Digital Native or Digital Immigrant??

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon (MCB University             Press), 9(5),

This article was really interesting to me. It kept me intrigued the whole time I was reading and it was an easy read (my favorite kind)! I love the terms digital natives and digital immigrants; however, I feel that you don’t necessarily be one or the other. You can be in between. I think that I am definitely more toward the digital native side, but I feel somewhat stuck between the two. I think that our generation was towards the end of the digital immigrants and the beginning of the digital natives, because some of the new technology came out while we were children and teenagers. As a child I never played video games, in fact we didn’t own any gaming devices. My parents encouraged us to be active and we loved it.

I completely agree with Prensky though in saying that the children today think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors. Children that are growing up in today’s society are so surrounded by technology that they wouldn’t know what to do without it. I also agree that teachers today have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students! I think that was probably my favorite statement made in this article. To me this just means getting to know your students, what they like, dislike, how they learn, what works best, etc. Changing techniques from when I learned them to better fit the generation of students that I will be teaching.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants, part 2: Do they really think            differently? . On the Horizon (MCB University Press), 9(6),

I didn’t like this article as much as the previous one…I was not interested in it. Part 1 of the Prensky articles kept me wanting to read more but this one, not so much. I caught myself falling asleep and having to reread paragraphs over again. Research and statistical information does not make me want to read more. I do think however that students will be more excited about learning certain subjects if technology is incorporated. I know when I was in elementary and middle school, and sometimes in high school, I would be more excited about certain projects or lessons that involved us going to the computer lab and using the computers! I don’t think that we need to take out all the “old” ways of learning though. Some children still learn better that way. And what about the students that don’t play video games? What do we do with them? I would have liked to read more about alternatives for those who do not respond as well with technology.

Moyer, J. E. (2011). Digital literacies: What does it really mean to "read" a text?. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 55(3), 253-256.

I was shocked to read that some people believed that e-books and audio books were not “real” reading. I really enjoyed this article and I really think that having access to e-books and audio books in school and public libraries is something that all schools should consider. Staying up to date with the newest technologies is definitely something the students will be interested in. Providing these opportunities will actually make students want to read. I think I would like to read much more than I do now if I were able to listen to the books! I love audio books, and I think that I actually comprehend more when listening to them. Anything to get the students reading more! Having access to e-books and audio books opens up so many opportunities and allows students that don’t have access to these types of things at home to have a chance to experience some of the newest technology. Knowing that print, e-books, and audio books all bring in the same percentage of reading comprehension is more reason to offer all of these options.

Chase, Z., & Laufenberg, D. (2011). Digital literacies: Embracing the squishiness of digital literacy. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(7), 535-537.

I liked how this article took the big picture of digital literacy and broke it down to show how it can be used. With the access to technology, I think that our students have such an advantage and can learn so much in so many different ways. I think the biggest thing to me from this article was that with access to technology, learning is in the hands of the students. The teacher, then, fills the role of knowledge node rather than fountain of knowledge. With technology, there is so much opportunity for students to build on their own learning and not have everything told to them. It lets them figure some things out on their own. Incorporating technology is definitely something that I am going to try to do as I begin in my own classroom.

Pleasantly Surprised...

While listening to the sound of my printer spit out the five articles for this week's blog, I was dreading actually reading them! Like I said before, I despise reading! Especially required readings. Before I even begin reading texts that are required, I have a negative attitude. BUT...this week I tried to have a positive outlook before and while I was reading. Having the mindset that I might be able to take something away from the articles to help me become a better teacher. 

The first article that I read was Watch and Learn by Shah and I am so glad that I decided to read this article first because it was very interesting and kept me intrigued the whole time I was reading. I think I wanted to read this article first because it was something that was happening in the world today! I was shocked to read that same-language subtitling (SLS) had such a dramatic impact on Khodi, India. I usually hate when I accidentally turn on the subtitles on my TV and can't figure out how to get them off! But I absolutely agree with Gery d'Ydewalle (a Belgian psychologist) in that we automatically read the subtitles even when we don't want to. 

"He found that reading of subtitles on a screen is almost involuntary. In other words, viewers find it nearly impossible to ignore subtitles regardless of whether they can hear the sound or understand the language" (Shah, 2010). 

