Double Entry Journal #1

Quote: "Simply put, we can’t keep preparing students for a world that doesn’t exist. We can’t keep ignoring the formidable cognitive skills they’re developing on their own. And above all, we must stop disparaging digital prowess just because some of us over 40 don’t happen to possess it. An institutional grudge match with the young can sabotage an entire culture."


Reaction: I could not agree more with this particular quote. I have had many teachers that have been in the field for 25 years or more and that refuse to even try and get in to or keep up with the digital age. It is a constant battle because these teachers just want to continue to do things the way they have always been done instead of trying to adjust to the way that students growing up in today's world learn and achieve. While I understand that sometimes it is necessary to use methods such as lecturing to teach a lesson, I think it is a great crime to students not to take advantage of all of the new technologies that could be used to make learning more personal and likeable for each student. Students are capable of doing a lot more and learning a lot more than what they are given credit for. I think that if they are given the opportunity to use the technologies that they've grown up with and enjoy having, then students will become much more engaged and ultimately achieve more in school.




Reference:
Heffernan, Virginia. (2011, August 7). Education needs a digital-age upgrade. The New York Times , Retrieved from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/education-needs-a-digital-age-upgrade/?hp


Related Resources: Throughout the article, Heffernan refers to the "institutional grudge match" that is occuring between students and educators. The article Upgrading Schools for A Digital World by John Florez talks more about why the education system needs to catch up with the digital age that we live in.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700170486/Upgrading-schools-for-a-digital-world.html

About Me

My name is Sarah Queen. I am from Clarksburg, WV and I am a Secondary English Education major. I would like to teach high school level English, especially at the 11th and 12th grade levels. I think that students learn best in an interactive and hands on environment. No student wants to be lectured for an hour on something they do not yet comprehend, but if you involve them in their own learning they are much more likely to be interested and understand what you're trying to teach them. Instead of lecturing students on different types of poetry, I'd have them write their own and then do research to discover what type of poetry they wrote, whether it be Haiku or Sestina.