AT Week 7&8

Ibrain article- Read and React

As usual this article raises a lot of questions for me and gives some great perspective. I do feel that I am stuck between being a digital native (thus growing up in the time) but with the feelings and abilities of a digital immigrant. "Movies had a profound social, political and emotional impact on society. However, the effect on our brain wiring was relatively minimal because the exposure was limited. Most people went to the movies for only a couple of hours a week at most." (IBrain, 14) Back during my parents childhood, technology was there, but not shoved down their throats every second of every day. I am so used to be plugged in 24-7 that I actually enjoy being unplugged. I am looking forward to my vacation at the end of December when I plan to be totally unplugged and be able to just drop off the digital map for a week. Our students don't know what it is like to go a day without be plugged in, in some way or another. Can you imagine if they had been around for the ice storm in I think 2008, we had no power for a week straight. I'm not sure that today's child would know how to entertain themselves if they were totally cut off for a week. "Our high-tech revolution has plunged us into a state of continuous partial attention, which software executive Linda stone describes as continually staying busy- keeping tabs on everything while never truly focusing on anything." (IBrain 18).  I know that my personality lends itself to being much older than my actual age. I struggle everyday with the changes that society are making socially acceptable, and the way old traditional ways are being left behind. As my husband said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and I couldn't agree more. I know that technology has made many parts of my life easier, but i also feel technology has thrown us into a much more complexly functioning society! Call me old fashioned, but I feel our students are missing out on so much, yet others would tell me to get on the train, because it's leaving the station with or without me. If I want to do what is best for my students I must continue to fight for the things I believe in but also adapt to the changing world they are growing up in.

It is interesting to me that we are so okay with our students functioning in so many directions at once.
"This new form of mental stress, what I term techno-brain burn-out, is threatening to become an epidemic." (Ibrain 19). I keep waiting for the ball to drop and the younger generation to get burned out and ready to try life from the perspective of their grandparents. This quote fits perfectly, "That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in another"- Adlai Stevenson. If I can't figure out how to do something, my students can show me in a heartbeat. Its truly fascinating what they do understand how to do, yet there are so many basic functions that they do not know how to do. For example, I agree with my colleague Michelle, that the use of cursive handwriting is very much an outward artistic expression. Cursive is no longer taught in my school, better yet, decent penmanship is hardly valued. I struggle to read my students names who are in 4th and 5th grade. I mean seriously, when I was a kid, they told me I had to practice my handwriting (in one of those scripted books) for 20 minutes a day until it was better. Things such as reading writing and multiplication are changing.

Imagine what the world will be like in 30 years, when those who cannot write, or do simple math with great easy are running the world... Or how about communication- Technology has totally changed they way we communicate. Even I have terrible communication etiquette compared to my grandparents. "These Digital Natives have defined a new culture of communication- no longer dictated by time, place or even how one looks at the moment unless they're video chatting or posting photographs of themselves on MySpace. " (IBrain 20).  Now it is okay to communicate with multiple people at once, in short spurts of words that rarely make complete sentences. "People are not solidifying the normal neural pathways their brain need to develop traditional face-to-face communication skills." (IBrain 30 ) Once upon a time we valued spending quality conversation times with those who we valued and loved. Now people won't even put their cell phones away long enough to make it through a date. "Digital natives has grown up immersed in technology that continually becomes more powerful and compact- literally, cyberspace in their pockets. They multitask and parallel process with ease, and their access to visual and auditory stimulation has programmed their brains to crave instant gratification.... Digital Natives tend to have shorter attention spans, especially when faced with traditional forms of learning." (brain 24-25) I will admit there are so many amazing things that technology has brought us, like the ability to skype with our cousin when he was deployed overseas. But watching my students struggle with basic things like writing their name on their paper and spelling things correctly, but they can easily find letters on the key board, and let spell check do the brain work for them is maddening.

Video games is typically a topic where I truly show my "old fart" attitude. I'm sure I voiced this before, I have students who literally do not understand how to tap into their imaginations. They go home everyday and play video games and watch TV for hours, and almost never step foot outside. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are good things coming from video games, but I have yet to see that positive effect on my students. "The visual and mental stimulation of playing a video game is not unlike searching a web browser or sorting through and responding to dozens of emails- two typical daily computer activities." (Ibrain 39) At least I know they can sift through information, but are they learning how to sift through that info with the ability to filter out what is important and what is not? "Scientists and game designers are developing new uses for video games that teach standard school curricula and other useful cognitive skills."  (IBrain 40) This is great, but the only times I've seen this is for toddlers to kindergartners. My parents bought me one computer game as a child, it was a math game. Yes we defeated the bad guy, but we did it with academics, not explosives. I am all for giving students educational games over the crap that half of them play. There are too many people that use these games as a babysitting tool. Limiting their use of the technical devices wouldn't hurt, have them go outside and explore.

The only way this technology will be totally beneficial is if we meet in the middle. We need to integrate the old with the new. "We need to help digital natives learn to advance their interpersonal skills and teach digital immigrants to hone their technology skills." (Ibrain 46).  The natives have a lot to teach, but they also have a lot to learn, and the same ca be said for the immigrants.