1-4 Reflection: Underserving Our Society

Students need to learn reading and writing above all; without basic reading and writing, they can do little else in any other topic, and they will struggle in life. On top of that, they must be computer and technology savvy, and not just how to text or use game apps, but to truly understand deeper levels of using and creating tools with available web-based programs as well as the proper etiquette associated with usage and communication.

I think the rewiring of the brain to be more dependent on instant gratification and multimedia, but the loss of the normalcy of face-to-face interactions is the saddest aspect of this evolution. For education, it means that students will be more familiar with doing a chat on their devices where the stream is at the front of the classroom than having an actual conversation or discussion. However, it also presents an opportunity to us as teachers to push in the other direction to diversify their experiences.

Kids are wired to shorter and shorter attention spans every day due to the instant gratification of social media, texting, and world knowledge at their fingertips. If we cannot make our teaching not just multimedia-oriented, but cut down into bite-size chunks, we will not hold their attention for very long, and the process of learning will be lost.

Digital learners certainly prefer a more multimedia experience as opposed to the slow dissemination of information from a podium. Students are constantly on a screen bouncing between websites and apps and texting and email. If we can engage them in the classroom in a way that more closely mimics their daily lives, they will find the interactions more familiar, more meaningful, and more dynamic than a single talking head.

Some of the real challenges we face - especially in low-SES areas - is the gap between the digitally conscious and those that cannot afford even the basics. Most students will have a cell phone; it is communication life and breath. But many students do not have families who can own or even understand basic computer usage while we force them into computer labs to take standardized tests without a single typing class. In today and tomorrow's wordspace, if we are truly aiming to mold our students into functional and competent members of society, we are underserving them without a base-level 1-to-1 system.