Teaching Digital Natives

I’m glad I grew up when I did.

I was an Iowa farm boy during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, although the violence and unrest seemed to be distant problems for other people, the newspapers were filled with accounts of bloodshed, police dogs and civil disobedience. Israel fought for national survival and the war in

Vietnam raged on as protests against continued US involvement enveloped most college campuses – Cornell College was even the site of anti-war protests.

The pre-digital world seemed to come to a stop when noteworthy events occurred. Church bells rang and factory whistles blew when Doctor Jonas Salk finally cured polio. Rockets launched from Cape Canaveral were a source of national pride and a giant leap for mankind, a cause for widespread celebration.

 

Many of our toys mirrored the technological marvels of the era rather than the fantasy-heavy (but non-sexist, non-racist, and inclusive) choices of today - and none of them had a reset button!

There were late-breaking stories that interrupted family staples of Flipper and Mr. Ed. News icons like Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley disrupted our quiet, bucolic life with reports of a President being assassinated in Dallas, a march in Selma that turned into a bloody rout for peaceful protestors by overzealous and bigoted police and Kent State, where overwhelmed and undertrained National Guard soldiers fired on demonstrators.

A news junkie from a very young age, I clipped important news articles from the paper and watched the daily news almost every day at 5:00 PM and again at 10:00 (if my parents allowed it). I began with a child’s understanding of terrorism as it began taking center stage in the world theater - an understanding that spurred further study throughout my adulthood. I knew the difference between the ANC and NVA and I knew where in the world they were focused. I wasn’t a very good student academically, but when given a chance, my passions erupted. The turbulent times we lived in demanded that you paid attention instead of remaining complacent - regardless of your political leanings.

Kids today aren’t so lucky. Despite the ongoing war on terror and widespread upheavals they don’t/can’t engage with the reality of life. They are consumed by the Kardashians and American Pickers. Apartheid and Nelson Mandela are ancient history; Vietnam is as relevant to them as the Peloponnesian War. Few teenagers have even a prosaic understanding of what civil disobedience is and how effective it can be to change unjust laws – Oh; they can regurgitate the story about Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, but only vaguely. The scary part is that they don’t really care! They would much rather play on their cell phones than actually examine a historical event even for a grade.

24/7 infotainment substitutes for real news and inundates viewers with repetitive images and hyperbole to the point that viewers frequently can't separate fact for opinion. Online "news" isn't much better with everyone trying to be the first with the most titillating headline, accuracy be damned.

From my observations, despite being “Digital Natives,” few of students know enough about computers or the Internet to get beyond Google to find something of substance. They’d much rather dawdle on Pandora or YouTube than actually do an assignment. They’d much rather tweet than read (fill in the blank).

When I first started substituting, when I still held onto the belief that I might actually get a job as a real teacher I built a very impressive “Sub box,” it contained alternate lesson plans separated by developmental level and subject matter, “sponge” activities used to help fill up the inevitable time between end of the lesson and the end of the period as well as the usual supplies that I would need during the school day – I quit carrying that years ago. I discovered much to my chagrin, that students, especially high school students, were not interested in ANYTHING that did not guarantee points for their GPA. Since I couldn’t guarantee their regular teacher would give them points – and to avoid giving the regular teacher extra work, I quit carrying them and began following the regular teacher’s suggestion of letting students talk during any extra time. Sigh.

Once, I was filling in for a social studies teacher at a 4A high school, as I was giving the assignment, a flurry of hands shot up when I got to the part about when the work was due. Every one of the questions was about getting an extension! They hadn’t even started working on the assignment and they wanted an allowance to turn the project in late!

Another troubling trend is that many students go out of their way to defy authority at every turn, but rarely when it is of importance. Although there are occasional reports of students actually taking a stand for a worthwhile cause – even some I might not agree with, it is the exception rather than the rule. They don’t like being told to sit down, in a chair, facing the front, in their chair, awake, off the phone, close the computer, stop talking, no you may not go to the bathroom, sit down, put your phone away, listen up, open your textbook, etc. Like casting pearls before swine it's usually wasted effort. But, as I’ve said on more than one occasion, “It’s your grade not mine.”

