Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Cameron!
After watching the video about 11 year old Cameron, first of all, he is a stud! It's unreal even how much kids in a younger generation know so much about technology when I myself though I knew a lot. He seems like a very busy kid and its amazing he has time to do all that he does. Being a dance teacher I am around kids Cameron's age nearly everyday and it's amazing the things they have when it comes to technology. I have students that have cooler ipods and phones than I do. All my students, of every age it seems, have a facebook account with more friends than I have. It's a bit unreal how much technology is available to children now days. Cameron seems to use his knowledge of technology in a benecifal way not just for social networking but for education and for helping others as well. His technology habbits are also there to help him improve himself. If more students like Cameron could find a way to use their technology as more of an education purpose versus an social network they might be better off. I would love to be able to use videos such as the ones Cameron has created in order to give kids in my classroom a different outlook on subjects they are learning, especially math. Because the generation I will be teaching is so wrapped up in technology they will be more intuned to learning something via facebook than reading it out of a book. I believe the new style of teaching through technology is amazing, if done correctly. Our times have changed, there for the ways of learning must change too.
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My favorite quotation from your post was, "If more students like Cameron could find a way to use their technology as more of an education purpose versus an social network they might be better off." That is exactly right! I think we have an obligation as teachers, parents, and responsible adults in our communities to help students learn constructive ways to create and share digital media. Cameron is a great example of this, as you point out. This is a big motivation behind the Storychasers nonprofit I'v helped start here in Oklahoma.
ReplyDeleteIt is also to keep in mind that as students read and write with greater frequency when they are on social networks, this can have positive impacts on their literacy skills. Sometimes we just hear and read headlines like, "Isn't it horrible kids are losing handwriting skills," or "Isn't it bad kids use abbreviations when they send text messages." It's important we help students learn how to communicate appropriate for different contexts. Overall, I think the increase in social media use is a good thing for communication and literacy skills, and there is research "out there" which supports that contention. The April 2008 PEW Research Report "Writing, Technology and Teens" is one example.