Following up on an earlier entry ... first of all, why are teachers so resistant to learning about technology? why do they insist that they can't learn it? why do they show the crappy learning behaviors (like sitting back and absorbing zilch and not requesting a more detailed or simplified explanation) that they so lament in their own students? WTF?
"People don't resist change, they resist being changed." - Peter Scholtes
Those who have not learned to continue to look for positive change will be more susceptible to having the changes made by others forced upon them.
Second point, but related-ish: the idea that students are somehow more capable of learning about and/or using technology is just wrong. Or that they're more WILLING to learn/use it. Absolute nonsense. Or else I've got classes full of mutants or something. They did a poetry project and I let them do the research online because I narrowed the parameters enough that they had to learn which sites were helpful and which were useless. (ha ha so there.)
Yikes! I mean, they don't know how to google effectively. They don't know about using plus or minus or putting phrases in quotes... they would just type their entire question into the search bar. They would absolutely insist that there was no difference between a word that was in italics and a word that was not. They are just as resistant to being changed as "digital immigrant" teachers. Again: wtf??
Spring Time
6 hours ago
2 comments:
I showed my students the differences in how they can search and the places where they can search for information, and they simply use Google without narrowing their topic or trying to use synonyms. Of course, then they complain that they can't find information. My students have recently done a project where using the databases our school subscribes to, such as Ebsco, would have been much more useful and effective, but they did not take my advice.
I've had to learn a lot of this stuff fairly recently, too. When I find more effective ways to find information on the Internet, I feel like my life has been CHANGED, and I use those tools and strategies. Why don't my students feel the same revelations? Is it the same ole lack of buy-in?
I think I (and other teachers) often assume someone has taught the students how to research effectively online simply because students use the internet so often. However, most of my students have not learned how to research effectively or how to use the internet responsibly. It seems as though parents and teachers both assume the other is teaching this.
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