Net Gen and The Digital Natives

Digital Natives and the Net Gen hits very close to home when it comes to me personally. I was one of the children born into the video game and computer craze. I remember as a child having Atari and Nintendo. I also remember always having a computer in the classroom. My parents bought our first computer at home when I was in elementary school.
I believe that students born into this generation become more and more surrounded by technology as the years pass. The old ways of getting the students attention don't work as well because the students play video games and watch TV for many hours out of the day. As teachers I believe we need to bring the technology that the students use in their everyday lives and teach them with it. It said in Educating the Net Generation, that students see teachers many times as being illiterate when it comes to speaking their language. Using technology and the computer in the classroom interests students and will hook their attention.
I believe that the new concepts or idea of using technology with students is a great one. I believe as educators we should be held accountable for learning how to use the new technology as it is developed. We need to stay up to date in order to be able to relate to our students. The ability to relate to our students allows for us to find items that can be used in order to get them to want to learn.
These ideas are not radical at all. The world keeps moving forward and changing, and as educators we need to be doing the same. The information that was taught to the parents of the children we teach is not all the same now as it was then. Just as the Oregon Trail was a hook many years ago, cell phones, ELMOS, and interactive white boards are the hooks now.