Vision of Students Today

Both videos show that technology is growing rapidly, and many of the hobbies students do today are not the same as their parents. For instance, students spend several hours a week going on Facebook, blogging, talking on their cell phone, and listening to their ipods. And they do these things while they are studying or doing homework. Students are spending more time on the internet than reading a book. Also students in the first video admit that they buy textbooks they never read, teachers don't know their name, and students don't come to class. These statistics shows that technology is changing, and they need to be used in the classroom. Students are learning differently than they were 40 years ago, but teachers are using the same methods of teaching. Therefore, I believe that students are not striving to meet their full potential.

I believe it is my responsibility to be an agent of change in the classroom to meet student expectations. I admit that I myself fall asleep in class when the teacher lectures for 50 minutes and does not actively engage students in their lesson. I believe that it is my responsibility to keep my students interested in the subject, and one way is to relate to them. Many students learn by doing, so I should have them actively inolved in the classroom rather than passively sitting while I lecture. When I was in high school, calculators enhanced my understanding of different functions by representing them in different ways: graph and table. I know this technology was not around when my calc teacher was in school, but my teacher encouraged us to learn additional features of the graphing calculator on our own. One of the videos states that many students will have jobs that don't exist yet. I feel the same way about educational technology. I will be using things in my classroom that have not been invented. Since students spend a lot of time on the internet, I think it would be beneficial to have a clas website. If a student is sick one day and misses class, they can see what they missed on the website. Also, I can put up links to other interactive websites related to the lesson. Then students can view these websites to enhance their learning. Technology is a great way for teachers to relate to and communicate with their students.