Fun vs. Engagement: The Case of the Great Zoombinis by Henry Jenkins (2006) was an interesting article...nothing wrong with fun in the classroom in order to engage students and encourage learning! Some teachers have the “old” mentality of what learning is - very structured, rote, lecture styled teaching/learning, not realizing that we can all learn while having fun.
The little red light, in the Fresh Air interview with Sherry Turtle, points out how we all want to be wanted. Teens often sleep with their phones next to them, waiting for any kind of contact with others. Children who have cellular phones are getting younger and find it harder to be alone; they must always be connected with someone, somewhere.
I interviewed a teen who has a cellphone and also an Instagram and Facebook account. He uses his cellphone to access his social networking accounts and, at times, emails; however, he does not always have wifi at home and is oft times unable to check any online data. There is a desktop computer at home, but he shared that his mother broke it “playing too many games”. When this student is allowed access to the computer in class, he is constantly being redirected to stay on task and log off of sites with games, sneakers, or celebrity pictures on them. When I recently assigned a homework assignment using the Internet for research and then school-based email addresses to email me the assignment, this student felt very uncomfortable with being able to complete the assignment. After sharing with me that his computer at home was not working and that he did not have access to wifi, I suggested he go to the local library to complete the assignment. Unfortunately, he shared with me that he has been banned from the library because of a past fight with other students. I am concerned with this student’s accessibility to technology and that he will fall behind in classwork as well as in his knowledge of using technology successfully.
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