W4 Mark Prensky

 W4 Marc Prensky

💻

In Prensky's videos, I learned what a digital native, a person who has grown up in only the timeline of the internet, and a digital immigrant, a person who has grown up with two timelines- one being in the time of the internet, and one timeline coming before that, one with corded phones and letters. In my opinion, Prensky has done a good job of generalizing the different sides of the 'digital divide.' I feel I belong to the digital natives group - though I may not know as much as other kids my age - I definitely grew up around Tech. The digital divide's impacting education because we have digital immigrant educators and parents who try to restrict technology as a learning tool, and students and children who have grown up using it as a foundation for their learning, communications, and ways of life. We need to embrace these young learners and their interests for learning. Prensky brought up many interesting points; one being that we need to let students show us how they want to be taught using technology, another being that we greatly under estimate what students and young people are capable of. Tech is important in the art room, it allows us to understand, experience, and utilize new forms of creativity. Also, it gives us the chance, as educators, to teach kids how to navigate tech and how to evaluate what forms of it are good sources and tools to use. I will use these methods in my own classroom, as well as find inspiration from new media artists, teaching my kids safe software to use, and make new kids of art. 

"A Better Way to Home-Educate your Kids during this Time," 

( https://thriveglobal.com/stories/for-all-parents-a-better-way-to-home-educate-your-kids-during-coronavirus-time/ )

Prensky delivers points about a new perspective for both parents and educators as well as students nd children - discussing how this is a time of great stress for both parties and its crucial to allow children to explore their newly discovered paths of interests, ones blocked before by school itself, in order for them to learn independently and decrease their stress. This method has a classroom impact by making way for a new kind of learning that most kids have not experienced or had access to before, it will change how we teach kids both at home and in the classroom. I chose this article because education during covid, especially for young learners has been increasingly difficult. I have seen it drive wedges between families, lead to tears of teachers, and cause young people to suffer and isolate. This is an extremely pressing issue, especially right now. 

"What the World Needs from Education,"

( https://marcprensky.medium.com/what-the-world-needs-from-education-b7cef2f69b2e )

Over the past few decades, especially recently, kids' capabilities and forms of communication are expanding exponentially with no end in sight. Instead of looking at this as a form of addiction or restricting these kids from their devices and technology, we need to start embracing the idea of NEW as parents and teachers, and connecting the idea of these digital native kids as people who are the first to be a part of symbiosis with technology. They are the first generation to be doing this, and as their adult guides, we need to keep up by not only learning aside them but also taking these kids in educational directions that they want to go in. I chose to read this article above the others due to the title. Knowing Marc Prensky as an respected educator in technology, I wanted to know what he though education needs before I start teaching next year, so I may implement these ideas in my own room.