Well, this isn't going to be a popular post amongst my fellow students, but I've never been one to rally for popularity. I am more of a "rage against the machine" type of gal. So here we go. I did not like the themes or messages that were presented in the videos for this week's lesson. I was far more disturbed by what I saw then enthralled or engaged. Let's start with Sam.
Sam is a 13 year old girl whose life is too digitalized. Sam is the type of student who actually concerns me. She is too involved in computer systems and gaming to fully appreciate the simplicities of life, such as reading a book. While she points out that gaming involves strategic thinking and higher order thinking skills, she also proved (unwittingly) that she cannot function outside of the media world. When she was tasked to read "The Old Man and the Sea" she was unable to sit down and quietly read, analyze, comprehend, and enjoy the book. Instead, she needed to download the book and have the computer read it aloud to her while she fiddled with all the different options that came with the reader program. Her inability to ready quietly and effectively for herself defines just how far from proficient in reading skills we have come in our nation and how dependent we have become on digital media not only for entertainment but also to help us in simple life skills.
I know many of you will scream, "And what is wrong with her downloading the book?" Well, what is right about a kid who cannot sit and read for themselves? We have program called STAR, it is a reading level comprehension program that we use to evaluate our kids. It is done on the computer and the kids can take their time with reading the material and answer questions. Many of the kids cannot read the material on the screen for one reason or another. For some, it is a tangible thing. Not holding the material, marking on the script, highlighting key words and phrases makes it hard for them to ascertain the material. For others, is an inability to just sit and read, computer or not. Sam's need to download the book shows how unfocused our young people are if they aren't receiving constant neural stimulation.
I will give Sam her due props, she has developed musical and programming skills, but it is her inability to focus outside of the digital word that is disturbing. Schools using games for learning and assessment also concerns me. I truly have to question whether digital learning belongs IN the classroom. Those who say, "YES, IT DOES!!!" Then I have to ask, "At what cost?" What basic knowledge or skills are we willing to allow our children to lose to the skills that you view or deem necessary to obtain?
In a world where cursive has almost been almost completely eradicated from the curriculum, and our students' print is atrocious, are we to do away with penmanship altogether for keyboarding, texting, and coding? I do see beneficial result in some classroom technology, as in for tutoring and monitoring, but the idea of my children spending hours on-end in front of a computer instead of participating in engaging, exciting, and intellectual human interaction is frightening.
I often wonder if it is the fast advancement of technological forces that has brought on such diagnoses like ADD and ADHD, or made them more prevalent in today's children at least, due to the over stimulation of the brain. I mean, even doctors tell you to cut down on neural stimulation at least a good hour before going to bed (this includes reading, television, and computers) so that your body can prepare itself for shutting down and resting. This just leads me to logically conclude my prior thought.
And what of social skills and human interaction? If our kids spend their days head deep in computers, "engaged", how then, do they develop the skills needed to handle "real life" relationships? How do they learn to handle conflict (because they cannot yell at people like they yell at a computer screen), how to they learn to negotiate (because computers are such solitary inventions), how to learn to share, love, express themselves properly and thoroughly, how do they develop true friendships and intimacy? The speaker of the video jokes of addiction...but is it a truly a joking matter?
While I do agree and have similiar concerns that you bring up in your post, I question your seemingly emphatic opinion that students should not download books or use similiar things to learn. Some, with learning disabilities or different learning styles, are able to get so much more out learning by being able to do it in a way that isn't the 'norm'. We place ourselves in boxes and require students to fit in the boxes, regardless of whether or not they fit in that box. Whether we like it or not, technology is a part of the new generations world and we must find ways to help them see how to best use it to become productive, life long learners in society and I feel we sell them short if, in school, we don't help them find a better balance and/or ways to use it.
ReplyDeleteI did not say they should not do those things...it is her inability to read for herself that concerns me. What happened to imagination? Kids no longer need one thanks to gaming and the internet. Trying to get kids to creatively write or draw has become a serious task in the classroom due to their inability to creatively think on their own anymore. From the movie she does not appear to be a child suffering from learning disability, she is just a child who does not have discipline to "sit" and read. That is my compliant.
ReplyDeleteI think that like it or not, this is a technology generation. While I respect your opinons, I have to disagree with many of them. For instance, through your blogging, I am able to discern your strong opinions of dislike for this week's text and videos. You express your thoughts in writing much like an author of a book, poem, or editorial. Opinions are interpreted through vocabulary and sentence structure. I think that your point was made very clear and you made it without any one on one visual communication.
ReplyDeleteAs far as handwriting goes, although some students' handwriting is poor, I don't think it is much different than when I was in high school and middle school. To be honest, I don't remember the last time that I had to write for an extended period of time. (Maybe a discipline referral). I don't believe the need for penmenship is as necessary as it once was. When I need something from an administrator or colleague, we email. In the high school setting, teachers do not want papers handwritten. We want typed, double spaced, 12 point font. In the workplace, documents are created in Word or Acrobat.
The reality is, the younger generation is not going to stop using technology. We have to adapt our teaching to prepare them to compete in a technological world. It is our job to guide them to use it in more productive ways.
I just sat down and hand wrote an entire chapter to a book just this week. Call me a doomsday theorist...but there will days when these basic skills will be needed and I hate to see them faded out due to human laziness or the failure to see the need for such things. Again, I'm not stating that we should not use technology, it has its role...but it should not teach a whole class all the time. By the way...I wrote down my thoughts before I typed them in.
ReplyDeleteHey Nicole
ReplyDeleteYou and I must be kindred spirits and though you are not on my team, I have had some extra time to read and liked what you said here. Have you had the chance to read mine? Maybe we were on the same wave length when we both wrote our blogs because they are scarily similar! I am not convinced that technology is all that and a bag of chips yet...I remember when microwaves were going to eradicate the use of a stove top...which of course never happened. I compared this in my blog to my son not wanting to learn how to tie shoelaces as well. I will teach him anyway and try to keep an open mind about technology, always remembering what my expectations are of my students abilities regardless.