It is obvious that there are different kinds of learners, as well as different kinds of teachers. The fact that there are different generations of people and, in a fast-changing culture, generations of people who think differently than previous or future generations shouldn't surprise us.
The articles that I read for my assignments this week identified the latest generation of students as "Digital Learners." This label isn't surprising. I teach electronics and technology-related stuff to teenagers. They know that I speak Digital with an accent. I text very slowly and make sure spelling, grammar, and punctuation are, at the very least, OK.
One of the videos that I watched was called "Engage Me or Enrage Me." I have mixed feeling about this video because it implies that teachers don't do anything but bore their students with meaningless lessons that are rooted in old-style thinking. Most of the teachers that I know work hard to relate to their students in meaningful ways and teach lessons that take advantage of all the technology available in their schools. Interestingly, this video didn't do that. Instead of showing students engaged with current technology, students were shown with white boards that had messages written on them. I couldn't decide of that was an insult to the students who were in the video or the teachers who were the intended audience.
Yet, important distinctions are made and developed in this lesson. Today's students know what technology can do for them. And it seems that most of today's students are anxious to capitalize on this technology. Many will use this technology, and the learning experiences that come with it, to better themselves. Some will use it solely for entertainment and social networking. A few will use the important tools in their hands lake an angry wife uses a butcher knife on her cheating husband.
Our job as teachers is to guide our students in the proper application of a huge world of technology. We must do our job well.
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