You're Teaching With Digital Immigrants. It's OKAY.

You just helped someone down the hall find that link they bookmarked in Internet Explorer last week. Now, take a second to breathe... let out your frustration for now... good. Ready to do that again tomorrow? ;)

Most of the teachers in our schools are digital immigrants. Own that. Appreciate that diversity.

My sister, @jenbearden, made a post on her teaching blog Sunday about her struggle with being defined as a digital immigrant, but wanting to feel like a digital native because of her teaching practice and (positive) attitudes toward change and innovations.

"So like I said, I am somewhat of an Immigrant just because of my age, but that definition doesn’t ring true at all with how I think/believe/feel about myself, my students or learning in general.  I do think learning can and should be fun, I did spend my formative years learning with Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers and the Electric Company, and I am a MASTER at multi-tasking (i.e. learning while watching TV and/or listening to music–I’m doing it right now, actually).  Perhaps its like with any definition or rule, there’s always an exception.  And in this case, an exception is what I long to be.  "

She ended with this question: "So what do you think about the digital natives, digital immigrants and Web 2.0? Which are you? How does knowing about digital natives impact the way you teach and the way your students learn?"

Here was my comment re: digital natives:

As far as immigrants and natives – they are diametrically opposite; you cannot put the words together!  That’s cheating. You’re obviously a naturalized citizen of the digital world at this point (I think I skipped in as a digital native at like, the, you-were-born-in-a-US-embassy level, LOL), but you’re still an immigrant because of your ed experiences growing up. There was a period where you had to train yourself that it was “normal” to do all of your work and learning on a computer. I mean, I know your prior knowledge was above the level of the class, but I was in the living room when you were doing college homework learning the parts of a computer and how to use a mouse. 
You’re an immigrant, own it. It’s what makes this [digital] country so great.

The article that sparked her post was published by +Marc Prensky in 2001: "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants".  The definition comes down to this for me  - a digital native is one who grew up with digital technologies have a vein in every aspect of their socialization and learning; a digital immigrant is one who at some point had to adopt and assimilate something they had previously learned to digital mediums or methods.

If you weren't (at least) emailing, myspacing, or facebooking friends in high school, I don't think you're a digital native. AND THAT'S OKAY. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2008, there were 4.8 million K-12 teachers in US schools. So, there are least least A COUPLE MILLION teachers who are NOT digital natives.

What does that have to do with your colleague down the hall that can't attach a file to an email?

If you're a "naturalized" digital citizen, I'm sure you relate to this.

Just as there are varying identities that immigrants wear in the US (fully "Americanized," naturalized citizen vs maintaining all native language, culture, and customs), there are different identities of digital immigrants teaching in our schools. Here's what I've found - Once you expect that teachers in your building are at different degrees of tech integration and allow for them to develop appropriately, you and those you're helping will both feel more success.

Here are the principles I try to follow when designing and leading PD sessions for technology:

1. NEVER put all of the staff in one, one-size-fits-all session. The people in the middle of the curve will probably learn something, but at least a 1/3 of the group at the bottom and top of the curve will be bored/lost. Whenever possible break into developmental groups.
2. Celebrate (any) successes and new skills learned/new tool adopted. I have a teacher in my department who announced to me with a lot of pride last December that she had attached a file to an email without any help. Knowing how far she'd come, I was thrilled for her (and me.) :)
3. Pre-train a handfull of the early-adopters in your building so they can peer-tutor and maximize your training results during the larger session.
4. Provide mastery goals for implementation of the instructional strategy or technology tool. When we switched over to Google Apps in July 2012, for some of our staff in the district, learning how to rebuild the contact list in their new email from the old mail system was a huge undertaking. And truthfully, mastery of email really was the BASIC level of implementation required. For others, however, we've tried to model implementation levels for using Google Docs for classroom instruction, and even to the extent of students using Google Docs. 

Until people born in the early 80s begin retiring, we're going to have digital immigrants teaching digital natives in our schools. As long as they're making some kind of effort toward naturalization, its important to offer grace and patience in our efforts to train.

Just When I Thought I Wasn't (Comparatively) OLD.

There's much to write (and has been written) about how the exponential growth and expansion of technologies (and the internet) is creating micro-generations and expanding generation gaps between those.  As someone who my peers acknowledge as tech "being my thing," I've largely ignored and dismissed the idea as being applicable to myself.  Yes, being 27, my age group is on the edge of "growing up on the internet," but I've always been an early adopter.  Since I've grown right along with the internet, I did not fully remember the stark contrast of computing without it.


"Were there even computers before the internet?"