But grading seems to have become a thing of the past, too. Teachers will even “cook the books” in order to maintain a better than par average of passing students. Extra credit seems to be the order of the day, something to drag that dismal F up to a D- and the mediocre C up to a B+. I get it. It’s self-preservation, but it’s giving up because Little Johnny’s parental unit will give you no rest until you treat him “properly.” Parents don’t seem to give a shit whether their offspring can actually enter the workforce someday, only that their name appears on the honor roll and that they get to participate in the myriad of other activities that keep them out of their parents’ hair – that is IF there are two parents! Usually, it seems, it’s a single parent trying to get by and the fewer problems they have to deal with the better. We had televisions, they have the internet.

 Smart phones, computers and the internet are technological marvels that we could only dream of and by all rights should be a breakthrough in education, however, they tend more distracting than beneficial. Disinterested, disengaged, lethargic, dull, lifeless are words that I use more often than interested, engaged, energized, alert, involved when asked about many students. A good first step might be to ban cell phones from the classroom, limit online use to only what is needed and monitor their access. You might even require at least a few hard copy references for research projects.

Then there is the whole sexting thing!

  

Much like our generation wanted our MTV, “kids today” want instant (and continual) gratification in the form of digital entertainment. I’m writing this rant after two very distressing and depressing days “teaching” at the same 4A high school previously mentioned. I was covering for a different teacher who had three preps (taught three different classes) and I got to see a fairly broad cross section of the student body and what I saw didn’t impress me very much. The vast majority of students were obsessing on their cell phones and a large percentage of them had ear buds either continually stuck in their skulls or ready to be inserted at a moment’s notice. I’ve had to tell students that they could not listen to music while they take a test, nor could they have their phone on their desk while testing.

I’m sure some of you reading this blog are wondering “so what?” and what's the big deal? It’s troubling on many different levels, at its most basic, if students have their face buried in their phone or other device, they aren’t likely paying attention to instructions and invariably will have to have the instructions repeated to them again, and again. Multiply that times the number of students in a classroom you can quickly see how time consuming that would be. Once again, I’ll toss this education obstacle at the feet of its biggest sponsor – the parent(s). Even levelheaded and cogent adults seem to turn a blind eye to the problems they unwittingly condone with their insistence that they have instant contact with their progeny. Many parents don’t think twice about texting or phoning their little darlings during class to pass on even the most mundane of messages – messages that certainly could be delivered by the front office during passing time.

Parents and guardians can help their children by not demanding instant communication, reminding them of priorities and that extra effort on their part will benefit them farther on down the line. Although you should make sure they know they are important and they do have rights, their importance and rights to not usurp their obligation to not disrupt the classroom, get an education and to allow other students to get their education too. 

However, occasionally, and just often enough to refresh my desire to teach, I will have a student – or two become engaged, ask probing questions, take notes and generally pay attention. Until something better comes along, I’ll keep at it and hope for the best. I will keep up my end of the bargain but will you? Will they?

The Butcher's Bill

To Paul "the Coward" Ryan,

In a cowardly move that tops even this congress' poor track record you have once again taken money from those who can least afford to lose it. The reduction of the Cost Of Living allowance for military retirees was passed in an unholy bipartisan move that protects special interests and pares away the eroding benefits that have served for so long for the United States to develop and maintain a core of professional “lifers” who stayed in with the promise of a monthly stipend and medical care for life. But, if you put it side-by-side with the original benefits established for compensation you would see that there has been steady erosion that can be traced back to some self-serving, self-aggrandizing blowhole in congress that ignores the Butcher’s Bill paid by service members.

It’s a sweetheart deal right? Yeah, well, maybe you should look at it realistically. Retiring at 40 years old means you can start a new career so you don’t NEED all that money because you can get another job, start a new career, blah, blah, blah. Not quite that easy Buckwheat. That is unless you want to do contract work and with each passing day a military retiree becomes just a little more unemployable. I’ll use my experiences as an example. After I retired, I went to college to become a teacher, a history teacher to be exact. Despite being highly qualified (I thought) to teach, I have so far been unable to obtain a full-time teaching job. I have become a first year teacher with eleven years of “non” experience. No one is going to hire me. Among other things, I don’t have a coaching endorsement. No one is going to hire me. So I keep substituting and hoping for a break, a break that will not come because with each passing day I become that much more unemployable. No one is going to hire me.

Lets take a look at medical benefits now. Most retirees I know personally have knee and back injuries that make our middle-aged joints look positively decrepit. A doctor once said that my knees look like they should be on an 85 year old, not a 40-something. Most of my medical care has been directly related to injuries sustained over 22 years under a rucksack. Funny thing though, a persistent skin problem that manifested itself with tiny blisters all over my hands and arms disappeared after retirement – not so the broken bones, strained ligaments and torn muscle.

