Frontline Video Response

This frontline video brought up many interesting points about technology and the affects it has on the children and teenagers of today’s society. I have always liked the idea of incorporating a great deal of technology into my future classroom but never really knew how. After today’s class, I feel more confident and am excited to think of more “out of the box” ways to integrate technology that is meaningful into my future classroom. However, I feel like today in class I was introduced to many new and exciting ways to integrate “fun” technology into the classroom and then this video brought up every possible drawback about students using technology. Although this video was extremely informative, I feel as though it was slightly overdramatic. I think that it is extremely important to be aware of all of the issues and controversies that surround “growing up online,” but I also feel that the internet is not solely to blame. We need to look to the users as well.
The school in the video, Chatham High School, was very intriguing to me. It appeared that many of the teachers were on board with the huge shift in technology as well as the Principals. Rose Propora, the English teacher at that school, seemed to be at a loss however. She said that her time was up and that she simply could not compete with the technology any more. This really disturbed me because I feel that when you have been a teacher for 30 years, you have to have a love for what you do so why wouldn’t she be committed to learning from her students and trying to learn more of the technological advances in order to keep her students engaged? From the video, it appeared that many of the other teachers were very aware of how to utilize the technological resources so I wonder why she was left in the dust? I believe it may have been her choice. I feel that this kind of stagnant attitude is what constitutes disengagement from students. And who can blame them.
All of the chapters of the video were very interesting but the one that hit me the most was cyber bullying. It is an issue that I have heard much about in the past and am very passionate about. I feel as though it is a big issue and all though there have only been 2 large cases, with Ryan Halligan and Megan Myers, it happens everyday. However, I do not think that the solution lies in taking away the internet. I agree with the final chapter that discusses cyber citizenship and how to use technology responsibly. Looking back before the internet, bullying was huge within the school, but students were not pulled out. So just because the environment of bullying has changed why should the way it is handled be changed? Students just need to learn how to be responsible within that realm and that will take time, but it can be done.
This video was extremely interesting and eye opening. I am still very excited about how I will use technology in my future classroom but I am also aware of all of the possible issues that lie within that. This video was a good cautionary tale and resource.