Kids and Technology (2.3.12)

In class this past Friday, we got into a discussion (almost an argument, really)about kids' use of technology, and how much is appropriate. I, just like everyone else, have a number of opinions on how children should be using technology, but in this particular blog, we are discussing technology in the classroom. Do I think kids should have cell phones before high school? No. Do I think that kids should be on their gaming systems at home for hours and hours on end? No. But I'll have no control over that as a teacher; those are the parents' decisions to make. I know that in my classroom, technology will be used as a learning tool and a privilege. I think that an excessive use of technology is one of the reasons that we live in such an "I-want-it-and-I-want-it-now" society, and the younger generations are suffering from it even more than we are. I will use technology at the times that I feel it is appropriate in the classroom, and if I think that it will help the students to better understand a praticular concept (and I do have a number of ways planned in which I think that technology will be used in my room). However, kids aren't entitled too the use of technology. It is a privilege and I plan to treat it as such. I feel that in a music classroom, this is less of an issue, though. The best way to learn music is to dive right in and sing it (or play it, in other cases than my own), and technology can't replace that. We can listen to recordings (which I do plan to do), but the only way for the students to truly know their parts is to sing them themselves. In class, we mentioned ways to get the word out about performances. I think that there really shouldn't be a need for even more ways to remind students. I plan to give a list of performance dates at the beginning of the semester, post the dates online, give handouts, send emails,and remind the students in class. If they can't keep track of the performance dates with all of those resources, then that is beyond me at that point. I will be a music teacher, not a babysitter. I will give them all of the resources to find the information that they need, but if their excuse for missing a concert is "It wasn't on my Twitter page," then the fault is theirs, and they need to learn that the real world doesn't revolve around their Twitter account. As a teacher I think it is my respnsibility to help prepare students for the next stages of their lives, and handing them all of the information on my class via their personal social networking accounts doesn't do that. If we had and extra even or something over the summer, then I would be willing to maybe dive into those other ways of communication, but for the regular school year, I just think that it's unnecessary. Maybe that's an old fashioned view, and I do plan to keep an open mind, but as of right now, that's the way I plan to run my classroom.