Teaching in the Digital Age

I found the article on Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants quite interesting because I feel very uncomfortable about my immigrant status. Going through college I was at the beginning of the email age and even though that was not too long ago I feel as though everything has quickly passed me by. In my district there is an administrator in central office that used to do several in-services a year at my school about different topics. He always talked about integrating computers, ipods, cell phones, etc. into lessons and everyone (including myself) laughed at him and his ideas. Now 3 or 4 years later I think he was right on with his ideas and think it would be great if teachers would integrate more technology into the classroom. The small amount of technology used on my campus is very appreciated and enjoyed by the students, which is giving new teachers on campus a huge boost of confidence from the student body in comparison to the older more "experienced" teachers.

The videos were interesting also. I have seen several videos that are very comparable in past classes and the one slide or image that always comes to mind when I see something like this is the one that talks about how the job that a high school student will have in the future has not yet been created. While many look at this and say no way, I agree. Who would have thought that 8 years ago there would be so many jobs that dealt with computers, internet, etc. I am sure not long ago people would have thought that the gas pump at the local gas station would no longer require an attendent to pay money to, and that an internal computer would take your money and allow you to pump gas.

While I definitely fall in the immigrant category, I am intrigued by all of the options and possibilities out there involving technology in the classroom. I feel that it can greatly increase learning in schools and can revive a lot of students' interest in school. The hardest part for an immigrant is venturing into the land of the unknown, the land of technology.