Generation Alpha Unleashed -- onto Teachers

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A substitute teacher reflects on how Generation Alpha differs from Gen Z and how teachers can adapt their methods accordingly. This light-hearted exploration of generational differences reveals that Alpha students are the first fully digital generation, with distinct learning preferences and world perspectives.

• Fourth graders are split between Gen Z and Generation Alpha based on their birth years
• Generation Alpha grew up entirely in the digital age, making them extremely tech-savvy by nature
• Early childhood disruptions like COVID-19 have impacted social development and maturity
• Alpha students show increased global awareness and environmental consciousness
• They learn best in "gamified" environments that leverage digital engagement
• Every generation faces criticism from those who came before—60s had "groovy," Gen Z has "slay"
• Teachers must adapt to students rather than expecting students to conform to outdated methods
• Despite concerns about entitlement or anxiety, Generation Alpha brings positive qualities to education

Check out my Instagram where I break down Gen Z slang—I'll even play it for you at the end of this episode!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Greg Collins, june 10th 2025.
Substitute Teachers Lounge.
I had the fourth grade all toreup the other day because we
were sitting around.
Somebody mentioned that theythought I was a cool sub, that
somebody else mentioned I thinkMr Jackson is a cool sub and

(00:21):
they asked him why.
And he said because he saidslay the other day and I'm
thinking that is a Gen Z word.
And I got them all tore upafter that because I said you
know, only half of this class isGen Z because of the way your
birthdays fall.
The other half is GenerationAlpha.

(00:41):
Today we're going to talk aboutGeneration Alpha because there's
a lot of stuff about it outthere on the internet Substitute
Teacher's Loud.
All right, full disclosure.

(01:03):
Now that I've done a littleresearch on the generations.
There's quite a bit of overlapand probably the whole fourth
grade could be considered either, but it's so funny, the
different generations.
I'm going to talk about whatthe Internet says about
Generation Alpha and you know Idon't want to plagiarize, but I

(01:24):
don't even know who to give thecredit to now, because you know,
when you Google something thesedays, the first thing that pops
up is the AI summation, in fact, last week's episode.
If you don't do anything else,even if you didn't listen, go
back and listen to thatinterview where I interviewed a

(01:48):
fifth grader and a kindergartenstudent, because the AI built
into my podcast came up with thedescription for that and it
almost made me choke up when Iread it.
It was so effective.
So most of the notes I'm goingto give you today and some
comments are going to be the AIsummary.

(02:10):
So thank you, ai.
I will give you credit as soonas I figure out who the credit
belongs to.
As I think back over thegenerations, I asked the
students they know my age, theyknow how old I am.
I ask them what generation doyou think I was in?
A lot of them will saymillennial.
I don't even know which groupthat is, but they usually come

(02:34):
up with baby boomer and I'm kindof nervous in elementary school
when I ask them well, what isbaby boomer?
Sometimes I won't even ask themwhat does baby boomer even?
I won't even ask them what itdoes baby boomer even mean.
They already know.
I don't have to mention whythey call it baby boomer.
They already know.
They knew that after world warii was over, that people came

(02:56):
back and had babies and that'swhere baby boomer came from and
I'm proud of that.
But but you know my generation,my goodness.
I grew up as a teenager in the60s.
Was there a more radical decadethan the 60s?
I mean, I've watched movies onNetflix about how we got into

(03:19):
Vietnam.
Should we have gotten intoVietnam?
Where the protests came from?
Why?
All of us, including myself?
Yes, I used to have hair downto my shoulders.
I think I was a freshman incollege when that happened
because all of us guys back thenwanted to look like the Beatles
.
My father would fuss at me forplaying my music too loud,

(03:41):
playing maybe the wrong kind ofmusic.
I never was much into the musicthat had swear words in it
because I just thought that waskind of gimmicky to get the
record to sell more.
But every generation has itsstuff to deal with and every
group of teachers that hastaught in a generation has had

(04:04):
to live with what they're goingthrough.
I actually did a.
It was supposed to be comical,I think.
I think people liked it.
I did an Instagram about Gen Z.
It's probably been three orfour months ago now.
I'll play it at the end of thisepisode if you want to listen
to it.
So the latest thing that I haveon Generation Alpha, it's kind

(04:27):
of funny.
My interest in doing this topicwas because I read an article
in an electronic newspaper andit was just ripping into
Generation Alpha like we're notgoing to be able to teach them.
They live in their own world.
They won't care a thing aboutwhat I say, they will just turn

(04:47):
the other direction and ignoreus.
They are selfish andegotistical.
Well, those are pretty strongwords and it made me think that
couldn't be exclusively whatthat generation is known for.
So I'm going to give you thehighlights and this is

(05:09):
highlights based on when Isearched I actually searched
Generation Alpha student, so youcould do the same thing, get
the same results.
And it's funny, every generationhas its own words.
I mean 60s, you know.
I don't think anybody saysgroovy anymore.
People probably still say cool.

