Future Native

I remember growing up hearing the cliché, “Life’s a journey, not a destination.”  I think this phrase still holds truth, but after reading the articles and watching the videos, a more apropos saying would be—Life is no longer a journey, it is a multitude of destinations just a click away.

Marc Prensky’s text was promising and convicting at the same time.  I’m an immigrant, but I’m learning the new culture.  I will always have an accent, but I’m going with the flow…I may be in the slow lane sometimes, but I am on the information super highway…and yes, I know that if I were to say that sentence to a native, they would laugh at me.   

I thought the two videos out of Kansas State were great.  I liked “The Machine is Using Us” because it gave me more hope in our future…and forced me to see that BIG changes are not only going to happen, but they are happening right now.  The way it was edited together so quickly added to the feeling that it is happening fast and it is happening now and there we can’t stop it.  The second video, “A Vision of Students Today” sort of turned me off a bit.  I agree that change needs to be accepted by people in “the system” but I also think the phrase, “this is not going to be relevant to me” is overused and can be a sign of a lack in creativity.  Sometimes it is true, but students and teachers alike need to figure out how and where content will be relevant.  We can learn from so much in this world and learning in different ways is beneficial.  We all need to see that and mash different strategies together.

Reading “A Day in the Life of Web 2.0” gave me a sense of wonder.  I think what Warlick paints an awesome picture!  I want to know how we get there!  We need a transformation…will it come in 2014 when all of our schools “fail”?  It sounds exciting, effective, and professional.  I hope we get there soon.

Until today I wanted to pump the brakes and slow down.  I find value in being still and being “unplugged”.  However, after today’s resources, I see where we are heading and most of these destinations seem like good places.  I will always look for time to be ‘unplugged’ but hope to learn more about the new culture so I can move fluently when I am plugged in.

I believe that we need to meet students where they are and that the job of teaching is as much, if not more, about learning how to teach effectively as it is content.