What struck me the most about this shift is how our students have surpassed their teachers when it comes to the media of education. While teachers (hopefully) still have a leg up on students when it comes to content, the latter are more in touch with how to use the latest tools to retrieve that content. Since teachers are no longer the monopoly on information, their role has become that of a guide to help students learn to sift data and ascribe authority where it is due. All of this fits with the need to make instruction more student-centered. Since they need to be prepared for a world that provides no easy solutions, students must start using technology to solve open-ended real-world problems in their classrooms now.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Going Native
St. Paul said that we must become all things to all people for the sake of communication. Marc Prensky says something similar. In his article, Listen to the Natives, he argues that teachers should become more like their digital-savvy students if they hope to get their attention. As natives of the digital age, children gravitate to technology as a means and medium of expression and interaction. By contrast, their teachers are "digital immigrants" who must replace old methods of doing things with their contemporary digital counterparts.
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I love to see students making connections. Connecting St. Paul to M. Prensky is a first. Love it!
ReplyDeleteVery true that the world today provides the knowledge and we must learn to sift through the data. Your sentiments about the teacher as the guide are very fitting for the world we live in today.
ReplyDeleteHey Bro,
ReplyDeleteYou sound like a true Native! I also commend you for the tie-in of the Apostle Paul. But no matter how much we observe as "the students leading the teacher" in technology, I am comforted that students always seem to seek the confirmation from the teacher; I believe this completes him more than getting 100,000 points on a video game.
This makes our job that much more complexed because not only do we have to learn the technology in order to teach it, but we must also teach it in a way that builds confidence in the student on his output. We must stand by the student while he learns to use the tools correctly and commend him when he does. Nothing in technology replaces a pat on the back or a word of encouragement.
Great connection to the article. The way you describe today's students and teachers is right on and easily understood. I think the biggest take away from your review is that students have to be ready to solve open-ended real world problems. If we are preparing them for their future that is exactly what must happen in our classrooms.
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