I remember watching films in high school when the subtitles were on and I could not help but read them! I never really thought about SLS boasting literacy rates but after reading this article it makes complete sense. In elementary school and even in middle school when we would "popcorn" while reading (take turns reading aloud in class) I felt like it helped my reading comprehension skills to listen to someone read aloud and for me to follow along at the same time. That is exactly what happened when the people of Khodi would watch and listen to music videos while reading the words at the same time. This reiterates the sounds of the words and the visual of them.

I think it is really great that the SLS in Khodi has resulted in higher enrollment in local schools and higher literacy rates! The biggest thing that I took away from this article is that SLS has made reading and learning fun! Anything that will encourage students to be excited about reading and learning is good news! I loved what Rajesh Sodha, a ninth grader from Khodi, said "I was always tired and lazy. Then I began reading better, and everything just became easier...School is more fun now" (Shah, 2010). If all students could become better readers, in fact all people not just students, then learning and reading would be something fun!! But I do agree with Krashen in saying that we should not bring SLS into the classroom because it will take the fun out of it. Like reading anything, I enjoy it much more when it is not required so keeping SLS as something that is leisurely is a great idea.

One of the most shocking quotes I read in the article was by McCall, "America is not being honest about its literacy problem. Three out of five Americans in jail can't read. Fifty million adult Americans can't read beyond can't read beyond a fifth-grade level, leaving them at a semi-literate level that is often ignored in mainstream literacy campaigns." I was completely surprised by this statistic and think that it is absolutely ridiculous because we definitely have the resources to accomplish greater reading levels. 

The other article that I enjoyed the most/got the most out of was How Popular Culture Texts Inform and Shape Discussions of Social Studies Texts by Leigh Hall. To be honest my first thoughts were that the article would bore me because it was dealing with Social Studies, but to my surprise I really enjoyed it! I did not realize how much pop culture texts influence our thinking about everything! After reading the procedures and results of the study conducted, I would really like to try something like this is a math or science class and compare the results. I think it would be easier to make this work in a science class because of all the science related books that children read. But relating pop culture to math seems a little abstract to me. I would love to get more information about how to go about doing this in a math classroom though. I like how the author made it clear that we should not replace academic texts with pop culture texts, but instead try to incorporate students' interests and ideas about them into academics. 

I was pleasantly surprised after reading both of these articles. My views about reading and incorporating reading into my math or science classroom is slowly beginning to change for the better. I am certain that as the semester progresses, so will my love for reading and making my students love it too!

Citations:

Hall, L. A. (2011). How popular culture texts inform and shape students' discussions of social studies texts . Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 55(4), 296-304. 

Shah, R. (2010, September 19). Watch and learn. The Boston Globe. Retrieved from http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/09/19/watch_and_learn/?page=full

one teacher's journey.

When we were first told that we would be blogging about our thoughts on different articles, I was not thrilled. Reading is not something that I enjoy. So reading articles about incorporating reading and literacy into my math or science classroom did not sound appealing to me at all. But One Teacher's Journey by Victoria Gentry Ridgeway caught my eye before I even began reading the article. If I am going to read, I enjoy reading about the lives of teachers and their ideas about what to do and what not to do in the classroom. A quote in the first paragraph drew me in, making me want to continue reading what Ridgeway had to say..."A quarter of a century is a long time, but the following events so changed my life that I remember them as though they happened yesterday." Obviously the following events impacted her life enough to share with others, so I wasn't as skeptical about reading the article.

At one of the meetings that Ridgeway attended about content literacy, her thoughts resembled mine very closely..."Something about reading in the content areas, something about using reading to teach science - what kind of nonsense was this?" Like I said before, I am not a big fan of reading so the thought of incorporating reading into my science or math class just kind of slips away. But after reading her success stories of how she incorporated content literacy into her teaching, I am beginning to be more open to the idea.

I really liked the statement that Joy Monahan shared with Ridgeway..."She said that students could all learn, but that they all learned in different ways, and the learning environment in which they found themselves created observed differences in achievement." This is something that I try to keep in mind always! Realizing that all students can learn in the right environment, and creating that environment for them can make a huge difference in the life and learning of the students. I hope that as I begin student teaching next Spring and teaching on my own that I will consciously make an effort to meet the needs of each student and incorporate some of the ideas shared in this article.