Hello World

 Hey, y'all it's Joel coming at you from Sunny California. I'm currently on my last semester of university and I am sort of excited to become a teacher. Why don't I sound very enthusiastic? Well besides the territory that becoming a teacher entails, I am not looking forward to technology’s contribution to lower literacy rates. Of course, I am not a Luddite. I understand the necessity of tech supplies as we advance as a society, but I believe that for grade-school students it should be limited. As an elementary school teaching assistant, I have had my fair share of experiences dealing with the infamous “iPad kid.” Amped up on the adrenaline of instant gratification, these kids are completely lost when having to perform a task that has more than two steps. They are completely helpless and rely on technology to either do the work for them or give them answers. Which leads me back to my not-so-enthusiastic entrance to pedagogy; teenagers who grew up with technology from the time they were born to now have a hard time grasping directions and, simply, lack an understanding of what it feels like to accomplish a goal. If everything is easy, what is there to work for? However, as our society becomes more technologically advanced, we must keep up. This doesn't mean using AI to write your essay! But, what it does mean is using software for typing or programs that help you learn and work out problems on your own. Despite how grim the future seems there is still a little light that our next generation brings us. Lots of teachers at the elementary level are doing their part to combat literacy decline by making sure that their students understand not only how to read (deciphering letter symbols) but also how to digest their reading and form ideas. Fifth graders are writing poems again instead of being on their damn phones. Maybe there is hope for the future.