March+Journal+Reflections

__**March Journal Reflections-**__

Mindshift: Dispelling Myths About Blocked Websites in Schools- This was a great article that pointed out 6 key areas of misconception when it comes to blocking websites in schools. From CIPA questions pertaining to YouTube, to statements referring to teaching our kids about social networking in the safety net of the school day, it pointed out many reasons why we need to change the filtering on our school's websites. The one key point that really made me take notice was that just because a site is blocked for students, it doesn't necessarily have to be blocked for teachers. Take Facebook, for example. The article pointed out that teachers need to be trusted. Enough said. If you have to question the professional nature of your teachers, maybe you hired the wrong person for the job. Facebook can be a fantastic avenue for a collaborative work environment, PLN creation, and PD for the school. By blocking sites that you also block for, say, 16 year olds, you aren't giving any more trust to your educators than young students. Likewise, if the sites are just opened up to begin with, teachers can focus some of their curricular content on how to use these sites properly. Kids always find proxy avenues around these blocks anyway. It is time that we begin to open up their world a little bit and educate them on their digital footprint and digital citizenship...before they end up making critical mistakes.

Victoria Davis K12Online- A Web 2.0 Classroom I loved seeing this article from a member of my Twitter (and Facebook and Google+) PLN. I highly value Vicki's opinion and love her CoolCatTeacher blog. This was a great piece about the 6 pillars of a connected classroom. I loved the play on words that reference the 6 pillars of good character (Character Counts) except with the web 2.0 twist. The first focus was on Internet safety. We need to teach our kids that the web can be a dangerous place (shark tank, as she referred to it). I loved the analogy of them being set off into a vast ocean full of sharks. We have a shark net in place (filters), but dangers lurk. She then focused on information literacy. Kids need to know that this isn't a textbook where everything is gospel. They have to learn to discern between valuable and reputable information and that which is false or misleading. The next focus was Internet citizenship. Students need to know how to behave properly, respond properly and know that what they do affects others. Teamwork dealt with making sure students learn how to politely and effectively collaborate and respond to other people's work in a way that shows character and knowledge. The next key point was more teacher-based in the fact that it called for intentional Internet activity in the classroom. No student should be quietly perusing the internet during class without a purpose that is worthwhile. It is not a babysitter. It is a learning tool and needs to be treated as such. Finally, the article talked about the engaged teacher. Personally, this is what I worry about most as our staff moves to a 1:1 environment. Don't get me wrong...we have teachers that are passionate about kids. However, we do have teachers who will rely on the computer to do their work for them. It is going to take hard work, but I think sharing this article may help. Teachers can't expect students to be learners when they aren't continuing to learn themselves. Overall, this was a fantastic article organized in a way that is very reader-friendly. I also loved that I was able to save the document to my GoogleDocs to access again.