Dont Be Care Less

As a high school English teacher, I work mainly with seniors.  Many of these young folks are in danger of not graduating, so I often find reason to sit down and speak with them about their grades. Today I was counseling a young woman who is currently failing four of her classes.  I asked her why she felt she was failing so many classes.  "I think it is because I am careless," she told me.  "Hmm," I replied, "that's an interesting comment.  What do you mean by that?"  "Well," she said, "I could really care less."  Needless to say, it immediately became evident why she was doing so poorly in her classes.

Her attitude, however, made me consider the fact that many of my colleagues have a "care less" attitude about the new literacies that our children are exposed to and they refuse to integrate any kind of technology into their classrooms.  I have often heard the old refrain, "This is how I learned, so it's fine for today's kids."  Hence, the old lecture and take notes routine continues in countless classrooms.  The difference, one may quickly note, is that today's students do not live in the same world we lived in ten, twenty, or thirty years ago.  Today's student is exposed to an ever increasing number of visual images, electronic data, and opportunities to communicate via technology.  They are inundated with so many forms of visual communique that to ignore their need to navigate in such a world is,at worst, harmful and at best, negligent.

Perhaps the reason so many of today's teachers are so unwilling to integrate technology into their classrooms is that we are "digital immigrants" rather than "digital natives."  The children of today are born with one thumb in their mouth and the other typing on a keyboard.  It is impossible to even begin to catch up to the information they already have in regard to technology.  The minute these young houligans step foot in our classroom they are eons ahead of us in technological knowledge.  Many of us are new to this land of technology and, like any immigrant, we have much to learn before we can comfortably navigate our new world.

So, what's an oldtimer to do?  Well, interestingly, this dilemma provides a most amazing opportunity.  We are to be brave enough to learn from our students.  Ask them to show you their iPod and then go out and get one of your own and download the latest Lady Gaga song.  Challenge them to show you a new way to do a book report using only technology and they will astound you.  Take a class on utilizing Smartboards or ask a computer nerd to show you how to incorporate digital storytelling into your classroom.  Granted, there may be a very large learning curve, but isn't it exciting to consider the prospect of learning right along side of our students?  No need to worry, you can still be the "sage on the stage" because you will always have information to share with these enthusiastic young minds.  But consider the possibilitites if we invite our students to teach us and we respond as the enthusiastic learner we hope they will be. 

It is easy to opt for an attitude of care-less-ness, but such an attitude does not benefit us or our students.  We must care, always, about the needs of our students, and we must rise to the challenge of educating ourselves in a world that offers technological opportunities not only to our students, but to us as well.