Youth and Technology in the Classroom

As Klopfer, Osterweil, Groff and Haas explain, "Children are establishing a relationship to knowledge gathering which is alien to their parents and teachers" (p.3). Throughout reading the three articles for class this week I frequently reverted back to thinking about the above quote. As an educator I want to be up to date with the technologies available and more specifically the ones that my students are utilizing. While learning from your students can be a unique opportunity, I want to be in-tune enough that I will not have to be learning the bulk of my technology knowledge from my students.

As the MacArthur Study explicates, youth respect one another's authority online, and they are often more motivated to learn from each other rather than from adults. I wonder if youth would be more motivated to learn from their teachers if their teachers had more knowledge surrounding technology and presented this knowledge within the classroom.

As an educator, incorporating technology into my classroom is a long terms goal for me. Instead of introducing many diverse tools at once, I would rather introduce them one at a time, once I have mastered them myself. Educators must know that without a doubt there will be problems along the way, but all lessons have the potential to encounter problems. I would feel extremely accomplished if my students respect my knowledge of technology and hopefully by integrating the technology my students use into my classroom will attain this goal.