Today we discussed the strategies needed to help English Learners access the core curriculum, and my mind starting going to all kinds of different places. Aren't English Learners and Digital Immigrants, in some ways, alike? ELs and DIs are both trying to learn a new language while trying to make sense of things in that new language. ELs often come here with a structure for learning in their brains already, as do DIs. But here's where my mind started to spin: if DIs are the teachers, and DNs are the students, then shouldn't strategies be applied by the students to help teachers along with all things tech? Whoa.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Digital Natives/Digital Immigrants and Reverse ELD Strategies
I am on a constant quest to connect educational technology to every piece that I am learning in this program. I often refer to those of us who are my age or older as "digital immigrants" because we have not grown up with a constant stream of digital media like those who are currently college-aged or younger (they are digital immigrants.) (These, by the way, are not my invention. They belong to Marc Prensky who wrote a really great article titled "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants". Interesting stuff... go read it...)