"Of course!  Don't you know they were invented in the 40s?  All kinds of computing was being done on computers before the internet.  People published papers and wrote books..."


"That's what typewriters are for..."


"Yeah, but what if you need more than one copy?  You'd have to type it all over again!"


"No, people would go get it Xeroxed."

Of course, I knew that business and then personal computers had revolutionized the way that people conducted business, designed, and published, but this student had already gotten me thinking.  When we went to the computer lab in elementary school, there was not much offered us beyond word processing, Oregon Trail, and (for gifted program kids) LOGO programming (which we didn't really understand).  How much less useful was the personal computer in the 80s?  The 90s?  How much money did individuals and corporations spend on software and utilities that had to be installed on individual machines that is now hosted online?  Just the fact that I even knew a life before being wired(less) was so natural gives me a completely different perspective on the internet and smart devices.

Think about it - do you even touch your computer when your internet connection is down?  Do we use unwired computers less because there is drastically less potential, or because we have been become dependent on web-based apps and file storage that we cannot access when unconnected?  How many lesson-planning resources do you use NOT online?

"I Have a Dream Because..."

I cannot bear the thought of self-righteous contentment.

When I started school at Townsend Elementary in the Hazelwood School District, every year to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr Day our teachers would have us write an essay with this title, presumably to enter into some regional or national contest. I hope there were different grade levels, because when a 1st grader tries to sit down writing about the dream of MLK, one of two things was bound to happen: (1) said 1st grader would probably write about the dream he had last week while snug in his bed about monsters, lollipops, dinosaurs, sports, or racecars, or (2) said 1st grader would go about plagerizing a report about Martin Luther King lifted primarily from the first encyclopedia he found at the library.

By the time I was in 4th grade, now at Commons Lane in Ferg-Flor, the MLK essays were gone, and instead our class did extensive (for 4th graders) poster board projects during February for Black History Month. Although our class was doing projects on a wide range of historical black figures, from politicians to athletes, to doctors and soldiers, I wound up with another project on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Beyond the photocopy of a picture the office secretary made for my poster, the only thing I really remember about my project is that my father made a point to note that I was doing "another Martin Luther King project." As a nine year old, my impression of "another MLK project" was that it was a perfectly natural thing to study yearly - the same way grade school students study the pilgrims every year. Looking back now as an adult, I still don't completely know what to make of my father's words.

Did they mean nothing?
Were they similar in rhetoric to the crowd that questions why there is not a "White History Month?"
Did he wish I could study a different black historical figure?

I guess I've spent fifteen years questioning my father's racial prejudices (or lack thereof). I noticed when we stopped going to some restaurants because "they weren't as clean anymore." I heard my mother say that a certain place was too "dark." On the other hand, I saw him build a new house in Florissant several years ago when it would have been easier to flee to O'Fallon or St. Peters like so many others this decade. Even the fact that we settled in North County in 1987 when we moved here instead of whiter, south county could account for something.

However, a man's questioning of his father and his youth is not what's really important today - its much too insignificant and of much too small a scale. Tomorrow morning at 11am Central Time, Barack Obama will be sworn in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building, looking back in the direction directly opposite where King gave his "I Have a Dream..." speech in 1963. I hope that the historical poetry of that is not lost on him tomorrow. But how did we get here, and why was this day so long in coming?

"We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Many people have evaluated the 2008 election and judged that Obama getting more than 90% of the black vote was his key to success. That is a true statement. Kind of. The significance, however, is not in what percentage of the votes he obtained, but in the number of votes he created. Democratic candidates have historically gotten about that percentage of the black vote in elections, so that is nothing new. The difference, I believe, is in the words from King's speech. The Voting Rights Act of 1964 guaranteed that "Negro in Mississippi" federal protection to vote, but perhaps that "Negro in New York" did not believe he had anything to vote for until 2008.

It's important, also, to not confuse the increase in voting from black communities with the mere presence of a black candidate. If merely inserting a black candidate onto the ballot were the answer, then the Rev. Jesse Jackson's efforts in the 1980s would have been more successful. I think the difference was Obama's ability to inspire. President-elect Obama was able to inspire the public's belief in vision and dreams similar to the way Dr. King inspired in the 50s and 60s. It's also worth noting that Obama and Dr. King both have also been criticized as radicals and socialists. The lessons of history also show that it is never the moderate who changes thoughts and actions, but the revolutionary, or the radical.

My final hope for President Obama is the same that King had for the civil rights movement. For so many buying into the hope that Obama represents, 2008 is not the end, but rather, the beginning.