Is There Such a Thing as the "Real World"?

Are you actually a teacher if you don’t have one hated educational buzz word? You know, that one that has been repeated at so many faculty meetings and professional development sessions that the word itself has lost all nuance and meaning? For me, it is the phrase “the real world” and how much emphasis is placed on having to “prepare kids for it.” 

Math teacher, google consultant, and “edu twitter personality”, Alice Keeler, once tweeted this and it left me questioning my own classroom policies and expectations:

So, what is the real world? For kids, arguably, the real world is going to school for six hours a day, five days a week. That is their world and it is very much real. I’m not trying to argue that there is no value in preparing kids for life beyond schooling, but, as Mike Wesch points out in his TedTalk, What Baby George Taught Me About Learning, if everywhere else is the real world, then your classroom begins to feel like a strange fantasy land in comparison. 

What I like about Wesch’s philosophy is that he takes an aspect of the “real world” -specifically, collaboration- and roots his action, lessons, and grading policies in the belief that students learn best when they are working together towards a shared goal. He argues that the conventional grading policy is a poor motivator for genuine learning because “D” and “F” students give up out of despair and “A” and “B” students give up out of complacency. Instead, he reimagines his classroom as a mountain where all students are climbers. Some students scale certain parts of the mountain with ease but those students turn around and help the others reach plateaus. In this way, the learning experience itself becomes the central focus for teachers and students.

Or, maybe the real A+ is the friends we made along the way.

Digital Citizenship

One of the most defining aspects of my tween and teenage identity was my love of Harry Potter and the wizarding world. My parents, teachers, and friends at school all knew this. What they did not know, was that my engagement expanded far beyond the books. I was an active member of several Harry Potter online forums where I discussed the books, wrote and read fanfiction, and made deep and lasting (to this day) friendships. During this time, I learned a lot about online spaces -these forums had their own language, culture, and content- but I lacked the ability to critically examine what I saw. I also still needed to be explicitly taught skills associated with typing, word processing, spreadsheets, illustrator programs, etc. 

Although I may not technically fall into the category of “digital native” I think my experience is similar to that of my students. They are absolutely savvy, quick, and creative in the social media spaces in which they occupy, particularly Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and Soundcloud. Honestly, I don’t think adults give them enough credit for their ingenuity. In this respect, I appreciate Marc Prensky’s overall intention in referring to our students as “digital natives” because it gives validity to their experiences. It also implores adults to at least acknowledge that growing up in a world with smartphones and the internet has had a significant physiological and psychological impact. 

I also worry that referring to our students as “digital natives” assumes a level of skill and competency that is not accurate. As Danah Boyd argues in chapter 7 of Its Complicated, digital fluency is less about being familiar with the latest “gadgets” or “apps” and more about being able to critically examine, interpret, and understand the media one consumes. This skill, over anything we teach with the common core, or otherwise, is imperative in our modern world. Consider Facebook’s role in the 2016 presidential election, where targeted ads, fake accounts, and polarizing memes may have actually impacted the outcome. 

As far as the term “digital native” goes, I’m not sure I am a fan -both because of its implications that students are digitally fluent and its ethnocultural connotations. Regardless, we are all digital citizens and as teachers, we have a responsibility to empower our students to be critical consumers of media. 

Introductions

Hi, my name is Katie Carroll (she/her) and I am a 2013 graduate of Rhode Island College where I received a BA in Secondary Education/English. I have been teaching English and journalism at Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School for five years. As of January 2018, I was accepted into the M.Ed program in Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning. Feel free to follow me on twitter where I tweet for an audience of both my colleagues and my students!

When I am not teaching, I volunteer part-time for Ten Lives Cat Rescue, a foster-based rescue that is dedicated to "forgotten felines" -the physically and emotionally scarred, the behaviorally challenged, and those with critical medical care. I foster under-socialized cats, coordinate adoptions, and assist with event planning.

Although I do not have children of my own, I am a dedicated auntie to my nieces: Grace and Julia. Since March, it has been incredibly challenging to be quarantined from them because they live with my parents and grandmother, who are more medically at-risk. Recently, however, we have begun to have "social distant" hangouts in outdoor spaces. Below, you will see pictures from a recent picnic. My niece, Grace, is very much like me in that she enjoys exploring historical cemeteries. So I hope you'll excuse the somewhat bizarre location for our lunch!

In my spare time, I enjoy playing Dungeons & Dragons, listening to my favorite podcast, Welcome to Nightvale, and spending time with my cats, Lizzie and Buford.