Act Like a Native

It’s one of those analogies that has stuck. It says a lot for us — and about us. We’re immigrants to this new digital world. Our students are native-born. We speak with an accent. I’ve heard these phrases for years now, and have used it myself.

I’m an immigrant and proud of it. I owe my dress, mannerisms, entertainment choices, political leanings, and the way I wear my hair to a time before the digital had spoken. I suspect that I saw this most dramatically at MacWorld, where the hair, speech (I could never talk that fast), mannerisms, and clothing all set me apart. Sure I dress in dark colors, but it’s because I would reflect too much light otherwise.

But I believe that it is time that we stop hiding behind our immigrant status, and start acting like natives. We need to stop making excuses and start leading. We are teachers, after all. It’s our job to lead, not follow. Sure, we’ll never be able to keep up with our kids in lots of ways. They have the luxury of time and their brain cells are fresher. But it is our job to look into the future and then plan and lead the way for our children.

You may say, “but who’s going to teach me to do that?” That’s an immigrant question. Natives teach themselves. They work with each other to grow their knowledge and skills. We’ve got to figure this out!

2¢ Worth

32 thoughts on “Act Like a Native”

  1. Even though I’m 51 today, I consider myself a native, not an immigrant. I’ve been using computers for decades. Yes, there’s always something new to learn–last year, I lectured to teachers about webquests; this year it was podcasting, wikis, blogging, and RSS feeds. However, I still know more than many of my students. Throw a new software program at me, and I carry years of experience with me–I transfer my skills laterally. I figure out how this program handles the same old situation. To our students, it’s all new–there’s nothing to transfer. I feel that as the native, I have a lot to teach those newbies. If they pass me on any technology front, I soon catch up–but usually, I’m ahead.

    Reply

  2. David, the digital native, digital immigrant topic is providing fuel for interesting debate at our school this week. Thank you for your posting this morning. Could I also add that as educators it is our responsibility to keep on learning and to adapt our content and methodology according to the needs of the students. Leadership is important as you say, but individual teacher responsibility and accountability need to be stressed and supported through viable and motivating PD. The enGauge 21st Century skills found at http://www.ncrel.org/engauge/skills/skill21.htm provide further fuel for discussion in terms of who will be responsible to ‘teach’ these. One aim of course is to teach the natives how best to learn and teach themselves….can we at least do this as immigrants? Surely this is something we are good at after years in education??

    Reply
  3. Pingback: 2 Cents Worth » Happy Birthday Jude

  4. Actually, I do feel like a native. My first job was entering prices for my Dad in the TRS-80 when I was 8. I was an anomoly. I’m 37 now and have rarely taken a “formal” computer class except some online classes, Sam’s Teach Yourself, and a whole lot of Dummies books. At Georgia Tech, I”d walk in a class and they’d say the name of a programming language that I’d have to learn but casually mention that they weren’t teaching a programming class. As a result I learned Hypertext (1991), every Office Product, SQL, and a plethora of other languages like the back of my hand. And yet, people have always “hired” me to teach their company and now their children about the newest technology.

    Why is that? I certainly don’t think that its because I’m so smart. Its simply an attitude of being unafraid. Of working at it until you do it. Of not waiting for someone to “feed” you knowledge but of picking up the spoon and digging into the bowl to feed yourself!

    The attitude of some that they have to be taught, told, or cajoled into doing something new is not going to cut it! We all must act like natives!

    I totally agree that we must create ways to share best practices, set up collaborative projects of those teaching like content, and methods of tagging and finding blogs with related material for commenting. We need to act like natives and apply our mindpower to social software as we’ve done with everything else.

    Great analogy!

    Reply
  5. Pingback: BionicTeacher :: Natives
  6. Pingback: Act Like A Native at Tangled up in Purple

  7. I may be an immigrant, but I have that small hint of an accent that intrigues the natives into trying to figure out where it is from. As a student, I started with a teletype machine that was connected to the district mainframe that had 2MB of storage space for the entire class. We saved our programs in BASIC on paper tape, which we stole the confetti that was created by the machine and had fights with it in the hallways. We got the first Apple II’s two weeks before I graduated from high school. As a teacher, I was one of the first to have a computer in my classroom. I wrote lessons that integrated computer use into the curriculum. I was roped into Digital High School and taught myself how to be a technician and a network analyst. (A+ and CCNA)

    Now, the 21st Century has brought with it a new exploding mediascape (Stealing from Googlezon here!) that I don’t think anyone can completely utilize to its potential. While the student may be natives, many of us bring the wisdom of perspective of the last 30 years of technology innovation. The teachers that have been part of the system and have embraced the new technologies must be the ones to create a critical mass at each of our schools to bring as many tools to the students and teachers as possible. To do this, we need the students help, since they will be the one’s to make this happen. If teachers give students as many of these tools as possible, they will embrace them, since they are natives and willing to integrate all of the possible technology available to them. This will create a critical masss that will force the teachers to follow to keep up.

