Teaching the iGeneration- ch. 4

     Chapter four touches on the topic of how media is changing today's teens.  Conversations through technology play a huge role in the lives of students today.  My favorite aspect of this chapter is the discussion of different learning experiences that digital teens are drawn to.  The first one is self-directed exploration because students are surrounded by so many opportunities to expereiment and explore withoutcertain goals or outcomes that are predetermined.  The second learning experience is peers to demonstrate authority and expertise which means that students are regularly learning from one another rather than only seeing authority and people with expertise as teachers.  The third is students to wrestle with meaningful issues where they are being charged with preparing for meaningful careers and learning the mastery of skills that will be essential.  It is important to use every opportunity to connect school content with digital conversations and assignments.  One way of communication that is used in todays world is Skype.  This form of communication can be used by teachers in the classroom to involve their technology within the classroom.  Some ideas would be Skypeing in schools wiki, Skype with other classrooms, and Find classes for joint online projects.  A great way for teaching in a way that will influence students is by independence and action making them be active and not passive.  This type of teaching would be know as student centered instruction or discovery that would be a great learning environment for students as long as the teacher is willing to create the opportunities necessary for such a thing to happen.