Curating resources & sharing stories to empower teacher & student ownership, wonder, and daring.
As I continue to pursue my one-word goal of synthesis, I’ve decided to give another graphic a shot! I love the process of visually uniting the learning concepts on my mind, as well as the opportunity to sift through recent ideas from my PLN that have inspired me most. I would love your feedback on this project! (Below is the jpeg version. See the clickable version here!)
featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto
For a kid whose internet use is still limited almost exclusively to Netflix, I’ve been surprised just how enthralled my first grader has been by White Ribbon Internet Safety Week. I’m sure that this has more than a little to do with all the prizes her school is raffling off for participation, but still.
She came home eager to chat about all the Internet safety “power boosts.” What surprised me even more than her enthusiasm was her ability to make important connections, even without the context of full internet use.
So today’s #TeacherMom post is a follow-up on my post entitled, “3 Reasons High School’s Too Late to Teach Digital Citizenship.”
#1: It helps them build intuition and confidence.
In the course of our conversation, my daughter and I watched a Youtube video about cyberbullying that featured some boys taking a picture of a classmate, adding unkind captions, and then circulating it through the school. When we finished, my daughter told me about how an older student asked to take a selfie with her at Halloween, and she wondered if that had been cyberbullying.
In that moment, the protective mama-bear side of me just wanted to blurt, “Never let anyone take your picture without permission [because cyberbullying]!” But instead, we discussed that moment in the video when the boys sneakily snapped that girl’s photo and walked away laughing. I asked her how that moment felt, and how it compared to how she felt when the student asked to take a picture with her in their Halloween costumes.
She concluded that the older student had not intended any harm in her situation, and was able to begin to learn about identifying and trusting her own gut feelings. And since I know I won’t be there in most of her future moments of uncertainty, I’m grateful that she is learning such discernment now.
(I also loved that she made a great connection here with a phrase from her teacher: “Hurtful or helpful?”)
#2: It helps them learn to be true to themselves.
Given that my daughter doesn’t yet have much of an online presence, it was a bit confusing for her when we discussed the “power boosts” that involved friends doing or saying silly things online. But we were able to start the discussion about how some people think that their internet lives are different than their “real” lives, and so they do and say things online that they would never say in-person. I loved that we are already building the foundation that we should “ALWAYS be the same in person as you are online” (LivBits, an inspiring young digital citizen I recently wrote about). As a result, she doesn’t even have time yet to develop the notion that her online self will differ from her in-person self.
#3: It gives the opportunity to model our own digital lives.
Because the White Ribbon week focuses on safety for young kids, one of the power boosts says, “I will use tech to connect with my REAL-LIFE friends. People online are not always who they say they are.” In this context, we discussed how there are people who try to “make friends” online and get kids to meet with them to cause harm. However, I also got to tell my daughter about how now, as an adult, I get to connect with and learn from teachers all over the world that I haven’t met. But we also returned again to safety measures that I take now as well.
When my daughter wants to play outside with friends in our neighborhood, we talk both about the safety and the possibilities. I am grateful for the opportunity to lay the same foundation for her digital life.
featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto
The content for this week’s provocation began with me investigating all this viral talk on #FakeNews. The more I researched, the more I came to two conclusions:
1. The need for educators to help students discern accurate sources is not new, though the stakes are getting higher if we don’t succeed.
2. Rather than focusing on the current FakeNews frenzy, it’s more valuable for us to step back and examine the big concepts surrounding the issue.
So yes, this provocation is useful if you’re wanting to talk to your students about Fake News. But more importantly, it’s more useful for helping your students recognize all that online research entails: the good, the bad, the ugly, and why all that matters for them.
Resource #1: “Where Things Come From”
Resource #2: What IS Media Literacy?
Resource #3: What is Media Literacy?
Another resource from TED_Ed on verifying factual news.
Provocation Questions:
featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto
Thanks to Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano sharing about her upcoming sketchnoting presentation this summer (all those near or able to get to Boston, you should go!), I was introduced to a pretty remarkable digital citizen today. Her name is Olivia, aka LivBit, and she loves books, sharks, and always doing “good things for this world.”
#SoExcited my new promo video! #makingmymark
Thx @amyriley418 @FablePaul @peterhreynolds Is it #fableworthy? ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ncTymayj75— Olivia Van Ledtje (@thelivbits) July 27, 2016
After experiencing bullying in second grade, Olivia’s mom helped her start LivBits for her to share her voice and rekindle her feelings of self-worth. Since then, she has shared weekly videos on books,
has spread her passion for sharks,
and has even presented in conferences!
My fav #digitalsummit quote so far: “it’s important to be who you are online just the same as you are in person”! @thelivbits SO true!
— LBayne (@LBayne) October 28, 2016
She is a wonderful example of what kids can do when they are encouraged as positive digital citizens!
It reminded me yet again of this conversation educator George Couros shared:
We may feel tempted to wait until they are in junior high or high school, but now is the time to help our young kids learn to harness this technology to spread their passions, make a difference, and do good.
featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto
My online bookmarks are a mess. The only thing that irritates me more than the fact that they aren’t doing me any good in their jumbled mess of folders is that they aren’t doing anyone else any good there either.
