Characteristics of Modern Writing Students

Considering the way my grandmother's generation wrote compared to the way students write today, much has changed. Some of those changes are more superficial, while I consider others to be more concrete; both are important though.

There seems to be less of an emphasis put on handwriting skills today, and the use of cursive has diminished as well. The content students write about has changed as well--or at least the publication of the content. Students today seem to be of a "Tell All" nature, and many of the things they discuss today are things that were never spoken of, at least not in public. We have also moved away from the need for wrote memorization, as was the way of the past.

I think there are definite advantages to the incorporation of new media/technology in the classroom. I like how Selber and Selfe view the,"literacy activities in an electronic space-reading and composing, analyzing and producing, manipulating and remediating"(Knievel, 101). We have an obligation to help our students master the new literacy skills described above. I also think we have an even greater obligation to those students who might not have access to new media tools in the home. If we don't teach these students to function with new media tools, and acquire new literacy skills they won't be able to compete on the same level with those who do have greater access/opportunity. I also think we have an obligation to encourage students (HS especially) to use these tools in the safest, positive, and most productive ways.

In returning back to generation before the Internet, radio had a big influence on my grandmother, television had a big influence on my mother, for me, Sesame Street and video games. Each generation has seen major changes in media, but I think none were so drastic as the introduction of Internet and Web 2.0. Information is moving faster than ever before, and there is much more for students to know. I think students today must be able to adapt to changes with technology than previous generations have. They are also better multitaskers--which often amazes me. One question/concern I have is how the N-Gen or D-Gen students are able to handle being cut off from technology. Does it drive them crazy to be disconnected for any period of time?