" Digital Natives: Navigating Literate Worlds "

Chapter 10

“ Technology has always been a part of literacy.” ….” (The) nature of that technology inevitable influences the literacy experience.”- Marsh and Singleton

I often have to stop and remind myself to be more open minded when thinking of the word technology. Like the book mentions, paper and pencil was once thought of as being technologically advanced. I feel that educators are getting too worked up about trying to incorporate technology into their teaching practices. One simply needs to try it out. Technology has always been apart of teaching practices just different kinds of technology.

Chapter 11

“Much of the debate over digital natives can be understood as an academic form of a “moral panic.”

This cracks me up. Moral panic? The use of technology by a user is no reason for any panic, this is just ridiculous. Yes, our society has changed and will continue to do so, but digital natives are not to blame. Several aspects of our lives in the 21^st century have changed society, as a whole’s, norms and values. Life goes on, what is acceptable today by the masses may not be 10 years from now.

Chapter 12

…” Some young people are not just consumers of information, but in some cases they are also creators of information.”

I love this quote, maybe one of my favorites from this book. I feel this quote represents my generation well. We are a generation of inventors, we like to manipulate, create, and mold our own realities.

Schooling and Technology

“ Ultimately it is well-founded transparent empirical research that promises to provide the best guidance for how education should occur rather than unsubstantiated or unclearly evidence claims.”- Bennett and Maton. I feel that educators yes should be responsible for developing student’s digital literacies, but I think that a one size fits all educational approach is wrong. Like chapter 10 mentions everyone’s pre- school experiences with technology, and even how they interact with it is different.

“Policy makers and educators need to be mindful of diversity within the student body and wary of generalizations about technology skills that have the potential to do significant harm if they cause the diversity to be overlooked.”- Bennett and Maton.

The needs of the students needs to be the number one priority.

We as educators need to be careful when asking our students to use technology in the classroom for assignments and assume that everyone knows how to use them properly. Not everyone has been exposed to all types of technologies needed to complete even the simplest assignments.