Week+6

This week I have conducted our survey in my classroom and am interested in some of the results. One key finding is that my students are not as computer savvy as the media claims them to be. They spend a large amount of their time on the computer talking to friends or updating web pages. There was little evidence that they were gaining information other than current events of their friends. In our small school at McKinley, we have started a book study on an interesting new non-fiction by Kelly Gallagher called "Readicide." The content of the book concerns itself with the overwhelming data that the nation's adolescence are developing to be non-readers (not illiterate, but uninterested). It claims that not only is the art of reading for pleasure disappearing, but it seems that one of the main culprits of this trend--besides the media and poor parenting--is the teacher. I believe there is a connection to be made between the students' questionable comfort with technology and their lack of reading--namely the development creativity. I know that in my class I have oftentimes trimmed creativity from my lesson because of time restraints and standards. Perhaps students are not interested in the over-abundance of information or the possibilities of technology because they are not used to what I'll call difficult pleasures. They may not understand that putting a lot of time and skill into something will result in deeper satisfaction or appreciation. Other results of the survey were that our students are not using technology as often as thought and that they need more exposure to different, and innovative, technology. The biggest difficulty a teacher who wants to incorporate this technology is the how-to.