New Tools -- New Responsibilities

by Mary Beth Hertz

"Can I use a pencil?"

"Do you have a piece of paper, Ms Hertz?"

"Can I just please write it down, Ms Hertz?"

I get these questions in my lab from time to time. My answer is always, "No," provided the student is not writing down a password or URL to take home or if the student has an IEP or other individualized learning plan.  I answer that my job is to teach them how to use technology instead of paper to solve problems and organize ideas. I am showing them a different tool to use--one that I believe will be ubiquitous by the time they are my age. One that they are already at a disadvantage with because of access at home and lack of proper instruction in the past.

It is my belief that my students will be required, like no other generation has in a long time, to replace some of the tools we have grown accustomed to with new tools that often do the same job, only more efficiently and often better.

With these tools comes new responsibility.

See, not only am I teaching kids how use computers to do more than search YouTube and play games, I am also responsible for sending good digital citizens out into the world. More and more conversation and interaction between people is moving online, and children are joining those conversations at a younger and younger age.

Just as teaching with just a pencil and paper no longer suffice, teaching courtesy and manners face to face no longer suffice.  While both are an integral part of our formative years, we cannot stop there. Students who cannot type or navigate a computer will be left behind. Young adults who have not learned how to conduct themselves online will have dire consequences--some immediate, some later in life.

I am charged with making sure that my students leave my classroom prepared to engage in an online world in a meaningful, collaborative and respectful way. It is my job to give them the technical skills and the social know-how that will help them navigate their futures.