Educators should provide digital natives with proper tools
As an educator, it is becoming more and more evident that no student should be utilizing more technology outside the classroom than they are inside of it.
We should not be overlooking the strengths that our students have been cultivating since birth. Technology is a known commodity to our digital natives, and to tell them they are not allowed to use it is analogous to tying their hands behind their back.
The use of technology in our classrooms can empower teachers to engage and motivate students using the most advanced and appropriate technology the world has to offer, using the tools our students have grown up using.
Through the integration of technology, we can become a new and different kind of teacher – one who takes problems head on with a new set of eyes. We have become educators privileged with an opportunity to share with many of our students the joy of learning for the first time.
As educators, we need to cultivate student differences and allow them to thrive the best way they know how. Technology has changed the world in which our students live, so why can’t it change the classrooms in which they learn?
Joe Marquez, Clovis
This story was originally published November 10, 2017 at 2:14 PM with the headline "Educators should provide digital natives with proper tools."