Video in the Classroom

Is it possible to be both a digital native (noun: a person born or brought up during the age of digital technology and therefore familiar with computers and the Internet from an early age) and a digital immigrant (noun: a person born or brought up before the widespread use of digital technology)? In my case, I'd have to respond "possibly." I've been born one, but suspect there might be a time when I choose to resemble the other.

I was a Sesame Street kid, the program's first televised broadcast occurring about a month before I was born, and watched my fair share of PBS staples such as Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, Zoom, and The Electric Company.  Only three channels existed alongside public broadcasting during my youth, NBC, CBS, and ABC, where in addition to nightly news broadcasts, Schoolhouse Rock, after-school specials and Big Blue Marble, I'd also regularly watch Sunday's Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom which was usually followed by a Disney movie. My mother listened to the radio in the car each day, and as a schoolteacher, previewed, selected, and even created film strips, audio tapes, and other videos for classroom use that I inevitably saw as well.

In high school, I took a video production class and typing (that's right, TYPING, not "keyboarding") before I was introduced to the Apple II computer.  I listened to tunes on my Walkman, watched music videos on MTV, and looked forward to the occasional appearance of the oversized television strapped to a cart for vhs viewing in class.  Essential technology my freshman year of college was a typewriter or word processor.  By the end of my third year, I needed a computer.  Once employed, memos were being replaced (gradually in some schools) by email. I bought and downloaded oodles of music to my iPod, bought a new computer every three or four years, and my rotary wall phone was replaced by a push-button jobbie, which was, in turn, retired to accommodate the neverending I-need-to-update-my-cell-phone cycle.  None of my family members or friends are Luddites, and while I certainly don't produce or share as much content as those viral-seekers around me, I'm able to keep a comfortable pace with the evolution of technology.  My truck, via a navigation system, tells me how to get to my favorite craft store.  I remember when the only talking car was this one:

I am ~so~ a digital native.

However... I can't predict with any amount of certainty that I will choose to continue to swim in excessive amounts of digital content in the future. I don't sit in front of a computer all day.  I actually answer my phone and speak to callers in real time. While I dvr my favorite shows to avoid commercials, I'm not glued to the television.  I wasn't when I was younger either, though that might be a habit that was built into me because I didn't have a television or computer in my bedroom, and the channels we were able to watch in the living room didn't broadcast for twenty-four hours a day. I enjoy live performances and digital downloads, face-to-face connections and Instagrammed peeks, sharing and taking breaks from social media. I like to get away from noise, visual and auditory.  I crochet, read books, garden and go for walks.  I can always reply to the "for one million dollars, could you live in this cabin in the woods for six months without television or the internet" memes with a confident "yes."  I'm not an exclusive digital consumer, so I have to wonder if Prensky might revamp his observations to include some sort of sliding scale that would better indicate a range of traits that could exist for those of us born digital natives who may, for whatever reason, stop evolving and adapting, as humans often do when we age.  Do I think I'd ever be inclined to offer myself up for implanted tech?  No, though it could happen.  Do I think my children and grandchildren might?  Yes, at which point I'd become a... bio-digi-immigrant?

My comfort, familiarity with, and (present) lack of resistance to changes in technology along with current and well-maintained tools such as iPads, SMARTBoards and laptop computers with flexible internet filters makes me feel well equipped to teach my kindergarteners in ways that not only appeal to them, but meet the needs of their learning styles and personalities. Young students love to share, share, share, and be on the receiving end as enthusiastic audience members (when it's great content). They are almost constant collaborators, giving and open to receiving feedback.  As language and culture evolve, so too must I in order to remain an effective teacher.  Thankfully, I'm not feeling burnt out or overwhelmed- I still look forward to learning new things, which makes me well matched for my Super Stars. My continued growth now encompasses learning how to create curricular content (for students and colleagues) for year-round use in addition to my traditional end-of-the-year photo slideshow.

I spend a part of each summer reviewing all of the video content that I've selected for classroom use.  Videos I've collected are run through ViewPure and then sorted into tabbed category pages or screens I've created on Symbaloo. My district also houses a video bank of pre-approved video content that can be sorted and saved into playlists for all subject matter and grade levels. As "undesirable social video content" includes not only rude, explicit, harmful or emotionally hurtful sounds and imagery, but "filler" or "time-wasters" as well, I never show a video to my students without having viewed and listened to it first, and try hard to only use applicable video clips for lessons so that students aren't distracted by additional elements that could shift our focus.  Once I receive my class list, I'm usually able to touch base with colleagues who have had siblings to determine if I need to ask families about specific video preferences (holidays, public figures, etc.) as well so that I can further fine tune my lesson plans and digital content.

Something tells me that I'll never be inclined to be an "evolve or die" educator, though I can certainly entertain the possibility of one day having to weigh "evolve or retire." Tech, video, or some other unanticipated "new" component of education might even be a contributing factor.