Immigrants to a Digital Nation

In my college speech class I recall one rule cited over and over: know your audience. We may not think of ourselves as such, but teachers are public speakers - perhaps even more so than politicians. Teachers affect lives; every day, all day teachers are guiding and instructing. One would not expect an intro level physics course to get into the nitty-gritty of quantum theory, so, why then, would teachers feel it is unimportant to know their students? Those K-12 learners that are entering the classroom each day are digital natives, having grown up in a world of technology, instant and complete immersion, and continual entertainment. Knowing this about the student audience, teachers must assimilate into the digital society and understand the thought process of these students. Gone are the days and practices of when I was in school: computer lab periods to play Oregon Trail on a 8" floppy discs as a reward for work completed, videos as the only alternate to lecture as a style of teaching, pagers and pay phones to organize after school plans, typing class, and using correction rolls on the typewriter to submit formal paper assignments. It may be even a good measure to poke fun with our students about the "days of dinosaurs" when technology was merely a blip on the radar screen and fax machines seemed like futuristic technology. The fact is, however, that though we come from a different age, a new one has dawned. It is our responsibility to keep pace with both technology and our students. Through technology symposiums for educators, continuing ed classes, and knowledge share groups teachers can incorporate elmo's, digital story telling, text message polls, animation and countless other methods of engaging our digital native students.

21st century skills

The five common themes from the assigned videos are: engage students, modern students embrace and rely upon technology, to meet the potential in students teachers must be knowledgeable in the potential presented by current technology, the race in civilization is no longer one about arms but rather about arming students with tools to meet global demands, and using technology to help students create, visualize and understand concepts is the new signature of 21st century teachers. Teachers today need to know and understand the 21st century skills which students are coming to class with. These skills are based in the use and manipulation of technology to be part of the curriculum. Rather than wrote memorization or chalkboard drawings, teachers can empower students to delve further into lesson content using a variety of technological tools from texting on cell phones to designing a virtual model of a Mars space station. These methods of learning keep students interested and give them every opportunity to excel in their education. If video games are more entertaining and interesting than lessons, which one are students more likely to spend time on? In the rapidly passing decade which began the 21st century, technology has advanced by exponential leaps and bounds. Technology goes beyond simple slide shows and now includes an array of visual experiences from news footage of events to virtual breakdowns of the alternate possibilities. By presenting the "what-ifs" in a format everyone can share, conceptual thinking in students can be enhanced. What I'm curious about is how school districts are encouraging teachers to take time and learn the latest technological tools. For teachers at the bottom of the pay scale, or those worrying about getting pink-slipped, where is the motivation for personal time and expense to be spent learning these skills? Finally, I would love to see a study published on students in top performing colleges and universities and how many of them came from tech-heavy high schools.