook and less time in studying because only some of them think studying is important, others don’t see why they need to learn the things that seem to have no use in the future. Needless to say about the students that have difficulties in graduating. Further disappointment will only drive them further away.
The film suggests that we reach them with the tools they already have, like giving an activity about texting in class, Google Mapping the places we study in geography class, or YouTube some songs and operas in music classes. These are good way to reach out to them since they can feel the connection of the curriculum and everyday life, and perhaps more of them will be willing to study and reach back to the teachers. But first thing first, the teacher has to take the first step of the leads, so it is best for teachers to learn and master as much technologies as they can to use them as tools to reach out.
Technology will continue to allow us to do marvelous things in the future. I think the most important thing teachers should keep in mind is what learning standards are they trying to have students meet. Then they can choose the appropriate tools to help reach that goal. Who knows? Maybe in the future some lesson planning will be done with tech-savvy youngsters giving or demonstrating their own ways of meeting these standards!
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