Week 2: Generation Edge?

I find myself approaching generation-based assumptions with a great deal of skepticism, probably because I know so many people who just do not fit the labels ascribed to their cohorts.  With that having been said, however, I have recognized over the years some of these trends in my own high school students (who have all been Millennials).  Students today have lower tolerance for long processes and are much more demanding of why specific content is important to them.  We used to say that students would check out any day when the dog and pony show did not show up--today I suppose the dogs and ponies better come in HD and Dolby 5.1 with co-op online multiplayer.

I have not worked with any kids from Generation Edge in a classroom context, but all my nieces and nephews fall into this group.  I find sweeping assumptions about them to be premature, but it seems reasonable for some of the trends having affected Millennials to continue and perhaps to intensify.  Using Prensky’s terminology, Digital Natives will be at the forefront of early adoption and  assimilate new technologies into their everyday lives quickly and as seamlessly as possible.  What I just said marks me a Digital Immigrant--not exactly a Luddite, but my penchant for historical research in dusty tomes supersedes my “need” to replace anything technological before it actually dies.  My husband and I have smart phones as well as a painstakingly rewired rotary telephone (which still functions just fine on our fiber optic phone service).

Prensky lost me when he launched into the discussion of methodology and content.  Prensky’s “legacy” content versus “future” content struck a nerve.  One can neither teach nor learn any of the fields listed by Prensky--”ethics, politics, sociology, languages…”--without “legacy” content.    His distinction is specious.  If this is an issue of theory and application, that has nothing to do with a past/future divide.  Also, the term “edutainment” makes me cringe, as does the idea that everything could or should be a video game.  My local school district, Fairfax, VA, (mentioned in the Unit 1 Conclusion) uses digital textbooks, pays for Blackboard, and pretends that every family has enough online computers at home for every child to do his/her homework simultaneously.  All the online content, no matter how accessible or relevant, makes no difference as long as computers are toys and not tools.  Being “tech savvy” does not amount to much if it means that students can send record numbers of texts each day but cannot tell the difference between a browser and a website

Much of the content in the videos has almost become conventional wisdom here in the DC-Metro Area.  Our hands are tied by the dual realities of trying to prepare students for jobs that do not yet exist while pushing content instead of skills.  Meeting students on their own terms makes sense.  One of the most important principles I learned as a beginning teacher was that we teach students, not content-area subjects.  

Greetings!

Hello, My Name Is Rebecca Walker

My husband and I live in Herndon, VA, which is in the DC metro area.  Our house, described by others as a money pit, consumes much of our energy and most of our disposable income.  I generally think of it as just not ready for primetime, but we do discourage visitors with young children for their own safety.  We share the construction zone with our American bulldog and two tabby cats, one of whom is parked next to me sleeping in her hair-chair at this moment.

I earned my BSBA at the University of South Carolina, where I majored in economics.  My first master’s degree was an MAT from Winthrop University, and most recently I earned an MA in American History at George Mason.  Up until the present year, I had spent 11 years teaching high school--primarily AP Economics and world history.  In thinking about professional longevity, what I really want to do is move beyond the classroom into a school media specialist position.  

This is my 5th term in the MLIS program at Wayne State.  I'm hoping to complete my course of study at the end of the summer.  This has not been made any easier by my having been eaten by a dog on my wedding anniversary, two days before Christmas.  I have been dealing with a left-handed life since then, but my broken right arm is coming along (or so the orthopaedic surgeon says).