Blog 3

This year I was lucky enough to be assigned five ninth grade classes. Not one, not two, but five! This is my first year teaching ninth grade, for the last couple of years I have taught tenth grade, tenth grade was tough but I had no idea how difficult ninth grade would be. The peace and quiet that comes with the first days of school was quickly gone. After a couple of weeks of being scared of the high school world, my pleasant, quiet, compliant, students turned into technology monsters. I quickly realized that what I had was babies masquerading as ninth graders, it was worse, these babies came with electronic devices. I-pods, cell phones, PSP, MP3, side kicks, flat screens, you name it, if it’s electronic and portable they have it!!!

The tenth graders I had in previous years were not nearly as electronic savvy as these current students. Sure there was always the inevitable cell phone going off in the classroom, or a student secretly texting under the desk, but I had never experienced a room full of students that seem to be permanently attached to portable electronic devices. After participating in the last couple of chats with the class I noticed that one recurring topic seems to be the link between knowledge of technology and age. A couple of classmates have mentioned that as technology progresses, it becomes more accessible and this leads to younger and younger students being more knowledgeable about the tech world. Now I clearly see the connection between this theory and my own students. I am still awfully shocked as to how much difference a year makes. It is surprising how much more these students know about cell phone applications, converting files and even skype, than my previous classes. This does speak to the strong correlation that exists between age and technology. As our world becomes immersed in technology, the average age for how familiar a person is with computers seems to be lower and lower.

While it is wonderful that my ninth graders know so much, it is not wonderful that they seem to have no control over their obsession to checking their comments on myspace, or trading ipods during class time. True, they are coming from middle school and are new to the world of rules and expectations during class time; still I have made it very clear that electronic devices are prohibited in class. But even my threat, “If I see it, its mine”; doesn’t seem to be working so well. There are many days when I think to myself, “If I hear another student “accidentally” sharing his or her Lady Gaga or 50 Cent with the entire class because they were trying to adjust the volume to their ipods, even though they were not supposed to have them out in the first place, I will have a meltdown!”

It is not enough that these ninth grade babies, whine, and complain about all the work, cannot control their talking, but they truly believe that updating their status and mood on myspace is more important than homework. Besides the fact that these portable electronic devices for the most part interfere with their attention span while in class, I am also worried about what this means or says about the students and their ability to compose essays, or conduct academic research. While in fact they are knowledgeable about all these gadgets, all of their attention seems to be focused on social networking or music, completely disregarding the academic aspects. My ninth graders know all about sending forwarded texts, but know nothing about MLA formatting or compiling a bibliography.

The past couple of weeks have been draining. My students are still having trouble transitioning into high school, remembering the classroom rules, and the importance of homework. I am still trying to understand where they are coming from as far as their obsession with electronic portable devices. They are 13 or 14, they have no real sense of self control, they are learning about high school, and they are MY students. I have to teach them English and learn how do deal with their strong connection to technology. Perhaps this means incorporating their devices into the class for an assignment or two, I am not entirely sure how or when or even if this will work. What I do know is that we have to work at this together. After a conversation with a colleague that teaches seniors, I have also began thinking that every grade level is different. While tenth graders were more responsible and prepared, ninth graders will undoubtedly need more guidance, instructions and review time. For my students and me this means having to review classroom rules every other week because “Freddy” keeps throwing spitballs, but that is ok, we are slowly making progress.