Distracted Students?
To be sure, the influence of popular culture and the information and technology explosion on youth behavior is apparent. The evolving trends also reflect how much more difficult teachers' jobs have become as they try to manage classrooms full of students whose minds are often focused on everything but the lessons at hand. The competing demands in the lives of students are at once signs of the times and troubling precursors for those of us who are desperately working to produce high quality learning environments. Parents and schools must continue to work together to not only make sure students are receiving consistent messages at home and school, but also to facilitate cohesive expectations that integrate academics with the social/external interests of students. We are all going to have to be creative enough to incorporate electronic and virtual formats being employed by youth in an era that is dominated by popular culture and many forms of social networking. While we embrace the cultural and social changes that allow us to interact across so many boundaries, we must also be cognizant of the risk of negative behaviors if we don't channel this proliferation of youth choices in constructive ways.
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