TAKEAWAY: It was Grandparents’ Day 2010 at my grandsons’ school today and I came face to face with that generation of children, ages 6 to 12, who will be mega consumers of everything digital. Some lessons.
Reading, ‘riting and connecting
My grandsons Max and Ty Garcia, at Carrollwood Day School
Grandson Ty Garcia showing me the composition he wrote on why his grandparents are important to him
When my grandsons Max and Ty Garcia invited me to attend their school’s annual Grandparents’ Day, I immediately put the date down on my calendar, not wanting to miss this opportunity to visit their classrooms, meet the teachers, their classmates, and get a sense of what their school life is all about. Max, 10, and Ty,8, attend Carrollwood Day School in Tampa, a private school with a sprawling, ever growing campus in the Tampa suburbs.
The boys were very eager to introduce me to their teachers and classmates, but, more so, to show me samples of their work hanging on the walls of the classroom.
Of course, I was proud to see that Max decided to do his project about immigration based on my own experiences as a Cuban refugee. He wrote an essay depicting details of my arrival and subsequent life in the US.
Meanwhile, the younger Ty, a second grader, wrote an essay on why his grandparents are important to him, noting that this “grandpa likes to run everyday” but he is “fun to play with when he comes to visit us”.
As my grandsons showed me around, I was very happy to see that there is still emphasis on such traditional academic elements as good penmanshiip (calligraphy). There are actual handwritten compositions hanging on the walls. Though these classrooms are well equipped with computers, and I was impressed with the computer-produced work completed by the students, it is obvious that the main emphasis continues to be the so called 3 R’s (reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic), but also, at least in this school, a tremendous focus on storytelling, original writing, and, for those interested in computers many creative pursuits, including graphics. My grandson Max had done a nice logo which was used to identify compositions on the wall of his classroom. Other samples of art and graphis done on computers were also on display.
An iPad for Christmas?
View of the students on stage singing We Are The World, We Are the Children, as part of special program for Grandparents’ Day
I know that my grandsons are already preparing to ask Santa Claus for iPads for Christmas, and so do their classmates. The few around us today all carried some type of digital equipment with them, from iPods to iTouch to small computers. Remember, the fifth graders are only 10, like my grandson Max. The moment I arrive they ask for my iPhone and they show such dexterity as they download apps, play games and move around the iPhone, that I am mesmerized. With two or three of them playing with my iPhone at the same time, all I could see was fingers enlarging images, reducing them, moving them around. Little fingers on she screen.
Such natural motions for these youngsters.
They cannot imagine life without a screen where, when you touch it, things move, get larger or smaller.
To them the iPad will be ONE of the many digital platforms they will play, study and communicate with before they even graduate from high school.
As you can see, this Grandfather went into elementary school today, and learned much about the future. It was sort of entering a laboratory of the audiences we must start preparing for.
As I drove away from the campus, all I could think of was the exciting possibilities—-which are many.
More importantly, I was a beaming, proud grandpa. Max and Ty, you made my day!
Here I am with Max, Ty and little brother Jack (not yet in school here)
Weekend reading suggestion: don’t miss
The future of reading
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/09/technology/tablet_ebooks_media.fortune/index.htm?section=magazines_fortune&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmagazines_fortune+%28Fortune+Magazine%29
Here is a highlight for you:
Question 5: Can traditional publishing companies reorganize and move fast enough to embrace and serve new platforms?
“They’ve had 15 years to do so since the commercial browser came out,” says Jeff Jarvis, a reconstructed old media guy (he worked for years here at Time Inc.) who’s now a professor and author of the book What Would Google Do? “They haven’t reinvented or reimagined themselves. The talk we’re hearing now is not at all about reinvention and reimagination—it’s again about trying to shoehorn old models of content and business into this new reality.”
Of related interest
While on the subject of iPads:
Gearing Up for the iPad
http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/gearing-up-for-the-ipad/
Philips accessorizes the iPad user
http://www.onthego.philips.com/
TheMarioBlog post #498