Michael Wesch put together a provocative video collage highlighting what college students are today. They learn to cook and play guitar on You Tube. Wesch quotes that they spend over half of their waking lives with media; they have spent an average of 5,000 hours reading, but 10,000 hours playing video games and 20,000 hours watching TV, email, Internet games and cell phones. He paints a dismal picture of classrooms as a place where students text during class, check their Facebook page, and guess at what the teacher wants them to say. He says most college students don't know what they want to do and that they are academically adrift. Wesch is pushing for change. He quotes students in the video saying that traditional education need to die.
What does this mean for my future classroom? How am I going to convince kids that the mathematics we are doing in my class will benefit their future? It seems that I have to find a way to bring media into the classroom. I have to appeal to my students' interests and try to prepare them for a world that I am not familiar with. Can I call myself a teacher? You Tube is the teacher. We are apart of a new culture where everyone has a voice, everyone wants to share something, and we are all looking for the next video clip or tweet that will grab our attention for 4 seconds. What do I have to offer my students?
What does this mean for my future classroom? How am I going to convince kids that the mathematics we are doing in my class will benefit their future? It seems that I have to find a way to bring media into the classroom. I have to appeal to my students' interests and try to prepare them for a world that I am not familiar with. Can I call myself a teacher? You Tube is the teacher. We are apart of a new culture where everyone has a voice, everyone wants to share something, and we are all looking for the next video clip or tweet that will grab our attention for 4 seconds. What do I have to offer my students?