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=**Upgrading the Curriculum**=
 * //“Our children and youth are immersed in technologies that give them opportunities no previous generation has enjoyed. How will schools respond?”- Larry D Rosen, 2011// **

Today’s youth, those born in the 1990 and beyond, are labeled as the //iGeneration//. The //i// referring to both types of digital technologies popular with our youth (iPod, iPhone, Wii, iTunes, and many more) and the activities that these technologies make possible (Rosen, 2011, p. 12). The //iGeneration// is immersed in technology; “their tech world is open 24/4” (Rosen, 2011, p.15). Therefore, we need to take advantage of today’s youth’s love for technology to refocus education (Rosen, 2011, p.15).

Using technology to improve education does not mean teachers should simply use a computer verses a typewriter, or using an interactive whiteboard verses an LCD projector or overhead (Jacobs, 2010, p. 22). It doesn’t mean to provide technology for technology’s sake. The goal is not to “teach with technology” but to use it to communicate content and curriculum more effectively and proficiently (Rosen, 2011).

“Teachers want to prepare their students for life in the 21st century, and they want their kids to love being in school. Yet they regularly witness a disconnect between the real world outside their classroom and the contrived dated world that exists within,” (Gee & Levin, 2009, p.51) Teachers have to ensure that this connection is made in a way that will certainly prepare students to meet the needs of the society in which they will live and serve in a little while. This can be done by carefully examining the content and finding tools that will enhance learning – tools which are relevant and connected to what is really applicable in the world today. Technology today has made it possible for every teacher to find meaningful ways of applying tools that will enrich the content to which our children will be exposed. Today’s technological resources serve as compasses as they assist teachers in chartering the pathways that will take the children to where today’s needs lead. “Content replacements require us to carefully articulate what is timely and timeless and to concurrently find out what we can let go,” (Jacobs, 2010, p. 1) It is our responsibility as teachers to ensure that we use our experiences to make the best choices for the students who we teach.

According to Newby (2005), "The power to interpret, to be critical, and to be able to navigate will be highly prized attributes in the well-educated person of the twenty-first century, so our curriculum will have to position young minds to know how to think in ways like these" (p.299). It is imperative that we maintain a curriculum that will hold our students' interests in order for them to be successful in the 21st century. By opening ourselves to new ways of learning through multiple uses of technology, we will be able to meet our students' needs.

Newby, M. (2005, November 1). A curriculum for 2020. //Journal of Education for Teaching, 31//(4), 297–300. Retrieved from @http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=18711019&site=ehost-live&scope=site