Teaching Tip #23

Teacherscribe’s Teaching Tip #23

iPods, radios, and the Pony Express.

In his book Generation iY, Tim Elmore, focuses on what he refers to as the most diverse workforce (generationally speaking) in the history of the world.

This impacts us several ways in teaching.

iPods, radios, and the Pony Express simply refers to how many different generations are now working together in the work force.

As it applies to my experience as a teacher, though, I’d tweak it to be iPhones, iPods, DVDs,VCRs, radios, and the Pony Express.  Or Netflix, Youtube, ESPN, Fox, HBO, NBC/ABS,CBS, black and white tvs, radio, and the printing press.  

Man, I could do that all day.

But at the core of this is simply how so many of us in the workforce have grown up experiencing the world differently yet now we are all thrown together, despite our learning differences.

For example,

You have Gen Z who mainly experiences their world through their devices.  They chuckle when they hear the term “land line” and have no idea what the world was like when you just couldn’t Google something and have a video tutorial show up.  Then you have the millennials who mainly experienced the world through the internet.  These are the kids who chuckle when they recall ever having to deal with dial up.  They have not really known a world either when you just couldn’t Google something and have a webpage come up with the answer.  Then you have Gen X who experienced the world through TV.  We chuckle when we recall how cool it was to be able to use a VCR to record your favorite shows.  You have the Baby Boomers who experienced the world through radio.  They can recall listening to the three or four radio stations that actually came in to hear pretty much the same songs over and over again.  (just contrast that with what Gen Z has today with Pandora or iHeart radio or even Youtube or iTunes where you can hear the widest variety of music in the history of the world).  Before them you still might have a few of the Silent Generation in management or ownership roles who experienced the world that was pre-media.  They remember the first TV show they ever saw and listening to the news on the radio and shows such as Inner Sanctum, The Creaking Door, Dick Tracey, and Flash Gordon.

How you experience the world, impacts how your brain develops.  There is little doubt about this.  That shapes how we think and learn.  That is vital for us being successful in the workplace.

Now add to that other generational differences.