Here goes my real first blog post....
I found the article by Postman much easier to read and
digest than the readings by Morris and Stommel. One quote by Morris and
Stommel did make me think a bit more deeply about how we demonstrate
what we value at school. "Educators and students alike have found
themselves more and more flummoxed by a system that values assessment over
engagement, learning management over discovery, content over community,
outcomes over epiphanies." This quote makes me think of the
differences between EY, MY, HS and university experiences for students. In my EY school, I must say that we do a great job of focusing on engagement, community and discovery. In my son's Intro to Bio class last fall, his classes consisted of a video lesson that replayed every hour. We must remember to keep the joy in the learning experiences of all students.
I appreciated the thoughts shared in the article by
Postman. His ideas mainly resonated with me on a personal level, but it did make me think about how to better serve my students at school.
"Culture always pays a price for technology". When
I think of my two sons, currently aged 16 and 19, they had very different
experiences growing up. For my oldest son, Connor, he had very little
technology available to him so he often had buddies over to hang out in the
evenings or on the weekends. My younger son bought his own smartphone at
age 13. At this point, he pretty much
stopped hanging out “irl” with friends and all communication seemed to be done
on Snapchat. As for me, shopping trips to the mall with a
girlfriend are far and few between now.
With online shopping, I can “save time” by orderng everything I need
without getting off my couch. Let's not even talk about SkipTheDishes...
The analogy of the red food colouring used to explain how
technological change is ecological made me realize how true this is. We cannot turn back the clocks to how things
used to be and we must be mindful of the impact this change is having on us. Students are going to have cellphones, and they are going to bring them to school. We need to choose how to respond to this reality. The experiment that took place in this article https://www.macleans.ca/society/technology/should-schools-welcome-cell-phones/ would be an interesting one for more schools to try. I know that when I impose a temporary "family ban" on cellphone/technology (family nights, trips down south), my boys always comment on how much fun they had and are surprised that they "survived" without their phones, Netflix, etc... I firmly believe in the statement, “technology is not part of God’s plan… and that its capacity for good or evil rests entirely on human awareness of what it does for us and to us.” As educators, we must be able to put our personal views of technology aside and ensure that we teach our students the skills of digital citizenship and prepare them with the critical thinking skills needed for the 21st century so that they can “use technology rather than be used by it”. As I am currently in a K-4 school, I will need to put some thought into how to best sow the seeds in these young children. It is nice to know that there are resources out there https://savvycyberkids.org/ to help get us started.
Hello Brenda!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Postman's article as well. I really hope that it's not true that we can't turn the clock to a simpler time. But, we can turn our backs and use it less. I think there is a growing pushback of people who are tuning out.
Technological progress is really amazing in many ways, but we have paid the price socially. I hope for my children's sakes that we can find a balance again.
Great writing!
Sorry, forgot to say that this is Heather Mason
DeleteHi Heather,
DeleteThanks for the comment. The more that I read and learn about mental wellness for youth, the more I realize how we need to make sure we connect with our youth. I have recently (re)started a weekly "family game night" and after the first night, my boys were excited for the next one. Playing Monopoly for 3 hours with hubby and my 16 and 19 year old sons, without any tv/phone distractions was absolutely priceless. One step at a time to a "simpler time".
Hello, Brenda. I enjoyed reading your post and I agree with you on elementary schools in Canada "focusing on engagement, community and discovery". My daughter started her Grade 1 in Brandon last September. When I talked to her about her her first year in the school, I learned that it is quite different from what it is like in elementary schools in my home country, China. As I know, compared to focusing more on book knowledge and assignments, the elementary schools in Canada offer students more chances to be engaged in learning as well as to enjoy their childhood. I used to take part in an after-school activity called Pint Night with my daughter. Both the kids' highly engagement and excellent work gave me a very deep impression.
ReplyDeleteAnother view that I like in reading your post is "We cannot turn back the clocks to how things used to be and we must be mindful of the impact this change is having on us." As is pointed out in Postman's article, disadvantages do exist with the development of technology. What we need to do is not to get rid of the developed technology but to make the best of it in our teaching and to find solutions to the issues at the same time.