The Digital Natives Are Restless

Chapter 10, I found the case studies presented in this chapter to be particularly interesting as it deals with our pre-conceived ideas about literacy... in this case digital literacy. I was really interested in the findings and comparisons made between Shaun and Caitlyn in their case study, which led me to this reoccurring thought as it related to Caitlyn... Had the institution of learning killed her creativity? I ask that question because even in the interview session Caitlyn's mother had no real explanation for her ability to solve, make sense, and interact with meaningful text while at home on the computer, yet did Not do so at school. Furthermore, Caitlyn, whose mother was a teacher,  was able to surmise or discern what the school system valued as appropriate interactions with literacy / digital literacy that she could not or would not use her self taught creative strategies in a formal setting like school. While some of this assessment by me is built upon my own reasoning and comprehension skills and not direct interaction with the case study, it seems likely to me that in this case Caitlyn's strategies (self taught and unknown by her educator mother) were not valued and supported as authentic. This led me to include this TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson, if you have not watched this talk I highly recommend it! My quote for this chapter, "This suggests schooled constructions of literacy, and perhaps reading literacy in particular, caused considerable disruption for Caitlyn, as her own strategies to make sense of texts were perceived to be without value in the school system."(Levy, pg 160) There is so much more to say about these case studies and their findings as it relates to the students in our own classrooms year after year. I will end with this thought... If "teachers" would more readily recognize themselves as learners too, then the learning environment will change and each learner will be seen as a valued contributor to the learning process.






Chapter Eleven's Title pretty well said it all for me... Paulo Freire's, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" was the first thought that hit my mind, and while this chapter did not dig off into this ideology I did make a sort of connection in this chapter to the "natives vs immigrants" that we have been reading about all along. The overall underlying theme seemed to focus on "change" and what that generally means for different age learners, in that the natives seemingly embrace technology simply as a normal way of accomplishing a task, while the immigrants see technology as something that changes the way to perform a task. I offer this example... can you imagine yourself hand writing a countless number of entries into a large, roughly bound, ledger book in alphabetical order and tracking account details and tallies, while also needing to add new alphabetical entries with no extra space to do so.... Now do the same task with a digital spreadsheet... No comparison right? One allows for infinite editing which maintains complete alphabetical order and built in formulas to calculate. So, why then would an immigrant be fearful of changing to a tool that helps them do the task better? The quote comes in form of a paraphrased quote by Marx, "All to often people have tried to change education in various ways. The point, however, is to understand it, so we know what requires change, what is possible to change, how to change it, and with what effects for whom" (Bennett, Maton, pg 176). I include this TED Talk by Clint Smith as a glimpse into what that quote might mean in different context.





Chapter 12, the concluding chapter of what has been a book dedicated to dispelling the myth and trying to clarify what the term "digital Native" truly means. There have many Points of View offered and research backed findings to support a good working definition of the term, yet as with many of the fallacies that surround education dispelling the preconceived notions or ideologies is Not an easy task. A problem that really bugs me... teachers and educators should know better or at least constantly strive to make themselves better... what some would call mandated Professional Development (PD). The thought that makes the most sense to me... is that the goal of learning is constant, and if we want our students to become lifelong learners, then why would we, as teachers, not also be lifelong learners. Trying to stay one step ahead or allowing students to teach /guide you is just you recognizing that you too are a learner. I really like it when a student says, "I can show you a trick to do that better," which helps me, but really helps to support the overall class rule..."1. All are learners and All are teachers, we are in this together, so let's help one another." The quote helps to build upon the true definition, "...to allow a term to describe a subset of today's youth; the manners in which they relate to information, technology, and one another." (Palfrey & Gasser, pg 188). As a point of clarification I would add... and how they communicate with one another... to aid in the understanding of the term relate, this helps the reader to include texting, social media, snapchat, periscope, instagram, etc.... And while immigrants may see the interactions as different and maybe even judge them as not authentic, yet only because those interactions do not align with the immigrant's experiences of authentic interactions. The Natives are interacting on levels that have never been possible until now and those interactions are a way to prepare them for the interactions they will continue to have in the future, but they still need to learn how and so do the immigrants!






We are all Learners!