(05:30):
Those were two big words.
What's going on?
We would say things like farout and things like that.
If you ever watch Back to theFuture, you'll hear some of the
old words.
It's kind of funny to think thatany generation is worse in
teaching than the others.
I am of the opinion thatteachers I'm 67, I'm old enough

(05:55):
I can say this, if I want to.
Teachers need to adapt to thetype of students they're
teaching.
We can't just insist on.
I've done it this way for 40years.
You're going to learn it theway I'm going to teach it
because everybody's not asreceptive as you want them to be
.
You're not as receptive Ifsomebody tries to lay something

(06:19):
on you and you don't want tohear it.
You're going to ignore it,you're not going to pay
attention, and that's kind ofthe way it goes sometimes.
So the generation alpha here'swhat the internet says we need
to keep in mind.
First of all, they are thedigital bunch, man.
They are, I guess the best wayto say it is.

(06:39):
They grew up in a world whereeverything was digital.
I mean everything.
Think about the last time youchecked your smartphone.
I'm going to guess you'vechecked it.
Since you started listening tothis, I'm going to guess I've
gotten kind of sloppy with mine.
It's like any random thoughtnow that pops into my head.

(07:03):
I get on my smartphone, googleit and see if I remember it
correctly.
It's like I can't wait.
Sometimes I do it while I'm inchurch because I'll forget it
when church is over.
I'm still listening, preacher,I promise, but we do that all
the time, so we're just as badas they are.
But they grew up in the digitalage.
They're one of the first groups.

(07:24):
Gen z's highly digital too, butthey're the first group that
can say that their entire life.
They came out of the womb witha smartphone in their hand, so
to speak, from day one.
That that's what they did.
They had those early childhoodissues, like COVID was five

(07:47):
years ago now.
So if you're in fourth grade,you're 10, that happened when
you were five.
That is a very early time inyour life.
So they had to go through allthat.
Doggone it, man, that face.
At least in the seven yearsthat I've been substitute
teaching, that affected kidsmore than anything else, because
it was amazing how much moreimmature they were just by

(08:12):
missing out on that year of Idon't know what would you call
it just interacting with eachother, interacting with kids
their own age, all that, thatkind of thing.
Well, critical thinking.
You could say that, as theynavigate information, we should
probably focus on emphasizingcritical thinking skills,

(08:37):
because they probably didn't getmuch of that on their own.
They like to learn inenvironments that are for lack
of a better phrase gamified.
The state of Kentucky.
Now our Kentucky High SchoolAthletic Association recognizes
game competition and has highschool programs with awards and

(09:01):
all that kind of stuff.
So they have, in fact, adaptedto that.
Now, their global awareness italmost seems like it's a little.
They really have a strongawareness of social issues and
things going on in the worldbecause, again, it's all around

(09:22):
them.
They can't get away from it.
Even if they don't watch thenews on TV, even if they don't
have a smartphone, they've gotfriends with smartphones.
They keep up with that kind ofthing.
They're probably more concernedabout the environment than I
was back in the 60s.
We probably need to be moreconcerned.
There's more things to beconcerned about and that's one

(09:43):
of the things they think abouttoo.
All those are theircharacteristics.
I think that, on the positiveside, that should affect how we
teach them and I think they arethe most tech-savvy they may be
entitled.
That's what that first articlewas about Maybe a little bit

(10:06):
more anxious than we've beenbefore.
But as far as their academicperformance, we have read
concerns about declining readingand math skills, because a lot
of kids would read at home inthe old days.
What are they doing home now?
A lot of kids would practicemath in the old days.
What are they doing home now?
A lot of kids would practicemath in the old days.

(10:26):
What are they doing now?
I don't know.
That old article mentionedincreased misbehavior in the
classroom.
I don't know about that.
Maybe you're seeing somethingdifferent than I have.
But I'll just close this out bysaying Generation Alpha is here
.
We are the teachers and thesubstitute teachers that are

(10:47):
going to try our best.
Since we can't talk them out ofbeing in their generation,
we'll adapt to them and try tochange our teaching methods
accordingly they said I was thelulu.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
What does that mean?
But then I realized it's just aGen Z thing.
So I studied Gen Z words and Igot all the deets.
You may think I'm cray cray,but now I can eat.
Now don't be jelly, because ifyou know, you know I won't dish
you because you're slow to theshow.

(11:24):
So I'm just dropping bars withthe words I sang.
I know it's a sus, but it's aGen Z thing.
Man, oh man.
I slayed that song and thisBaby Boomer thing sits far out
and groovy.
Can you dig it?