Fish in water…

Students today live in a world where technology is everywhere.  They grab a digital camera or mobile phone to take pictures, then Bluetooth these pictures to their laptops or PODs (Personal Owned Devices), then upload them to their blogs or FaceBook or MySpace.  To communicate, they invite comments from their friends online, e-mail or Direct Message, Instant Message or Twitter or MSN their family and friends, (that is when they are not developing repetitive strain injury (RSI) in their thumbs due to texting all the time).  They learn how to  cook using a microwave oven.  They find information via the internet by reading online newspapers or Wikipedia, or more likely, they may just pose the question to their Personal Learning Network (PLN) across the world via a forum like Twitter, and within seconds, they will have information flowing back at them: True brainstorming, true synergy!  By combining all the little bits of information, they are able to form a big picture of global proportions, as their picture was made up of bits of information from all over the world.  For quiet relaxation, you can find them listening to music on an iPod.  For a more action packed relaxation period, they may choose to play with Wii or go for video-gaming on Playstations or an X-Box.  You may say that they are like a fish swimming in water, when it comes to using technology…

… And for a fish, water is invisible.  So it stands to reason that for young people in first world countries across the globe, technology is invisible.  They just use it as part of their everyday life, it is not even

Then they enter school.  Unfortunately, in some schools, there are very little use of technology. We see these kids flop around like fish on dry land, and we wonder why they seem so lost.  They wander from class to class, are told to put their mobile phones and iPods away, and do not have access to their PLN.  And yet, we want them to learn and be relaxed at school.

Are our expectations realistic, or just cruel?  Are we taking their oxygen away if we do not allow them access to technology in school?  There is another old fish saying: If you want to feed someone, you have two choices: You can either catch him a fish every day, and then he will have fish for every day you cath him the fish (i.e. he will be okay when you are around to feed him)…  Or, you can teach him how to fish, and he will have food forever.  This is the true secret of independence: Being able to fish for yourself.

So, as teachers, we need to stop standing on the shore.  We need to get our feet wet, get in deeper until we don not touch the ground anymore, and swim with our students.  Be assured: When it comes to technology, our students will be able to keep us afloat if we let them they can be our teachers and we can be their students.  We do not have to be able to use every new gadget of know about all the software applications, our students will teach us these things.  But we need to be in there with them, because it is only when we meet them in their world, that we can have an influence over where and how they will swim in the future. And with all the sharks lurking in the ocean, we should get in there quick, so we can prevent our young guppies from swimming with the sharks, just in case those sharks do not think fish are friends.

Note: This blog entry is a copy of an entry on my other blog:  http://me.edu.au/b/Maryna_Badenhorst/entry/fish_in_water

Note: For another copy of this blog entry – please see my other  blog:

http://me.edu.au/b/Maryna_Badenhorst/entry/fish_in_water

Maryna Badenhorst