Thing 16 - Teach Digital

I get it! I, the digital immigrant, am behind the learning curve of the digital natives I teach but I am trying to catch up (hopefully 23 things closer by the end of July!).

I hear the request to move beyond traditional instruction in order to embrace the technology that is so familiar to students both as a creative expression and as a communicative tool. I was fascinated by the university students who felt unprepared for the demands of the future when the mode of classroom instruction lacked the technology elements that they know to be integral to their lives and fundamental to their future jobs. I heard these students identify themselves as visual learners and beg for more than lectures, for diverse options to show their mastery, for collaboration with their instructors, and for relevant information grounded in technology. This is a great template for me to bring to my high school class.

Sir Ken Robinson stated that "education takes us into the future, a future that we don't know what it will be". This is thought-provoking. How does one prepare learners for an unknown future? I certainly wasn't prepared in college for the technology that I now encounter. Who could know that technology would be created so much faster than any period in our history? General skills of adaptability, risk-taking, interpersonal communication, problem-solving, creative perspectives, etc. take on new priorities when educating young people. He also said that creativity is as important as literacy. This took me a moment to take in but when he explained the history of education with its roots in preparing people to be skilled in the demands of the Industrial Age compared to the skills need to advance in our current society, I could see the value in his statement. Finally, I cheered when he talked about young children who are not afraid to be wrong. I tell my students that mistakes are not just tolerated but necessary in order to build second language skills. One has to use language, practice it, learn from it, in order to progress. I hope to avoid educating my students "out of their creativity" by including diverse means of instruction and application.

The last video was an enticing challenge to keep the instruction in my class relevant to where kids are going in the future. I too value moving to think, creating, sharing, and genuine communication skills with target language speakers. I agree that students cannot "create their future with the tools of my past" so I need to learn the tools that are here and taking them into the future. The 23 Things is serving a bridge for this transition.