week 1

The readings for this week shed some light on some fears that had caused me to hesitate when considering teaching in the net generation. I was afraid that I just wouldn’t be able to connect with my kids…that they would be totally wrapped up in cyberspace and have no capacity for human contact. Several points from the readings illustrate that the technologies utilized by today’s kids don’t turn them off from the real world; instead they are more connected because of technology. The natural learning abilities of the net generation are described in the text: “The Net Gen is oriented toward inductive discovery or making observations, formu¬lating hypotheses, and figuring out the rules.” The article on the “21st Century Digital Learner” stressed that Net Gen students value interaction with a teacher who is passionate about their subject and motivates students toward the same passion. Another fear that I had about using technology in the classroom is that it just moves too fast and that I wouldn’t be able to keep up. My students would end up thinking I was totally lame if I didn’t know how to use the latest and greatest gadget. The ‘Digital Learner’ article helped me identify with other teachers that feel the same way but are trying to do the best they can with what they have available to them. I think that as long as I can make learning fun and engaging for my students it won’t really matter if I’m using a smartboard or a chalkboard to do it. I’m looking forward to learning more about how to use technology to do that.


I was always kind of skeptical of webloggers and facebookers and myspacers. I thought of them as vain people who liked everyone to know what they were doing at all times. The video about blogging that we viewed in class and the article titled “Blogs: Webs of Connected Learning” really helped me to turn that around. Now I’m beginning to understand that using the internet is just a way of expressing and living and learning that comes really naturally to kids who were born into the net generation. Who am I to teach against that?! Why shouldn’t students use these skills in the classroom? I guess part of my hesitation was just pure jealousy. We didn’t have this stuff when I was a kid :( I’m also afraid that my students aren’t going to know how to write with a pencil and spell and do simple math because there are gadgets that will do it for them. If I had had a teacher that was gung-ho about the latest and greatest calculator technology would I have learned my times tables the same way? I see how technology can benefit a classroom as far as making the learning experience more varied and interactive but I guess my fear is still that it will replace the person to person learning that I experienced and that I really loved and valued. From the readings, especially those with student comments, I gather that what students are really looking for is a balanced learning experience that involves some instruction from the teacher but also some independent discovery. I’ve started to change my attitude toward the net and I think it will continue to change as we keep reading and learning.