Digital Native, Immigrant, or both...?

As a 24 year old, people would expect me to be "one" with technology and knowing the digital universe. Well, I actual find myself crossing over between a digital immigrant and native. I was raised in a household with very little technology because my parents believed that it was more important for us to be out playing sports and perfecting our craft. Being a kid was all about being active and having fun. My parents taught me that technology would just interfere with being a kid. Yeah, we watched TV, but we had a timer on while we watched it to let us know when we had reached our limit of TV time.

It wasn't until I had to walk home from the bus stop in high school that I had received my first cell phone, and had my first encounter with technology. I absolutely loved it! I felt like I finally had the chance to join the rest of the world. But this is an idea I still question to this day. Does technology really connect us with the world? Or does it disconnect us in more ways than we think?  I see people connecting through social media constantly which is great! I also see people out to dinner, not talking but looking at their phones. I see people at sports events just video taping and taking pictures. I battle with the positive and negative that technology has on people and social connections. There is an interesting TED talk video that is by Sherry Turkle .

Now that I have become a teacher, I find myself both battling and syncing with what technology has to offer education. I really do believe and see how technology has a place in our modern-world classrooms. Adding some form of technology and applications into classroom practice I believe is beneficial to the students. Some benefits, that I found and agree with, can be found with Educational Leadership 's postings and articles. However, as someone who identifies greatly as a Digital Immigrant, I sometimes struggle with accessing and utilizing technology along with my school's curriculum. However, this year I got to work with the Highlander Institute on improving my technology knowledge, and decreasing my fear in using and understanding technology in the ways that the new generation is using it.

The process of working with Highlander was really exciting! The people working with Highlander came to our school on a weekly basis and counseled us teachers and the students about integrating with technology during the school day. It made me more comfortable as a teacher knowing I said someone to talk me through the transition of "updating" my classroom. I also enjoyed the fact that the students were allowed to go through this process with me by filling out surveys, and participating in group discussions about what they like using, what they don't like, and how they feel about a change in their classroom environment. A lot of students loved the change over to a tech-savvy learning environment. However, I still had some that questions the learning model and why it had to change. These students reminded me of how felt when I first got linked up with technology. Through articles and support, I learned how to support this student growth in my classroom. It is not easy, especially for the learners who have learned a certain way and seen the same model in classrooms consistently.

I think it is important for me to identify myself as more of a Digital Immigrant because I feel that I work better using a step-by-step process, working at conventional speed, and exploring a text first before connecting images to a text. However, sometimes I find myself processing topics parallel to one another, and I use technology to keep me connected to current events and people. This is okay! Being both native and an immigrant to technology, I feel, is helpful to me and my students because I can understand both perspectives of technology use. And when I question myself and what I am doing in such a tech-obsessed world, I can always seek help... through the internet!!