“Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of
Significance” - Michael Wesch
Michael Wesch grasped my attention from his
second sentence when he said, “Students – our most important critics – are struggling to find meaning and
significance in their education.”
I felt that this is exactly what we were talking about in class on
Tuesday. I don’t assume that there aren’t
additional struggles for students who are Black or Latino, but I believe that
most (all?) students today feel disconnected from the subjects that they are
studying in school. In this article,
Wesch suggests that using technology can assist in bringing students closer to
the material that we are conveying in our classes. He mentions, “using a hacked mix of online
social media like wikis, Twitter, Jot, and Facebook to turn their cell phones
and laptops into a local learning network.
Speaking
from experience, I find that I either have the device or the training in order to
implement technology in my classroom. I
have attended many demonstrations on the latest and greatest technology, but
don’t have the access to use it in my classroom. Or I have a new device and not
the first clue how to use it (usually I end up asking my students for help). In one of my classes last semester we talked
about being a ‘digital
native’ vs. a ‘digital immigrant’.
Digital natives have been surrounded by technology – computers,
videogames, cell phones - for their entire lives. On the other hand, digital immigrants were
not born in the age of technology, but are interested in and attempt to utilize
these devices. In many classrooms today
the students are the digital natives and the teachers are the digital
immigrants. As the article from my link suggests, it’s like digital natives are
learning to speak a new language and now have a heavy accent that the digital
natives (our students) have a difficult time understanding. This article really highlights the difference
between the two ‘digital categories' and makes recommendations of how to make
learning more authentic and therefore significant for our students.
I went
through a range of emotions while watching the You Tube video and I think it
stems from the fact that it was at a college level and therefore not
compulsory. The students chose to
continue their education (I know many would argue that to be competitive and
enter the workforce you have to attend college), but they have choice over the colleges
they chose to attend. Therefore the
stats about class-size, textbooks, and teachers knowing their names were lost
on me. By the end of the clip I was
coming around again and seeing the overall point. I agree that classrooms – at any level – need
to adapt to meet the demands of our current/future society/economy. Clearly, technology is one of the tools that
we have available in order to meet those demands. While current teachers can (and should) learn
to use and implement technology in our classrooms, I also think that it will be
interesting to see the developments over the next few years as the ‘digital
natives’ are entering the workforce.
I've heard the digital natives/digital immigrant analogy before - I can't remember where or when - and I'm glad you posted this. I think it is quite relevant to the discussion Wesch has in his piece and some of his videos. Does the generational gap seem wider because of the digital natives/immigrants argument or the disconnection to what students find relevant? I guess it's both - that's why the upcoming generation of teachers need to be all about this stuff - and it's hard when the funding just isn't there for it.
ReplyDeleteI like how you described watching the video with a "range of emotions". It was powerful how they did it with the notebooks. The students were silent but still managed to say so much. I agree that while this shows a college level, teachers have to implement meaningful strategies in all grade levels. I wonder about the veteran teachers some of which I have worked with that have no interest in learning ways technology can help teaching and learning. Should it be mandatory to use technology in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteChristina I've been struggling with your post for about a week now.. I too have heard the digital immigrants/natives argument before.
ReplyDeleteI think my immediate difficulty is that my content is essentially to learn a foreign language: abstract mathematics. So when I read that today's students "prefer" to work fast and multi-task, I don't see it. I also don't accept that high school students are so well experienced to have learning preferences.
On the other hand, I think that what helps me live in a world where an article like this can be written and accepted, is the realization that I am probably a straddler of the digital native and digital immigrant populations. I don't think I'm so old that I have to call people and ask if they received my email, but I'm old enough to know that reading has value. And what I read from Prensky is that because reading is not as exciting as a movie right now because I need instant gratification, that reading doesn't have value.
I was raised in a family culture that promoted work ethic and a "complete the job to the best of your ability" culture. I do understand that technology is helpful for its efficiency. But I sincerely believe that there is always something to learn from doing a job as well as the opportunity to take pride in your work. If our society makes technology so that I can answer a question in .43 seconds, then why would I remember ANYTHING?
Let's not forget that with all of the ability of our students to multi-task (which I think is a lot of BS), we are facing how many car accidents a year involving young people texting while driving? I don't think our society has the answer for this yet.