Response to Frontline Video

The Frontline video opened my eyes to so many things that I did not think of before. In the light of all of the new technologies that our students are exposed to, it forces teachers to be entertainers. We have to capture their attention by using different technologies in our classroom. Our students are used to getting things right away, having immediate feedback. With a traditional teaching approach, students are not always getting responses right away. They have to practice in order to learn different things and they have to be patient when they are trying to learn. This becomes frustrating for students and we as teachers need to use the technology to help our students learn more effectively. This video also opened up my eyes to the idea of cheating. For example, in the video the students said that the majority of students use “Spark notes” instead of reading the actual book. This has to be considered in our classroom because we have to reevaluate what is considered cheating in our classroom. We have to ask ourselves how we are going to discourage this cheating.

Another issue that we have to take into consideration in our classroom is that most of our students are part of the social networking websites. These websites provide these students with the opportunity to create their social identity. This should be considered in our classroom because now we do not only have to worry about physical bullying but we also have to worry about cyber bullying through these social networking websites. As teachers we have a responsibility to teach our students about safety and how to use technology responsibly. We have to consider this as part of our classroom management plan, so that we can help our students learn good social skills, whether it be one-on-one social situations or online social situations.

I thought that I was part of the technology generation but after watching this video I realize what some of my students will be dealing with, due to the technology that is part of their lives. I never considered the different technologies to use in our classroom because I was not taught that way. I learned from this video that there is always going to be a significant generation gap due to technology. Students will always view me as the technology “dinosaur,” I think in my classroom I will be able to use this to my advantage. I will use this gap to help students feel empowered in my classroom. To some extent these students can teach me about technology while I teach them other needed skills. Some of the things that I will due differently in my classroom is incorporate a lot of different technologies in my classroom. For example, as an addition to their learning in the classroom I will have different computer programs that helps the students with different skills such as math. They will be able to get immediate feedback for their work. I will change some of my teaching by teaching students about “good cyber citizenship.” I will teach my students how to behave appropriately on line as well as on the play ground. I think that technology is very beneficial for my students and I intend on making it part of my future classroom.