Fixing that today with this little graphic of resources, strategies, and ideas that I couldn’t help but bookmark over the years (even though I knew it meant adding to the mess). It also links to a few of my posts that included many of those bookmarks to further help me organize my favorite resources/strategies.
As you browse, please remember that innovative ideas will only make an impact when wielded by innovative teachers–individuals committed to thinking outside the box, encouraging student empowerment, and cultivating a personal growth-mindset. Also know that they aren’t intended as a silver bullet for classrooms everywhere; some might be more/less useful than others to you and your circumstances.
But I hope that you will be able to find something new, useful, and/or inspiring from this graphic!
I decided to frame the entire thing around the 4 C’s of 21st century education (I wanted to use the ISTE standards for students, but it proved too much for the visual I intended, but if you check those out, you’ll see a lot of parallels anyway). Please let me know what you found most useful, or if you have additional ideas to share! Enjoy!
When I began this extended parental leave from teaching, I could never have dreamed how much I would still wind up learning even while away from the classroom. How many people would be willing to teach me. How often my thinking would be pushed.
When I share blog posts and articles by others in my PLN on social media, I often include a quote that was meaningful to me. I want you to know that each time I do this, it’s because you’ve taught me, challenged me, and lifted me. And I am so very grateful.
Here are 20 articles that particularly made me think in 2016. Their impact has been such that I have continued pondering them long after reading them. They continue to shape and inspire my thinking, writing, and living. Thank you for making my continued professional learning possible, and for enriching my life in all facets!
Working with Adults will Make Me More Patient with Children by Taryn Bondclegg:
Are You the Only Judge? by Edna Sackson:
The Least We Can Do by Pernille Ripp:
The Key to Learner Agency is Ownership by Bill Ferriter:
What If, It’s Not the “Program?” by Faige Meller:
Part of the Journey… by Jina Belnick:
Best. First. Week. of School. Ever by Taryn Bondclegg:
Student Led Conferences by Mr. Ullman:
Life Without a Number System by Graeme Anshaw:
Giving the Writing Process Back to Our Students (Part 2): Teaching Students To Find Their Own Mentor Texts by Jessica Lifshitz:
Slowing the Hands of Time by Darian Mckenzie:
Language by Megan Morgan:
Positive, Negative, or Neutral? by George Couros:
Going Gradeless Part 2 by Jonathan So:
Independent Reading: A Research Based Defense by Russ Walsh:
Allow Choice But Insist on Depth by Sam Sherratt:
Cuisenaire Around the World by Simon Gregg
Tools for Student-Driven Learning by Richard Wells:
Enliven Class Discussions With Gallery Walks by Rebecca Alber:
The New Liquidity Of Learning by David Culberhouse:
featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto
As our family settled in a few weeks ago to watch a show together, my toddler’s attention was captured by an icon for an National Geographic animal documentary. And that’s how we found ourselves learning about baboons’ alpha hierarchy and frogs’ defense mechanisms that night.
What surprised me most was how the show’s benefits for my son went well beyond simply learning about animal facts. It was the engagement. It was the conversation. It was the connection. As he soaked up every word and every shot, he asked questions, he placed vocabulary in context, and he play-acted out his observations.
This experience had me reflecting about two ideas.
The first is that we can more frequently go to the source for learning. With all the guidelines and curriculum and expert recommendations, we as adults often feel the need to contrive and filter to maximize our kids’ learning. It’s like we think that if we can pack in enough ABC’s and numbers and cooperation messages in one show (or workbook, etc), it’s like a multivitamin we can feed our kids to fill in the gaps of their education (and no, this is not to bash those shows–we love Sesame Street around here, remember?).
Yet the reality is, we don’t have to rely on such concoctions for learning. True, when it comes to science and history, we’re usually already many steps removed from the source–after all, it’s not like we can take a field trip to the Serengeti or World War II or the Moon. But, often thanks to modern technology and social networking, we can get ourselves and our children closer than ever (like leveraging Google Street View for virtual exploration, or following this Twitter account that narrates WWII in real time, or exploring this Interactive Lunar Guide by ESA).
The second thought: when we more directly allow our children’s interests to take the lead, richer learning follows. Learning is to be had wherever our students’ interests lead us. Like I said above, my son wasn’t just learning about animal facts. He was learning vocabulary, speaking and listening skills, and even pre-reading skills through his imaginative play.
More importantly, when we try to turn this on its head–that is, force student interest on our agenda for “learning”–the results are poorer anyway. As Marcia L. Tate writes in Reading & Language Arts Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites:
“…there is actually a physiological reason for whether students choose to comprehend instruction. The basal ganglia acts like a policeman that protects the brain from distracting input. Information that has been selected as worthy of being learned flows through fibers back to the thalamus and on to areas of the brain where information can be interpreted (Nevills & Wolfe, 2009).”
Of course, with a class of 30+ students, it is certainly a challenge to meet our students where they are in their interests, which is why boxed programs with promises for perfect differentiation and solutions to all our students’ reading comprehension needs are tempting.
While we’re going to keep on watching intermittent episodes of Sesame Street around here, in the future, it will be less about meeting some kind of learning quota and more about family entertainment. And I look forward to getting better at recognizing learning opportunites as they come through my children’s interests.
Featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto
