If you've been watching or listening to the news lately, you already know that public schools are "failing our nation's students." A couple of weeks ago I heard a new way in which we are "failing" these students. Again, if you've been watching or listening, you probably also heard about the tragedy at Rutgers College a few weeks back where a student committed suicide due to a crime committed in a digital nature. This is not the first time a young adult has taken their life due to a digital issues. From what I heard on National Public Radio, schools across the nation are not doing a good enough job teaching young adults and adolescents to be good digital citizens.
I have a few things I'd like to mention about this. The first is that, in my opinion, being a good digital citizen is a lot like being a good citizen in general. It includes being conscientious about the feelings of others, being open to new ideas and people's differences, and thinking before you speak, act, or click post. Our school just recently had a speaker from The Civil Rights Team Project come work with our students to teach them more about how hurtful words can be. He also spent a staff meeting with us teachers to talk about cyberbullying. One thing that he said about cyberbullying that really resonated with me was "cyberbullying is like bullying on steriods." The severity of the bullying, and the speed with which it can move from person to person or group to group, really can make cyberbullying horrific.
As a teaching staff, we took a look at some of the reasons why cyberbullying can be so harsh. One reason is because there is a disconnect between humans. The computers can serve as a wall between people. Kids feel empowered to say things that they would never say to someone's face. Check out this video from The National Crime Prevention Council that give a good depiction of what cyberbullying would look like if it were to happen face-to-face.
This ad is meant to make you feel so uncomfortable that it might even make you chuckle a little bit. It is so ridiculous to think that someone would ever speak like this to someone else in front of a crowd, and that people would just sit back and listen to it. But, when you think about it, this is exactly like cyberbullying. People say things they wouldn't normally say and share things they wouldn't normally share in real life.
I do feel confident in saying that at my school we are continually trying to educate ourselves and our students in terms of bullying and cyberbullying so that our school can be a safe environment for everyone. We are also putting into place a new 10 week program, led by our librarian and our technology coordinator, that focuses on teaching students the importance of digital citizenship. This is why, when I hear things like, "schools are failing our students in terms of digital citizenship," my hackles raise. Maybe some schools are failing our students in terms of creating safe digital environment for students, but mine's not!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Corporate Reform Action Pack!
This was too good to not link to. Just add it to the list of hilarious sarcasm necessary to get a chuckle out of our present situation in public education.
Running into the Wall
I have run into the wall many, many, MANY times in my five years of teaching. While I'm trying to get some work done, or while students are researching information, we run head first right into it... the internet firewall. This actually just happened today. I have students researching the candidates and the referendum questions for the upcoming mid-term elections. They were looking around at different websites, and many of them found video and audio clips that they wanted to view or listen to. Most of these turned out to be blocked by our school's firewall. I understand the need to have some regulation on sites like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, but I wonder if completely blocking the students' access to them is the answer. Many of these sites can be used as learning tools, but when they are blocked from access the student certainly doesn't see them that way.
While we were researching as a class today my students were surprised that most of the candidates in this election shared links to their Facebook or Twitter accounts. They were shocked and thought that it wasn't very professional or "sophisticated", as one student told me, for these public officials to be a part of these types of social networking sites. They get told so often to beware of these sites, or that these sites are bad and they shouldn't be on them. The fact that they can't be on them at school because they are all blocked tells them that these sites are not an educational tool, when in reality, if used properly, they can be a wonderful educational tool. I think it's becoming more and more apparent that if we are to help teach them how to be good digital citizens, we need to allow them the tools to practice these skills.
While we were researching as a class today my students were surprised that most of the candidates in this election shared links to their Facebook or Twitter accounts. They were shocked and thought that it wasn't very professional or "sophisticated", as one student told me, for these public officials to be a part of these types of social networking sites. They get told so often to beware of these sites, or that these sites are bad and they shouldn't be on them. The fact that they can't be on them at school because they are all blocked tells them that these sites are not an educational tool, when in reality, if used properly, they can be a wonderful educational tool. I think it's becoming more and more apparent that if we are to help teach them how to be good digital citizens, we need to allow them the tools to practice these skills.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Trying to be Superwoman
After a week and a half of immersing myself in our country's education crisis, I feel like it's time for a little mental health break.
I've watched NBC's Education Nation reports, viewed trailers for the new movie Waiting for Superman, tuned in to interviews with the people involved in creating the movie, read blogs, newspaper and magazine articles and every day I show up to work prepared to save the world.
This might sound sad, but I have actually been wondering if I am a "good teacher" lately. The media is so powerful and this is what scares me. If I am wondering if I work hard enough, or if I have the natural teaching talent that a lot of these reports refer to, then I am certain that some of the parents of my students are also wondering this. Any of the general public that view these news segments or this new movie will most likely be thinking about this too.
On the other side, I do realize that the system is broken. I work in a public school, and hope to continue working in public schools throughout my teaching career because this is where I have chosen to work. I don't have anything against private schools, but I think the public school system is one of the foundations of this country. I want to be a teacher of all students. I'm not sure if I totally agree with tenure, but I do belong the NEA, MEA, and my local union. I appreciate what they have done for me and for many other teachers across the country. In terms of employment, teachers have come a long way because of the union. But, I know there are some teachers out there who shouldn't be teaching. I agree that teaching should be like every other profession; if you're not doing your job, you get fired. I think in order for this type of process to work, however, the entire system would have to be revamped or maybe even reconstructed.
So, for almost two weeks I have been going back and forth and back and forth in my head about what should be done. How do we fix this broken system? Well, I'm still not sure about this. All I know is that everyday I have to show up prepared to deal with all sorts of issues and problems that are definitely not mentioned in any of these reports about how I, along with all the other teachers in public schools, are failing this country's children. So for for my mental health breather, I turn to Lewis Black on the "Back in Black" segment from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart because the only thing that can get me to smile about these circumstances is good old fashioned sarcasm.
I've watched NBC's Education Nation reports, viewed trailers for the new movie Waiting for Superman, tuned in to interviews with the people involved in creating the movie, read blogs, newspaper and magazine articles and every day I show up to work prepared to save the world.
This might sound sad, but I have actually been wondering if I am a "good teacher" lately. The media is so powerful and this is what scares me. If I am wondering if I work hard enough, or if I have the natural teaching talent that a lot of these reports refer to, then I am certain that some of the parents of my students are also wondering this. Any of the general public that view these news segments or this new movie will most likely be thinking about this too.
On the other side, I do realize that the system is broken. I work in a public school, and hope to continue working in public schools throughout my teaching career because this is where I have chosen to work. I don't have anything against private schools, but I think the public school system is one of the foundations of this country. I want to be a teacher of all students. I'm not sure if I totally agree with tenure, but I do belong the NEA, MEA, and my local union. I appreciate what they have done for me and for many other teachers across the country. In terms of employment, teachers have come a long way because of the union. But, I know there are some teachers out there who shouldn't be teaching. I agree that teaching should be like every other profession; if you're not doing your job, you get fired. I think in order for this type of process to work, however, the entire system would have to be revamped or maybe even reconstructed.
So, for almost two weeks I have been going back and forth and back and forth in my head about what should be done. How do we fix this broken system? Well, I'm still not sure about this. All I know is that everyday I have to show up prepared to deal with all sorts of issues and problems that are definitely not mentioned in any of these reports about how I, along with all the other teachers in public schools, are failing this country's children. So for for my mental health breather, I turn to Lewis Black on the "Back in Black" segment from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart because the only thing that can get me to smile about these circumstances is good old fashioned sarcasm.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Back in Black - Education Crisis | ||||
| ||||
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