Digital Learners

              As I read the article by Prensky, I found it very difficult to decide if I was a Digital native or immigrant.  I grew up on the cusp of the digital age.  I felt like I was always one step behind the digital wave, so if I'm a native it is just barely.  This gives me the advantage over some of my colleagues who still are having trouble turning on their computers much less locating a website and writing a blog.  However, I am leaps and bounds behind my students who teach me something new about technology on a daily basis.  This is one of the things that I love about education and being around teenagers.  Some days I feel that they teach me as much as I teach them.  This is a quality that I've grown to love and embrace, but we as teachers can't be afraid to let them teach us.  It is no longer our job to disseminate information, we are in a world where knowledge is constantly changing and information is at our fingertips.  Including the students in the process of learning makes it so much more meaningful and it actually teaches them how to use the internet effectively.  I thought the video "A vision of Student's today" hit this point home in a way that was really meaningful to me.  Particularly, the girl that said she would get a job that does not exist today.  I teach sophomores in high school--advanced chemistry students.  These are the digital natives that could change our world, and there is nothing better I can do for them but encourage their creativity and let them flourish.  The point that was made that they spend over 26 hours a day involved in activities I believe was possibly an understatement.  In our world of overload and hyperactivity, we need to find ways to enhance our multi-tasking and put it to use to solve the problems of today.  The generation that we are teaching will have to find ways to do this, and their guides will be us as teachers and the internet as a whole.  To prepare them for the future, we have to be flexible and willing to let them lead us while we use our experiences to lead them.  This will be scary and difficult for so many of us, but we no longer have a choice.  This is the way of the future, regardless of our stance as a digital native or a digital immigrant--we all must become digital experts.