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Gen Z vs. Gen Alpha

In last weeks Social Studies Methods class we talked all about the Digital Generation. To be more clear, we discussed Generation Z and Generation Alpha. I am apart of Generation Z which ranges from the years 1995-2009, whereas Generation Alpha ranges from the years 2010-2024. Before I start talking all about that, I want to begin with the fun activity that we began class with, which is known as a "brain-break." A brain-break is exactly what is sounds like: a break from whatever you are focusing on at the time. They are proven to show real benefits that include a reduction of anxiety, stress, and frustration. The brain-break that my class and I participated in was an acrostic of our names from the letters A-Z. A picture of mine can be found below!


As you can see, my name is Danielle. So, for example some of the words I chose to describe myself were "dedicated," "empathetic," and "funny." I would say that these words describe me pretty well and others who know me would agree. I really enjoyed participating in this activity and sharing it with the rest of my class. I hope we get to do more brain-breaks throughout the semester. :)

The Many Faces of The Digital Generation

Now, back to the discussion of the digital generation. Technology has become super powerful over the years. Essentially, it has taken over everyone's lives which is not particularly a good thing. Coming from Generation Z, I can say that I am pretty familiar with technology. Although I did grow up with it, I was not truly introduced to it until I got my first phone in 7th grade. Up until that point, the only technology I knew of was the one at school which was the computer. There was no iPad, iPhone, iPod that I was using at the time and looking back on it I am grateful for that because today's generation (Gen Alpha) has developed a dependency on it. Whether it be at school or at home it is extremely rare to see a person from Gen Alpha not using some form of technology. They have truly become infused in it and there is no way to stop it, so we might as well embrace it. As a future educator I hope to immerse myself and my future students in technology in a way so that is impactful. In the future, who knows what sort of new technology there may be. Therefore, it is time for myself and other future educators to learn more about it. In class, my group and I discussed more about this by creating a PowerPoint on the 9 elements of digital citizenship. You can access that presentation here. Ultimately, I look forward to learning more about different types of technology throughout the course of this class and becoming more tech-savvy. See you in my next post!










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