At the same time, we are getting ready to send our 8th grade students off to high school. As we prepare to say goodbye to our 8th graders and welcome our new kindergarten students, I have been reflecting back to August 2005. That is when our current 8th graders started kindergarten. I did some digging to remind myself of how things were in 2005.
- Did you know that four months before our 8th graders started kindergarten YouTube was launched? Did any of us predict at that point that by the time they graduated more than 1 billion unique users would visit YouTube…EACH MONTH! Who would have thought that the YouTube channel for the band One Direction would have over 12.6 million subscribers?
- iTunes was only selling music when they started kindergarten and made up a little over 4% of the music industry market. A quote from a November 21, 2005 article indicated "Apple Computer's iTunes music store now sells more music than Tower Records or Borders, according to analyst firm the NPD Group.” iTunes recently sold its 25 billionth song and has sold more than 1 billion TV episodes and 380 million movies. iTunes users are spending $1.75 billion a year on videos alone and iTunes accounts for $6.9 billion a year spent on digital music. In addition, the App store has hit over 50 billion downloads and Apple has paid out over $10 billion to developers.
- Facebook only had 5.5 million users. Today 1.184 billion people are on Facebook.
- Twitter was created in the spring of their kindergarten year.
- Just before they started 2nd grade, the first iPhone was released. Now many of them have the 4th or 5th generation iphone.
- In fourth grade soon after they returned from winter break, the first iPad was released.
The bottom line is that when today’s 8th grade students started kindergarten, none of us would have predicted things as they are today. As I mentioned at the beginning, in August 2014, a new group of students will start kindergarten at Park View. It is our job as educators to prepare them for success in the future. We don’t know what that future will look like but it is safe to say that it will be continually changing. New tools and new opportunities are created every day. What it means for us as educators is that we need to continue to learn and grow and adapt to provide the best educational experience we can for our children. Years ago a colleague of mine gave me a pen for my desk with a quote by Alan Kay that says, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” We need to continuously work on improving what we do and inventing and reinventing the future for the sake of all of our children.
You are right! Considering how our lives are so influenced by technology, let's talk about how we can start introducing computer coding at the grade school level.
ReplyDeleteI think that is a great idea Jenny! Thanks for sharing.
DeleteNever having commented on a blog post in my life, I'm hesitant to put my thoughts out there, yet I will. With changing technology, is it necessary to spend time teaching out-dated skills, like long division? Like Ms. Montgomery stated, might there be better skills to teach our young learners? My own young children use technology in ways that surpass my expectations and bring to mind a sense of hope that their educators will know how to elevate them to the level of expertise that will allow them to participate in this hyper-speed evolution of our society, rather than be left in the dark ages. I believe there is true merit in the basic know-how of skills, yet with technology changing so rapidly, I want my kids to have the modern skills needed to thrive and prosper. I want all of our PV kids to have what they need.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts. I agree that those are the types of questions we need to talk about and continue to dig into. We will continue to look at how we can improve!
DeleteThanks for the great perspective, Phil. I keep thinking that this is just the tip of the iceberg. What will the next 10 years bring is mind blowing.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is the tip of the iceberg and the answer for us is to continue to learn and develop the best program we can for our students.
DeleteIt makes me think of when I first began teaching, and didn't even have a computer on my desk. Now, each student has an iPad in there hands, making information a few clicks away. How fast things do change!
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to continue to identify how we can continue to evolve our program.
DeleteVery interesting post! It makes me realize even more what a huge responsibility we have as educators to prepare our students for the unpredictable future. Teaching in ways to help students create and apply their knowledge in new situations will help them thrive as adults in a world that is totally unknown. My fourth graders continue to impress me with their fearlessness and creativity using technology and I learn from them daily.
ReplyDeleteIt is a huge responsibility and a very exciting one!
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