I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I've never heard of the term Web 2.0 until now. The ability to create, share, communicate through the web is rather exciting. I do think it is important to give our students tools for the 21st century, one of the reasons I signed up for this course. It can be a part of the classroom, just not the main part, especially not the best part.
Our kids are bombarded with technology. In fact I think their brains are wired differently now because of all of the technology. Is this a good thing? I don't really know. It is rather sad that kids will have 8-12 jobs before they are 30. What ever happened to loyalty and sacrifice? Because of technology we've become an impatient society. We want everything immediately. We want answers to our text messages instantly, we want the score to not only one football game, but all football games, this second, and we want that special recipe for eggplant parmigiana for tonight's dinner. And if we don't get what we want fast enough, we walk away in search of some new way to find a little fulfillment. One of the best gifts we can give our students is patience. We have to read the novel through to the end to get the satisfaction of knowing the end. I love books. I love the feel of them, the smell of them (unless they've been locked in our moldy English book room all summer), and I love writing on them. I actually enjoy picking up a book, opening that first page, and creating a vision in my mind of the characters, the settings, the passions. This is another gift I hope to give my students. It will be a sad, sad day if we lose the ability to create mental images of the stories we read. We are already losing the ability to memorize, except for the letters on the keypad of our phones. Knowledge is a generous, life-long gift that we as educators give to our students. This gift still has value even if it is not wrapped in flashing paper with ribbons and bows that glow and talk.
Am I anti-technology? Of course not. For example, because of technology, I am able to "talk" to 76 of my peers. If I were in a room with all of you, I probably wouldn't say a word (I'm a little shy). However, because of technology, I can express my views (good or bad) and not feel quite so intimidated. I value technology, but like all things, I believe in balance. Technology should supplement our learning, not replace it.
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The choice of the word "balance" is so spot on. In the temple at Delphi the words "nothing to excess" were carved (they were carved in Greek, of course, so not those exact words . . .), and I think that applies to a great many things in our lives. Can we eat at McDonalds? Sure. Every night? Only if you want to die young. Can we always be online, at home, in all our classes, while driving? Not so much. Moderation is the key to a great many of the world's current problems, and that moderation includes things we both like and dislike.
ReplyDeleteI know you aren't a technophobe, I don't think any of us who signed up for the course are; but I do believe that we are looking for a way to ease technology into our classrooms in such a way that we don't wind up shackled to entertainment instead of exploring true education, which can still take place in a powerless room.
You are a woman after my own heart! I recognize the benefit of technology,in ours lives and our classrooms, but I grieve the future loss of the closest thing to a classical education we ever experience any more, the digestion of books, real, meaty books. The learning process, when it truly learning, involves all of the senses. Books, musty or new, wordy or illustrated, simple or complex engage our entire selves. I just don't know that a computer environment will ever be able to do that. My hope for the future is that there is an amiable balance between the two.
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