Who Is Generation Alpha?

Who is Generation Alpha?

What do you and your teacher friends discuss during your lunch break? The latest episode of The Bachelor; the status of the cranky copy machine; the latest craze your students are into (hello poppits!).

A common break room discussion in my school is the changes we are noticing in the students these days. Generation Alpha has thrown us for a loop! Perhaps it is because this new generation is so very different from our own, we are finding it difficult to reach success with the same strategies we have tried and loved for years. What has changed? Why aren't we getting through?

The truth is that our students have changed, but we have not. Generation Alpha is different from any other we have seen before. These are the kids who have been watching screens since they were babies, who are already connected to their peers digitally, and are used to having their content on-demand. These kids have never had to wait for their show to come on the actual TV at the actual scheduled time! They watch what they want, when they want, on their own screen.

Mark McCrindle, of Australia (hello gorgeous accent!), describes Generation Alpha kiddos as being shaped "in a time where online engagement supersedes time spent face-to-face, when the digital is increasingly replacing the physical, and where global influences are often more potent than local ones" (McCrindle, 2021). He digs into everything from their favorite toys to their future jobs in the interview below.

As we can see, Generation Alpha is unlike any we have taught before. To truly reach these learners, we will need to change. Personalized learning can help us reach these students in ways our standard, one-size-fits-all methods cannot. So here is your challenge, reader, should you choose to accept: Look hard at your instructional practices. Are they going to reach this new generation? If not, do the hard. Change your methods to meet this new generation of learners, and build a bright future for us all.

If you accept, come on this journey of personalized learning with me. You're going to love the ride.

Dig into Generation Alpha with these resources:

What is Generation Alpha? Everything to Know about the Kids of Millenials by Huffington Post

Generation Alpha by McCrindle & Fell