Sorry- My three year old and I love quoting Sesame Street- "The Word on the Street is COMMUNICATION!"
Communication in Education
Because we are now teaching digital natives, communication is not what it was when we were children. I remember sitting in my undergraduate English Education cohort at UGA and hearing my fabulous professor (Dr. Sally Hudson-Ross) tell us over and over again- "You are not teaching younger versions of yourselves..." That couldn't be more true in today's world. When we compare & contrast who we were in middle and high school and who we are teaching now, the differences are staggering, and most of them revolve around the way communication works in today's world.
With today's students, everything is instantaneous. They have access to information 24-7. They can text, email or call any friend, family member, or teacher at any time. Questions can be answered in a matter of seconds- not minutes or hours. Technology has made information accessible all the time... Which, for someone like me, is wonderful and scary all at once.
Because of this, our duties (as educators) have changed dramatically. We still need to be experts in our field. Nothing compares to someone sitting down with his/her students face to face and explaining a concept or just chatting about the course content/ideas. As instruction moves to online formats, finding avenues to do this electronically while still preserving the authenticity of face to face meetings is essential. We are coming close as products like Apple's Facetime and Google+ Hangouts improve the quality of free digital video meeting spaces.
I personally hope that one of the key goals of public education is not lost in the digital shuffle- socialization. Studies have shown (and many of us can give anecdotal evidence) that social skills are being lost in the age of texting and Twitter. If education is completely caught up in the technology craze, I worry that our kids won't know what it means to have social grace or charm. If they only ever speak to each other in clipped text messages, how will they function in a business world where a handshake is still (and hopefully, always will be) the most powerful tool?
My colleagues and I recently had a discussion about the loss of social skills with the digital technologies that we have now. Although not the only reason, we believe that social grace is being lost with limited face-to-face interaction. With texting, students have developed a "new language"and some question the need to decode/spell words.
ReplyDeleteOur school recently added Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate) as a means to offer help sessions--one-on-one or small group. Shelley used it last week to assist her students. This provides another means of communication between student/teacher outside of the classroom.
I like your statement about the handshake being the most powerful tool in the business world. Our PE instructor still requires students to shake hands with the opponent.
This educator, along with my colleagues, share your same sentiments.
A lot of what you said resonated with me:
ReplyDelete"You are not teaching younger versions of yourselves..." - Oh my goodness, I couldn't agree with your professor more! Things are SO different, and methodologies and practices have changed so much. A lot of people seem happy with the status quo, but they are doing their students such a disservice. I hear people say, "That's the way we did it for 100 years!", but that doesn't make it better. We have to seek out ways to relate to our students in ways that are meaningful and real.
"They have access to information 24-7." - This reminds me of something we discussed at the beginning of this program. Why teach kids to spell if they have spell-check? Why teach them multiplication tables if they have a calculator in their pocket all day? I know what I believe, but the teacher who was playing devil's advocate sure made some convincing arguments!
"...social skills are being lost in the age of texting and Twitter." - Amen. I have been working with my students on this very thing lately. I think the thing that send me over the edge was a message sent to me by one of my 8th graders. I'll copy and paste the message here:
Subject: Science Fair Projects
hey i wasnt ta skool 2day wat did i miss
There are so many things wrong with this message that I didn't know where to start. (I don't even teach science, so I have no idea where that came from.) Things have improved overall with email communication, but text speak isn't doing any of us any favors.
You made an interesting point, Jordan! There is always both a good and bad side. It could be true that children become less competent at social skills if they have been only communicating online or so. After all, the goal of public education is not simply to have students acuire knowledge; we want children to become competent in living a successful life!
ReplyDelete"You are not teaching younger versions of yourselves." Excellent. I remember a kid handing me a land-line phone and saying, "It's broken." He was hearing a busy signal. I remember seeing a fax machine for the first time and asking, "Right NOW? That paper is going to London NOW? Like...it's there already?" I was 16 or so and couldn't understand it. I'll tell my students that if they want to be unique and different...be a trendsetter among their peers? Speak correctly and text in complete sentences. That will make them stand out.
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