Erika’s posterous

Teaching is a challenge. Even more now in the 21st century when we have technology around. Students these days learn a lot using all kinds of tech devices we can possibly imagine! They are digital natives and also digital learners.They need attention so they want their teachers to engage them the way they feel familiar with: using digital resources. They learn at home, at school, on the streets, at the mall, in the car...wherever they are because they carry those portable video games, cellphones, laptops, iphones, idpods and others. Anytime is a good time for learning even because they receive lots of information and visual messages everywhere and all the time. In different words we can surely say they learn using the WWW: whatever, whenever and wherever. Students expect from teachers the freedom to create and build their knowledge sharing with each other. They don´t want to receive information anymore, they can´t sit down inside a classroom for hours just listening. In fact they don´t listen at all. They want the teacher to be a facilitator not a chatterbox that stands in front of the classroom talking over and over.

I really want to learn how to use the WWW to reach my students, to interact and to learn from them. I know my curriculum doesn´t provide so much tech-richness as a digital immigrant that I am, but I believe I´m trying hard and having some progress not only taking this course but also raising a digital native. It´s amazing to reflect about something we see every day but we don´t stop and pay close attention to it. At least so far, because these two videos have changed my way of looking at the students and the learning process. It´s like my mind is getting wide open for possibilities and opportunities that were there before but I simply couldn´t see them and now I see myself wearing the glasses of the 21st century to keep going. And then I can suddenly notice that I should use much more the WWW to teach my students than I do. Following this path it´s possible to turn our 21st century classroom into learning engines and there is not the necessity to have a hard time acquiring knowledge, it´s going to be a pleasant and interesting journey. You reach the students, they feel you can understand them. They trust you. The learning process becomes meaninful.

I believe that changing behavior, taking risks and learning from them are three important items to consider when the point is engaging them. I try to engage my students searching for news and for things they are interested in, using the computer, songs, pieces of movies....but I´ve never thought about using cellphones or even their ipods in class. WOW!

Maybe my main barrier to incorporate technology in my classroom is not having enough knowledge and bright ideas to explore tech tools the way I wish. But I´m sure that after this course I´ll be able to do it successfully!