K-12 Generation

Students should demand inclusive, goal-oriented, and objective-based lessons that include technology.  If kids are going to be distracted by video games, music, movies and Facebook, why not find a way to integrate them into the classroom? Technology is a great way to grab students’ attention and can be used to engage students in active participation and higher-order thinking.

What bothers me about the videos is I feel it is being implied that technology is the only way to teach children. Perhaps the videos should have stressed the importance of teaching students how to use technology. Facebook, cell phones and video games have their place, but spending two hours on the phone, playing three hours of video games a day, or surfing over 1,200 profiles isn’t “productive” unless they are being taught how to use that time using technology to an advantage.

            This brings me back to the point of technology supplementing learning and not becoming the focus of the lesson. Students are easily distracted by technology (1,200 profiles? Really?) and as teachers we really need to monitor what students are using technology for and is it really adding any value to the lesson. It’s going to be up to us to make that distinction and teach students how to make it as well.

            But that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to use entertainment-type technologies to teach. As a friend of mine once told me, “I learned more about World War 2 playing Call of Duty: World at War, than I ever did in a classroom.” That got me to thinking; why not use a video game with a historical background to reinforce learning? I f allowing students to blow up a few tanks helps them understand what is going on in the time period, well, more power to them!

            Facebook could be used as a tool to help students learn how to do searches and research on the internet. Maybe have them come up with a list of 25 people with the name “Greg” and see if they can find where in the world they live.  There are learning opportunities out there, as future teachers we just have to create them.

            Technology isn’t the wave of the future. Technology is now. Teachers need to embrace this fact instead of resisting it. We need to find ways to use technology to supplement content, yet also teach students how to use it responsibly.