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.