I don’t deserve what I’ve earned? No sir, I earned it with every parachute jump that consumed just a little more cartilage. With every step I took under an overloaded rucksack that pounded down my spine – pushing discs out of alignment – I earned it. The constant ringing in my ears and deafness caused by hours upon hours riding in military aircraft, firing weapons and just generally around loud noises – I earned it. Years of being exposed to the most extreme weather you can imagine, the hottest hots to the coldest colds, my body now reacts to the slightest temperature change – yes sir, I earned it. But, my injuries pale in comparison to many other retired service members. Thankfully I have all my limbs, many others do not. 

Now the question that I’m dying to ask, “Just what the hell have you done to alleviate the debt mister congressman? Have you taken a pay cut? Have you taken the liberty of cutting your COLA? What about your sweetheart medical care? What about all of the special interest groups that you have been protecting? Why have you targeted such a small percentage of the populace? Could it be that we are the only faction of America with almost no lobbyists? Or could it be because in the end no one gives a damn about veterans – much less the disabled ones.

Of course there is the usual platitudes about “everyone” doing their share, a thinly veiled attempt to make veterans feel guilty about demanding their due. Usually works doesn’t it? Civilians who have never served their country cannot fathom what each service member sacrifices on any given day – peacetime or wartime. We did it out of patriotism, we did it out of personal pride, and we did it because we truly do love our country. However, we also did it because we were promised (there’s that word again) a certain package of benefits that we could depend upon after we did finally retire.

I doubt very much that you have read this far mister congressman. But let me tell you that this bill you pushed through has far-reaching effects that your pea-sized brain cannot even fathom. Our Republic is in more danger now than at any other time in our history. Social scientists, apologists and all the other scummy people who really do want to destroy our country have succeeded in emasculating and desensitizing our youth about their responsibility to the nation - and now you have shown that a promise means nothing.  Why would anyone join an organization where the only thing you can depend on is to be used, abused, and lied to?

Today 1%, tomorrow 10% and so on until the United States is nothing more than a third-world country with a first-world debt.

Our first commander and first Commander in Chief George Washington said it best:

“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation.”

At the end of the day do you really believe that you did your job?

Michael R. Woods

Master Sergeant

US Army Special Forces

Retired

A job fair?

Today I went to a "Job Fair," having been to many of these events in the past I began preparing for the day by rewriting my resume so that it was sufficiently vague to be able to hand it to potential employers without having multiple versions of the same old thing. Part of the reason for doing it this way was partly because no matter how hard I tried I could not find a single advertisement that listed the attendees.

For the last week I had begun doubting that there even was a job fair but after some frantic searching on the internet I made a couple phone calls and got an affirmative response that "yes, there was a job fair, but no, they didn't have any information on just who would be attending...."

Oh boy, bad sign.

Back to today, I printed off ten copies of my resume as well as multiple copies of supporting documentation on the chance it would be requested, shaved, cleaned up, broke out tie and jacket and was on my way downtown.

I thought my luck was holding when as I got ready to feed the meter, a man in the car in the space in front of me leaned out and asked if I wanted I wanted his space because it had time left on the meter. Thanking him, I pulled forward and saw that there was indeed almost an hour remaining! Bonus!

Following a quick trip to the loo, I made my way to the job fair - strange, the hallway leading to the event was devoid of people, no lines, no chatter, nothing. This did not bode well. Oh well, in for an inch, in for a mile, with a tug of my tie I turned the corner and saw that amid the balloons, freebies and cheery signs there were so few employers' tables that I could have given each one a copy of my resume and would have had a couple left over!

As I slowly walked around the small clutch of tables, a few recruiters gamely showed a smile and tried to engage me in their sales pitch. but it was very quickly apparent that any jobs available were in call centers and manual labor. There was one computer company that had a grand total of two (2, count 'em 2) IT jobs open but it was obvious that the primary reason they were there was to sell computer and IT training as was one other booth representing a nationally known online university that shall remain nameless.

On my way out I had the opportunity to fill out a survey about my experience and suffice to say I didn't rate them very high.

Dejected at this flop, I headed back to the car, all the more pissed off at myself for thinking that this time would be any different. There was NOTHING there other than low-paying menial jobs and thinly veiled attempts to get as much money from the people who can least afford to give it up.

Big sigh, oh well, back to the want ads and job websites....