I found the reading entitled, "Parenting: The Lost Art" by Kay S. Hymowitz to be the most disheartening of the articles assigned to read. Because most teachers/administrators involved with Catholic education emphasize the importance of a partnership with parents in educating youth, this cannot happen when parents take on a passive role and leave the job of education entirely in the hands of the teacher. Granted, children today are native speakers of the digital language; whereas, parents are digital immigrants which might be one reason for the passivity of parents today. Children's brains are wirede differently than their parents. Do they truly understand the best way(s) to help their child be as successful as possible? On a personal note, I have had children who struggle with math and when I had the need to contact a parent to inform them of their child's difficulty, their response was that they could no longer help their child as they did not understand the math themselves. This was 6th grade math. I was never sure if that was a true statement or becuase parents sre so busy today trying to manage work as well as a family that it is easier to break the "partnership" and put the full responsibility to the classroom teacher. This has been a problem for a number of years and appears to become more prevalent each year.
The article I found to be most interesting was "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" by Marc Prensky. As educators, the need to change methodology to reach the digital natives is of utmost importance. Being in Catholic education for 25 years, I have found a need to always be changing with the times when it comes to working with youth. The biggest challenge has always been interacting with students to keep them focused and understanding curriculum. Now, being in the position of administrator, I felt the need to jump into the 21st century with updating technology by installing SmartBoards in all classrooms, K - 8. This has made a huge difference in the presentation of lessons plus the interaction of students with the lesson being taught. The interactive boards facilitate student participation through the ability to interact with materials on the board. Lessons can be called back up from a home computer for review or to allow a child who was absent to view the missed lesson. Students are more motivated and focused, as I have witnessed, with the use of these boards. The digital natives are quite at ease with the use of these boards, and at times, helping the teacher to do navigate through certain programs connected to the interactive board.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I wholeheartedly agree with you assessment regarding parents as partners in education. In our group the other night in class, this seemed to be a prevailing issue/problem/dilemma for those of us in education. Without the parents guidance, support and reinforcement from home, it makes it all the more difficult to teach students at school. As a young student my parents often asked if I had any homework, checked my homework and reviewed with me. If I did not do so great on the test, they reviewed with me and helped me see what I did wrong. Today, most parents do not help the child see where he/she is lacking, but rather, go to the school to see where it is lacking. It's tough to educate children in a culture where "average" is anathema or seen as a disease in a society that lives life in superlatives.
ReplyDeleteDonna--I am still not sure that students with the technology in their hands really know what to do with it to improve their educational experience. We know they are comfortable with the technology for what is important to them, but we need to determine how to best use the technology toward achievement. The divide between natives and immigrants, I'm afraid, is severe. But we are pretty united when it comes to our uncertainty of how the technology will best serve learning. Those smart boards are a great start and yes just the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, the article on parenting was incredibly alarming. So many parents today want to be a friend rather than a parent. Leaving their education solely in the hands of the teacher will just not work. As facilitators of learning, we recognize parents as the primary educators of their children. As you said, this is becoming more prevalent each year. So the challenge as teachers today is not only teaching to the whole child, but to also help parents recognize what their role is.
ReplyDelete