Classroom Refection

Attribute #1

"Speed" - Tapscott
Relevance - It is important that I understand this aspect of my students and adapt my habits to help accommodate them.
Classroom Application - Incorporating an online blog or discussion board into my lessons so that students can research topics and communicate with classmates on the subject matter outside of class to enrich the learning experience during class. 
- An online database that the school uses to keep parents informed of their students progress is widely being adapted by many school districts around the country.  This form of immediacy for the student's grades requires teachers to stay on top of assessments of students work.  If the same system which parents use to view grades offered the option for images than the parents would be able to see the work which generated the grade.  This option might also expose the teacher to more criticism from parents.

Attribute #2
"Connected yet Disconnected" - Unrath & Mudd
Relevance - A by-product of the connectivity of today's youth is a lack of social interaction on a face to face basis.  Adolescence is a particularly awkward time in a student's life.  Socially interacting in a structured yet informal and creatively free setting offers kids the opportunity to develop the protocols necessary for the future vs the highly structured environment of the core classroom.  Like recess is for Elementary, the art class can be to middle or high school students.  My classroom moto will always be PLAY, and there is no such thing as a mistake, only new opportunities for learning.
Classroom Application - Classroom critiques are often painful to sit through in beginning college art classes.  If students taught how to critique each other and themselves

Attribute #3
"Multi-taskers" - Unrath & Mudd / Rosen
Relevance - The iGens may think they are champions of multitasking but the studies show it is not true.  They are actually worse at higher levels of thinking, understanding, and reasoning.  This relates to the students ability to learn and the teachers job of knowing what and how to teach.  Being aware of any and all limitations the student may have offers more opportunities for differentiating lesson planning.
Classroom Relevance - Music can help to give students focus whether it is something I play or they play form their phones.  Music can distract them from distraction (friends) so that they focus on creativity. 

Attribute #4
"Evaluating Differently" - Prensky
"Scrutiny" - Tapscott
Relevance - These two attributes are not defined the same way but they both speak to a growing awareness of not taking things at face value, a "man word" is no longer enough.  The iGeneration must have prof first, legitimacy based on the testimonies of hundreds or even thousands of online testimonials.  Becoming a teacher does not hold the same authority it did fifty years ago.  Students now have access to the same social networks that young adults (some not young at all) flood with images of their lives.  Where once one person's word could be spread to another and another at a relatively slow pace, now one image can be viewed by hundreds or thousands of people instantly.  As teachers we must hold ourselves to a much higher standard of conduct.  The lines have blurred between personal and professional lives, teachers do not have the luxury of being anything but above reproach. 
Classroom Application - The iGeneration is able to find vast amounts of information at the click of a button, often before the words are even entered into the search.  With this overload of information the iGeneration has adapted to evaluate worthiness quickly.  Whether their assumptions are always accurate is debatable but were older generations might find it daunting even to begin to sort through the iGen'ers think nothing of it.  I myself identify with the second group often. In the modern world of contemporary art the line between what is an is not art almost does not exist.  A weekly discussion of new vs old ideas of art is would be a wonderful springboard for a class blogging activity.  IGen'ers are well equipped to investigate and search out artist which interest or relate to their personalities. 

Attribute #5
"Grow Up Differently" - Prensky
Relevance - In order to teach any curriculum to the fullest you much understand who it is that you are teaching.  You need every possible scrap of information you can, because the iGeneration has an understanding of technology which expands as quickly as the technology advances.  Lessons and projects that the students see as boring can not offer a rich and juicy learning experience. 
Classroom Application - Being unafraid to experiment with and use technology is the first and biggest step.  Using technology to create a connected classroom with blogs for communication outside of the classrooms, online forums for displaying students artworks such as Artsonia, Animation apps like DoInk or Animoto, Photoshop, Percolator App, Vimeo, or the even document camera Rotoschoping on iPads.  An iPhone or Android device are instant cameras in your pocket and provide streaming music for students