Middle Schoolers Rock Technology
By Molly Kaz
(Technology) is the way they communicate, the way they explore, and has been proven highly effective as a way they learn.
I was put in my place by a twelve year old, smart talking, middle school girl, who actually opened my eyes up to a lot of cool internet sites. Now one may argue, they probably just learned what those sites were from school. The teachers taught them. Thats how they know how to work so well with the internet. However, this idea can be completely shut down when I say that the sites she used were not ones she learned from the school system. In fact, the sites she showed me were actually ways to get around the school system.
The first site she showed me was a specific site she used to text during class. She went on the site when her class was using computers, and used it to text with her friends. She also showed me her Minecraft board, which she describes as a "game where you can create anything". I knew about Minecraft. A lot of kids at my day camp played it. However, I had no idea how much time it took to build something. And the amount of objects she had built! I was astounded.
Middle school students aren't going to stop using technology anytime soon. It is the way they communicate, the way they explore, and has been proven highly effective as a way they learn. I personally think teaching a tech savvy generation will be great. I won't have to explain how to use technological tools to them because they probably already know how to. I plan to incorporate technology a lot in my classroom. I would like to use it to teach, but what I want most is to use it to keep my students informed. I want to use technology as a way to make sure that we are on all on the same page with announcements, homework, and other various housekeeping tasks. Technology will be used to keep my students informed. I look forward to making use of it in my middle school classroom.