    This might be a backward thesis, but getting the teachers to integrate without a mandate from state departments of education or school boards, isn’t going to work either… ‘There is a big difference between teaching thirty years and teaching one year thirty times…’

    Reply
  8. Pingback: bit torrent adult movie
  9. Pingback: online payday loan utah
  10. Pingback: adult movie list
  11. Pingback: payday loan windsor
  12. Pingback: ny car insurance rate

  27. On Friday, the first day after Merck’s loss of patent exclusivity for the statin Zocor, FDA approved three generic versions of the drug, the Wall Street Journal reports. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals for the next 180 days will have exclusive rights to sell generic Zocor, generically known as simvastatin. Teva will sell 5-, 10-, 20- and 40-milligram versions, while Ranbaxy will sell an 80-milligram pill. The generic versions are available at a price that is about 30% less than Zocor’s. In addition, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories will sell all five dosages of simvastatin under an agreement with Merck to be the authorized generic manufacturer of the drug. FDA’s decision came hours after U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth denied a motion by Sandoz, Novartis’ generic drug unit, to delay the agency’s approval of generic versions. Lamberth said the delay could damage the finances of Teva and Ranbaxy and could restrict the public’s access to affordable drugs (Won Tesoriero/Zhang, Wall Street Jo
    urnal, 6/24). FDA estimated that generic versions of Zocor and other generic drugs approved this week — versions of baldness drug Propecia, prostate drug Proscar and epilepsy treatment Lamictal — could result in $1 billion per year in savings. Rob Seidman, chief pharmacy officer for WellPoint, said 12 million Medicare Part D beneficiaries who use statins could generate $8.2 billion in savings per year if they switched to generic versions (CQ HealthBeat, 6/23).

    Reply

  28. The popular hair-growth drug finasteride, taken by millions of balding men, artificially lowers the results of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, the standard screening test for prostate cancer, a multicenter study has found.

    The study, involving 308 men ranging in age from 40 to 60 years old, is available online in the British medical journal The Lancet and is scheduled to be published after Jan. 1, 2007. The study calls for new clinical guidelines for primary-care physicians, dermatologists and urologists to account for the role of finasteride, known as Propecia when used for hair loss, while evaluating PSA results.

    “It’s not universally known that finasteride lowers PSA levels in younger men who take it for hair growth,” said Dr. Claus Roehrborn, chairman of urology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and co-principal investigator of The Lancet study, along with Dr. Anthony D’Amico of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “It is important for physicians to know that many young men take Propecia and that their PSA level is lowered artificially. Doctors need to adjust the PSA interpretation by multiplying it times two for these men.”

    Finasteride was initially developed in the 1990s for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), better known as enlarged-prostate disease, and was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for this use. Patients with BPH must strain to pass urine and feel the urge to urinate frequently. BPH can lead to the inability to urinate and urinary tract infection.

    In 1997 the FDA approved finasteride for the treatment of male-pattern baldness. While Propecia is administered at 1 milligram per day, patients who take the finasteride drug Proscar for BPH get a five times higher dosage, 5 mg per day.

    “The impact of finasteride on PSA levels is significant,” said Dr. Roehrborn. “This needs to be realized by all internists, family-care doctors, dermatologists – anybody who writes prescriptions for male-pattern hair loss.”

    Researchers have known for years that the same testosterone metabolism responsible for prostate growth also causes male-pattern baldness (called androgenic alopecia), Dr. Roehrborn said. Both BPH and male-pattern hair loss have to do with the male hormone testosterone, which is being converted to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) by an enzyme named 5-alpha reductase. DHT activates the genes responsible for the development of male-pattern hair loss. Finasteride interferes with this process by blocking 5-alpha reductase and preventing the conversion of testosterone to DHT.

    The data in The Lancet study were collected by Dr. Roehrborn from 1998 to 2000 in cooperation with medical centers in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Virginia.

    The data in The Lancet study are derived from a study Dr. Roehrborn conducted with Merck & Co., Inc. in 2000. Dr. Roehrborn, discussing the reasons to publish this report now, said: “The data are published now out of recognition that there was an acknowledged gap in the primary-care community about the impact of Propecia on PSA levels. When doctors ask for their patients’ medical history, they need to ask if they have taken any drugs for hair loss, and the doctors need to multiply the PSA readings by two.”

    The current study also was funded by Merck & Co., Inc.

    About UT Southwestern Medical Center
    UT Southwestern Medical Center, one of the premier medical centers in the nation, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. Its more than 1,400 full-time faculty members – including four active Nobel Prize winners, more than any other medical school in the world – are responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and are committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide medical care in 40 specialties to nearly 89,000 hospitalized patients and oversee 2.1 million outpatient visits a year.
    UT Southwestern Medical Center
    United States
    cheap propecia usa

    Reply
  29. Pingback: Cheap Nitrol
  30. Pingback: Buy Polocaine Online
  31. Pingback: Information On Fioricet Medication

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *