Blog 1: Am I Digital Native?

Welcome back, guys! Hope everyone has been doing well out there. 

Talking about the topic of students and teachers in the classroom, I believe it to be influenced by the rapid of growth of technology itself. It is hard to find a place in America that has zero technology presence (not including the Amish), and I am assuming its because no one can pinpoint them! Technology is the driving force of our society, and the more it grows, the more we'll see it in different settings. To give you an example, I used to go to church and sing along with the booklet, but now I just watch the lyrics on the TV! The extension reaches classrooms since, as the main hub of knowledge for the future leaders of America, education needs to stay with the times and develop alongside it.

Switching gears to the standards of the International Standards For Students, there were two that stood out to me pretty quick. The Creative Communicator standard popped out to me mainly for the communication aspect. As educators, our job is to communicate information well enough to make the students think for themselves, develop new ideas, and innovate their future for the better of themselves and the world. If it were up to me, I'd prioritized this standard with tools necessary for the student to grow their knowledge on the subject matter. Now, a standard I don't particularly feel too strong about is the Global Collaboration standard. I love to collaborate and I think that group assignments teach something more than just the assignment demanded; how to trust people and show people that you can be trusted. My issue with collaboration has always been when its online-only. I've only had tough group projects when it came to online-only assignments, since communication tends to lack more in those types assignments. But, I'm just a digital native. I can learn quicker than older generations to utilize this standard to my advantage, I just choose not to do it, allegedly (Prensky).

Speaking of digital nativism, I think the word really does apply to my generation of technology users. A digital native is someone who was born into the current generation of technology advancements. A native in the language of technology, if you will. Digital immigrants, on the other hand, are the generation that needed to learn how to speak the language. In class, I've noticed much of my teachers using technology with a sort of "accent", if so to speak. I wouldn't say is a technological struggle as much as the skills may not come as fast to some teachers than others. Nevertheless, I have yet to encounter a teacher, of any age, who refused to use technology in an educational setting. Have any of you? I am curious because it boggles me a bit to know that they are out there, but at the end of the day, everyone is comfortable with the way they do things. I mean, I would love to keep up with technology changes by the time the new generation of students is walking through the proud hallways of American schools, but I am not sure just how fast technology will move from here. All we can do is hope that we grab on tight enough for the ride!