~President Harry S. Truman (quoted in McCullough, David. Truman. p. 415)
Pres. Truman wrote this shortly after touring the rubble that used to be Berlin shortly after Germany's defeat. He actually said this before he authorized the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is an interesting comment and I wonder what we will say in the coming generations about our infatuation with technology. It makes it all the more important that schools come up with ways to incorporate the technology and guide students in the proper and safe use of technology, because they are involved, whether we like it or not! I'm thinking I should have titled this "Technology and Education", but there it is.
The first part of this article dealt with the largely downside of technology in education, but now I wanted to think and write more about why we need to incorporate even more technology in our schools.
An interesting article came out in the December 2005 issue of Educational Leadership. It's called, "Listen to the Natives" and it's written by Marc Prensky. He's coined the terms digital natives, which our students are. That is, they are the ones who are immersed in the culture. We (the adults/teachers) are the digital immigrants. We do some technology, but we speak with an "accent". We have to begin to listen to the students if we want to help prepare them for life in the 21st century.
I am becoming fascinated with the idea that we are approaching another "Enlightment" of sorts. As the postmodern culture begins to take over and leave the modern culture behind, there are new movements afoot. One of them that I am looking into very closely now is the emergent church.
Churches and Christianity must find a different way of thinking as it strives to bring the message of Jesus Christ to a different culture. But I digress....
In this article, Prensky shows how schools, as they are now, cannot prepare kids for the 21st century:
"Pragmatically, our 21st century kids' education is quickly bifurcating. The formal half, 'school', is becoming an increasingly moribund and irrelevant institution. Its only function for many students is to provide them with a credential that their parents say they need. The informal, exciting half of kids' education occurs 'after school'. This is the place where 21st century students learn about their world and prepare themselves for their 21st century lives."
It's funny how we herd kids, group them unwillingly, make them learn what they don't want to learn (and probably don't really need for the future, anyway). We make them shut up, sit still and take it in. I'm still guilty of this because I learned this way and it worked for me. The point is - it CANNOT work for today's kids!
I'm starting to feel increasingly restless with old style school and curriculum. As I have becoming more immersed in technology, I find that I can only express myself through technology. It's becoming a part of me - and it is even more a part of kids lives today. Banning the use of cell phones in schools, for example, could be leading to more problems that it will solve. The cell or blackberry has become an extension of our children's brains and they can't function without them. How about using the video games that our students are so involved in as a model of curriculum organization? It may seem silly, but many are giving it some serious thought!
An important thing to keep in mind that this doesn't mean we need lots of actual technology in the classroom. What we need to consider is how technology is actually changing the way kids think and process information. Children learn differently than the children of just a generation ago.
I get a pen and paper and it remains blank to me. I can't think of a thing to write. Give me a computer and I can't shut up! I need an electronic medium to talk out loud and give myself a voice now. How odd.... I wonder how much of an accent I still have...
I know this has been kind of a jumble of thoughts ~ maybe I'll come back and clean this up some day. Make it more presentable. But I had fun writing it and that, in the end, is what counts!
I found this cartoon and found it appropriate here. Sometimes I feel like this is what educators on low budgets are doing in the classroom...
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