Let’s talk about Technology!

The use of the internet and cell phones has become an everyday activity; not just a part of a student’s life, but an integral piece of their social medium and the primary way to access information.  As Dolgin (2011) states, “About 60% of American teens say that they connect to the Internet at least once per day; about one-third say they get on several times per day” (p. 10). Prensky (2001) coined the phrase "Digital Native" for this generation because these adolescents have always had technology integrated into their lives. It is important to keep technology integrated into the classroom as well.

Your students are going to think that they are clever enough that they can text on their cell phones without you noticing; that they can play games on the Internet when they should be researching. However, YOU are a part of the technological generation. You had a cell phone long before them; you used the internet way before they knew what it was. As a technologically savvy teacher, integrate technology into your daily lessons. This will play to the students’ interests and you’ll have their attention.

Technologically educational ideas: Team up with a school in another city, state, or country and allow students to bring “pen pals” into the twenty first century. The students could email, blog, or Skype with each other, bridging cultural distances and, as Dolgin (2011) notes, contribute to a “global youth culture, with universal tastes and values” (p. 10). You can create a classroom blog and allow students to comment and provide feedback for daily lessons (with supervision and monitoring!). This way your students will feel invested in your lessons and you can constantly improve your teaching by taking the students’ opinions into account. Creating and keeping up to date a classroom website is a way for students to access daily assignments and keep up with missed work when absent. Twitter doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Students can Tweet questions or comments (again, with supervision and monitoring) about projects or assignments.  These online ideas also allow for students who generally do not volunteer to talk in class the opportunity to communicate with his or her peers and you in a more comfortable format.

If you happen to have a student who is out of school due to a hospitalization or the like and the student would like to keep up with classwork, VoiceThread offers a great medium for presentations. Students can create a PowerPoint presentation and voice or video narrate, which would be similar to an in class presentation. Also, this technology is great if you are out sick, which happens to all first year teachers, because you can still connect with your students.

I would suggest waiting to implement these technological ideas until you have established a rapport with your students. It is up to your judgment if the students can use the internet appropriately, trust your instincts. Stressing that the use of the internet is a privilege that can easily be removed will prepare the students to be on their best cyber behavior.

References

Dolgin, K.G. (2011). The adolescent: Development, relationships, and culture (13thed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Prensky, Mark. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9 (5), 1-6.