Turkle & Wesch

Wesch is an advocate for allowing students to find a genuine meaning in their education. The idea of students doing just enough to pass, or memorizing only what they will be tested on is not a new phenomenon. Honestly, I get frustrated when my students ask questions like, "Will this be on the quiz?" or "Can't you just tell us which words to study?", but then I remember my own experiences as a high school student and how I am guilty of the same thing. It's not that they are bad teenagers or students, but they have been conditioned to learn in this way- and I think Wesch would agree. While Wesch's idea of allowing students the opportunity to find meaning in their education in their own way through technology, that can be hard in a high school setting. The process can be time consuming and while I am lucky enough to have a lot of flexibility with my curriculum, my students already loose SO much class time to NECAP, PARCC, and ESL ACCESS mandated testing.

Turkel's article discusses the downside of technology. We all know the abundance of positive things that technology allows us, but like any good thing moderation is key. Her article is over 5 years old but her points are still valid today. It is a constant battle at our school with earbud use, our administration allows devices in school, but earbuds have become such a problem that they have be "banned". But that doesn't stop the resistance from students, I think it is because they, like Turkel says, are used to the safety bubble the technology assures them. All my students are Emergent Bilinguals so conversation and breaking out of the bubble is integral to their success. So, mean-old-me had no choice but to implement an earbud bin in which student tag and place their earbuds in at the beginning of our two hour classes. It created obvious anxiety among many students, but uncomfortable situations allow you to grow.

I honestly don't know if Wesch or Turkel would be allies or not because Wesch focuses on education while Turkel seems to be primarily concerned with basic human behavior and interaction.

PS. I will leave you with this clip the tech teachers show our students each year.