The Digital Generation

The Digital Generation

     I am part of the digital generation even though I don't understand all that technology has to offer. The extent on my technology use is as follows; I have a smart phone, I text, I video chat, I now blog, I use social networking, and I can use Microsoft Office and PowerPoint effectively. I hope to become more technology savvy before I have my first teaching position so I can better equip my students to learn. 

     When I looked at the youth portraits in edutopia I was in awe of the technology they engage in and understand! There is an eleven year old, Cameron, who is a video producer! Comparatively, I know the bare minimum on how to use a video recorder. Half of the students in the youth portraits participate in gaming. I haven't played a game since fourth grade when my parents gave me Roller Coaster Tycoon, which I really enjoyed because I got to create my own amusement park and watch it become a successful business. I also remember playing JumpStart games that helped me learn how to add, subtract, multiply  etc.Two of the youth in the portraits use technology to express themselves through graphic designing and animation. Incorporating multiple ways for students to express themselves in a classroom would be ideal. I really like how Virginia would take time to educate younger students on technology safety because some people they play games or chat with might not have good intentions and it is important to make children aware of that.

     I think a majority of my peers have a broader range of technology skills than myself because I choose to engage minimally with technology. Many of my friends are bloggers which I just started because it is required for a class. There is only one school aged child I interact with well enough to understand how much they use technology, and she is a nine years old. Once when I was babysitting her she was working on putting together a PowerPoint on Martin Luther King Jr. She had pictures inserted into the PowerPoint and different colored text. I thought how incredible it was that she was learning how to use this technology at such a young age. I didn't learn how to put a PowerPoint together until I was a sophomore in college. 

     After watching the Digital Generation videos I realized I have a lot to learn before I enter a classroom! I believe in using technology to help students learn and engage in exciting activities but in order for me to succeed in doing that I have to learn how use these technologies. I would define 21st century learning tools as technology integration into the classroom. When I was observing a kindergarten classroom one of the learning centers was a row of computers. The students would log on and get started with the reading/ math games. I was shocked to see these five year old students maneuvering their way on a computer.

      In the video a saw a quick blur of a student using a program on the computer to create a comic strip. I would love to use something like this in my classroom! When I was in middle school I had to complete a book project where I compiled all of my years work into a book. My least favorite part was illustrating it. If students don't like drawing or are timid to try it, using the computer to create images would be very useful. My mom was telling me about this math teacher who participated in 360 math. Her classroom had white boards on all the walls. Instead of having students learn math at their desks and not knowing what they were writing/ understanding she had all her students stand around the room and write on the white board. This was a brilliant idea to keep her students engaged. I would like my students to be interactive in the class and I think one way to do this by having a smart board. Students are drawn to technology and are more interested in participating when technology is present. I would try to have kindles, tablets, and computers in my classroom and have them available for student use. 

Teacher in Training?

     As people we are constantly learning about things around us or the things forced upon us. The more I learn about the social injustices of our world the more I doubt what I am called to do. I love children. Children accept those around them, make connections to their world that are original and refreshing for me to hear, and children have a sense of adventure I hope to reconnect with. Children are the most important people in this world because everyone was once a child who was invested in or someone who should have been invested in.  

     In my music class textbook Integrating the Arts Across the Elementary School Curriculum by R. Phyllis Gelineau I found a passage that speaks to my heart- "As a teacher, I possess a power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized." I want to be the teacher that invests in her students and make them feel valued and important even if no one else ever has. My heart is in urban education. I want to work in poverty stricken communities such as Over-the-Rhine. I want my classroom to be a safe and fun place where children know they can accomplish their dreams.

     Over the summer I read a book called The White Umbrella by Mary Frances Bowley which changed my career direction. As much as I love children I believe I am meant to work with a different population of people. The White Umbrella addresses the issues of sex trafficking in our country. My heart was overwhelmed by the information this book contained. Here is how the book starts off: "You hear terms, sex trafficking, human trafficking, sex trade, sexual slavery. If you think about it at all, you figure it's something that goes on in places like India, Cambodia, Russia, and Latin America. Not anywhere close to home. Not here. Sadly, you are wrong. The FBI reports that in the United States, the number of children, usually girls, who are forced to do someone's sexual bidding is well over 100,000 a year. The age range is nine to nineteen. The average is just 11 years old. Some of these kids are runaways and some are abandoned. Many other's come from "good" homes. They are victims of cruel and clever predators who know just what to offer- the appearance of friendship, a listening ear, the promise of love or money or a new life. Some girls are even lured from their own driveways." 

     When I was reading this book over the summer I found myself putting it down only after I read a few pages because the content was so heavy on my soul. The White Umbrella is an "easy" read considering the other books that deal with human trafficking in our world. However, at times when I was reading this book I felt like I could not breathe. After being introduced to this book I got plugged in with an international organization dedicated to rescuing women from a life of sex trafficking. This company is called Better Way Imports and they work to educate, provide health care, and teach these women a skill that they can use to make a living for themselves and their children. This company employees 500 women from all over the world that were victims of sex trafficking. My mom and I were moved by this companies ambitions that we decided to get involved. My mom and I now go around our community educating people about the horrors of human trafficking and offer others the opportunity to get involved. 

     After reading The White Umbrella I have decided to go to grad school for counseling with a specialization in counseling victims of sex trafficking. I know this program and the profession itself will be the hardest thing I will ever experience but I also think it will be the most rewarding for me personally.