Generation Edge

While the common notion is that today's students have certain inherent abilities and an aptitude that is far beyond that of previous generations, I have seen a lot of variation and exceptions to this idea.  While the Generation Edge student is starting to make its way into the high school classroom, the intelligence and aptitude of each of them vary widely.  The videos and articles describe a student that multitasks and wants to be engaged with a group and technology.  While it seems true and apparent to me that my students like to be engaged in technology, the engagement doesn't translate to academic media.  Students have the ability to navigate social media sites and view and create videos to post on sites like Instagram, YouTube and Vine, but find it difficult to use those same skills toward any type of academic situation.

The truth is, many students have the ability to do exactly what the articles describe.  They have the optimism and high expectations that drive them toward success, but there is also a large number of students on the exact opposite end of the spectrum.  These are the students who can't find a connection to any material, who find a way to be completely inept with the same media with which they are "experts", who complain about the fact that everything is boring, but aren't willing to try anything out of the ordinary.

I found it difficult to read all the way through Prensky's article about digital natives without both agreeing and disagreeing with every word.  I find myself in the fringe generation, living my entire adult life with all these digital tools but also spending most of my K-12 life adding new tools as they became available.  I read comments like:  "This doesn't mean changing the meaning of what is important, or of good thinking skills. But it does mean going faster, less step-by step, more in parallel, with more random access, among other things. Educators might ask 'But how do we teach logic in this fashion?'" and I have trouble understanding how true the comments are.  While I see a group that likes to believe they are good multitaskers, I wonder if they just believe it, because they've been told that is part of their generation.  I wonder this because I can see the effects of their attempts and dividing their attention.  I see that listening to music can help them focus, but I also see that allowing this means time is spent finding a song, then finding another song, etc. to the point where splitting their attention means less time focused on the task given to them.

In the long run, I recognize that the profession of teaching is changing as the tools and students change.  I won't try to fight to keep the "old world" ways, but I do question the validity of believing that students now can't learn the same way or use the same skills that were used 15 years ago.  Sure, jobs are being created every day that didn't exist the day before, but at the same time there are many jobs that will remain and require skills that we're being asked to overlook, or move through quickly because our Edge students, in all their multitasking, information overload glory, simply aren't capable of learning unless it is fun.  I feel the focus needs to be more on identifying a relevance for the student, than moving more quickly and less structured through material (that I don't have a choice in teaching because I am told by a set of standards what is important and relevant to them).

While this sounds like a whole-hearted disagreement or session of pouting about the changes required of teachers, its more of a recognition that change needs to be made, but an uncertainty of how to make the changes.

Re-introduction for IT

Hello everyone.  I started this blog this summer for another IT class in the masters program in instructional technology, so I will continue it for this class.  This will be my second introduction on this blog site.

My name is Matt de Haan.  I am a Chemistry teacher at Belleville High School in Belleville, MI.  I don't consider myself to be any kind of computer or tech genius, but I happen to be the go-to person in my department for technology issues, go figure.  I have been at BHS for 3 full years now.  Prior to that I was a long-term substitute in several position at Allen Park High School for three years right after finishing my undergrad at Wayne State.  I have coached several sports over the past several years including 7 years as a football coach and three years as a basketball coach.  I still enjoy playing an coaching but have taken a break from coaching since the birth of my twins two years ago.  In addition to my twins I am married with a 4 year-old son and a new baby girl expected in 10 days.

I look forward to working with all of you and hope to gain some useful skills for the future.