Five Essentials To Create Connected Students (#15)

     Vicki Davis came up with 5 essentials to creating connecting students.  She wants children to be connected to the outside world and society, but she wants them to be able to be connected in the right way.  Using hash-tags, not for fun but for educational purposes.  Connecting to authors by blogging, knowing how to create wikis, sharing on Twitter, etc.  She wants them know how to properly publish something online.  She wants her students to be able to engage in a conversation and learning how to be a conversationalist through the internet is a great way to learn.  Being able to be a strategic disconnecter is important as well.  Lastly, she wants her students to be creators, not consumers.
     My favorite though, has to be essential number 4: A Strategic Disconnector.  She states, "while connecting is important, disconnecting is essential."  Procrastination and distractions are easier to do now that we have smart phones, apps, and the internet right in our hands.  We as a society have lost the ability to communicate by word of mouth.  We are wonderful at connecting through the internet now.  Sometimes I wish technology was where it was when I was a young child.  Phones were used for calling, and that is it.  We need to have well-rounded lives and should be ale to put our phones down to do homework, or work.  We should be able to put our phones down and not check them for an hour while we eat dinner with our families, yet society as a whole says it is ok to text and search the web at all times.  I think technology is good if used properly, but we are not using it properly anymore.  We are over-using it.