Chapter nine of "Rethinking Education" talked about what technology means in the lives of today's generation of children. Children are turning to technology to learn more about topics they are interested in and parents and teachers need to be aware of what and how our students and children are looking into outside of school and home. Children are now becoming more educated a knowledgeable about technology can their parents and teachers. One way of decreasing the literacy gap between parents and their children is for parents to understand what their child is using these technologies for. Most often the parents are the ones who provide a number of technologies for their children but have little to no clue what they are used for or how to use them. Parents need to take action and become familiar with new technologies. It is recommended for parents to pick up their child's video game controller and have their child teach them how to use it and how to play the game. Parents should also get an instant messenger account, whether it is on their cell phone or on the computer so they are able to connect and communicate with their child. Many children in today's culture would much rather send a short text message as a way of communicating rather than picking up a phone and using it to make a phone call. Parents should also encourage their child to join online communities where they are able to interact and communicate with others with the same interests. Children are very unique and open minded and might come up with an idea that an adult might never think about. By joining online communities and blogging students are able to gain skills that might be useful in their future careers. In today's society jobs are being created based on technology; years ago these jobs would have not existed. By using technology students are preparing themselves for their future career, even if the career field is currently non-existent. Our children and students are creating jobs for their own futures.
As a future teacher I would encourage my students to share their knowledge on technology with both myself as well as their parents. In today's culture our children seen to be much more knowledgeable when it comes to technology than teachers and parents and it is important for us to all get on the same page. As a teacher I would also be curious about different technologies my students are using and test them out for myself. I now understand that the technologies our students are using are creating jobs for their futures. I would like to test out different games to see which ones I feel are the most valid for my students to use. Because in today's culture it would be near difficult to pull a student away from video games, I would use my knowledge to suggest certain games for them to use, where they can gain as many skills as possible from the game. Because technology is pulling students away from books and board games I would purposely assign some homework assignments that require reading a book and doing other homework without using technology. Something I found surprising in this chapter was that by students joining gaming communities, video games can actually improve one's vocabulary by providing opportunities to develop new sources of vocabulary in useful ways. This chapter has made me realize that rather than fighting our children and students to move away from technology, we as parents and teachers should learn from them and then connect with them by using the technology they use.
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