What generation do we teach nowadays?
Popular names
There seem to be a lot of names for students that we teach nowadys, I'm sure you have heard about the most popular names for children born between 2000 and 2015 - Generation Z, Digital Natives, Generation Like, Selfie Generation, IGen to name but a few. But let's go further:
A report by Sparks & Honey, a US advertising agency, describes this generation as the "first tribe of true digital natives" or "screenagers".
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/11002767/Gen-Z-Gen-Y-baby-boomers-a-guide-to-the-generations.html
In one survey in America, people were asked the question: What would you name today's youngest generation of Americans? There were over 200 various answers from people of all ages and backgrounds. Here are some of them:
The Tweennials: “We are in the ‘tweens’ of this century after all.”
Screeners: “My students live and die by the screen.”
"Call it the POST-IT GENERATION"
As a mother I like the most the answer :Generation Y Me? I'm sure all parents know why:)
A significant aspect of this generation is its widespread usage of the internet from a young age. Members of Generation Z are typically thought of as being comfortable with technology, and interacting on social media websites accounts for a significant portion of their socializing.
What does it mean for teachers?
It is hard to ignore that the generation of children now moving through our educational system is by far the most visually stimulated generation that system has ever had to teach. Having grown up with cable television, video games, computer software that educates and entertains, and the Internet, our children are truly visual learners coming of age in an increasingly visually oriented world. (Visual Impact, Visual Teaching , Gangwer 2001)
This generation of children needs to be taught the way they learn best—with visual stimulation accompanied by active learning strategies. As educators, we need to prepare our students for the world in which they will live and work. We must allow this understanding of the visual nature of our students to influence our teaching techniques and the educational technologies we employ.
Over 10 years ago all those applications didn’t exist. That means that in 10 years time we really don’t know what kind of tools and applications will be like and how it will affect our students, very often then adults. We live in the world that is surrounded by images – in Polish the term is called "picture culture" and if there is a special term for that, it means that this phonomemenon is really widely spread.
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| Felfie |
Do you know that more than 17 million selfies are uploaded to social media sites every week. Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/british-teenagers-addicted-taking-selfies-5481458. But these are not only selfies. there are also belfies and felfies (yes ,the ones you take with animals:) With information, technology and global access at our fingerprints, we have to decide what we are going to do with such powers and possibility.
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| "Visual Impact Visual Teaching" Timothy Gangwer |
Visual learners think in pictures, see in pictures, process, understand and communicate in pictures. Pictures are holistic. They tell the whole story all at once. Language is more difficult for the visuals because it’s linear and requires progressive, step-by-step processing, requiring extra time when operating in the world of language.
Let me finish with a quote by Ceri Jones:
„The power of an image often doesn’t lie in the image itself, but in its ability to trigger images and stories in the minds of our students and create a need and a desire to communicate.”
Soon the practical part. If you want to share your opinion about the new generation of students feel free to do it in a comment section below.
Recommendable post. Thanks for sharing such a useful concept . It was very helpful to me.
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