This morning I read a tweet that caught my attention about teaching your kids the importance of online reputation. I immediately responded & RT’ed because I liked the fact it was written more toward parents and not teachers. Most of the time when I read an article on teaching digital citizenship it focuses on teacher teaching it. I started wondering how many parents take the time to teach these skills to their kids. My guess is just a few. Most adults aren’t the most savvy when it comes to digital citizenship – think of your high school friends on Facebook, see what I mean.

As teachers this so often falls in our lap. We need to be aware no one may have ever brought this up to your students. Their whole lives they’ve been told not to cross street without looking both ways, don’t talk to strangers, and wait 30 minutes after they eat to swim but no one may have told them what is posted on the Internet has a long shelf life or talking to strangers online could be dangerous. Crazy the 30 min before swimming rule is not even real, but every kid knows it yet they are clueless about what is dangerous (or dumb) to put on a Facebook profile. If they have never been told this, how do they know? Are we waiting for them to find out on their own? We don’t let them figure out the dangers of crossing a street without looking both ways, we tell them, we show them, we have discussions with them. Same thing needs to happen here.

Last month I went to a session at the state tech conference about using web tools in middle school science. The teacher leading the session would show a tool & what her students created with the tool then without fail say “well I’ve never used it and I don’t know how to but I tell the students about it and let them figure it out.” Now I could probably write 10 blog post on this statement, I was cringing. But what really got me is she was sending her students to the computers without even knowing what the program does, how safe it was, etc. The way she kept saying that she left all the computer stuff up to them because they know more was like nails on a chalkboard.

They don’t know more (I hope). Yes, at times they are more familiar with using computers but we know more about safety and common sense than kids. We can’t just turn them loose and never stop and have conversations about safety. It’s too important to ignore. It needs to be a collaborative effort between home at school but we cannot assume the other is doing their job. We all need to. Maybe, just maybe, the more our students learn to be good digital citizens schools will not think they need to block everything. Maybe.

Our world has changed, we are now in the 21st century so we need to change our priorities. Teaching students to have a good reputation online and stay safe must be a priority. The web needs to be part of of our everyday classroom, and students should be safe while they are there.

If you are looking for lessons on digital citizenship Common Sense Media is a fantastic place to start.

So I saw this tweet from Josh Stumpenhorst today.

It made me think of tools I use and how I use them verus way others would use them. I started thinking about how the number one tool still used by teachers is the textbook. It is still the primary source of information. Textbooks are not 100% bad, I use my science text books. They are crappy, falling apart, full of curse words in sharpie, missing pages, etc. But they have great pictures, charts, and graphics. It uses a lot of graphic organizers for concepts that can be somewhat abstract. I teach earth/space science and many space concepts take days of videos, pictures, explanations, etc to them to have an “ah-ha I got it” moment. The text is just one part of this, but some times copying the picture and describing in their own words gets them to that moment.

I think the reason the textbook popped in my mind is because earlier today I was thinking about how when I first started teaching science, I thought it was so cool that mine had each step of EDL (entry, descent, landing) for Mars rovers. I use Mars rovers to teach a few concepts, future of space program, problem solving – how would you land something on another planet, different wave lengths – the instruments use different wavelengths to send back info, and more. But we always go step by step through EDL. We look at each step in the book and the kids are usually “oh ok that’s cool and all” and then we watch this video that explains the six minutes of EDL:

Every time I show this to kids they cheer when the airbags deploy and the rover bounces. They do not cheer with the book. But they have a better understanding when they watch the video. Text books cannot be the only tool. We know this, yet when as teachers we get lazy, we do it.

Also, we hear this time and again textbooks quickly become outdated. I am sure every single teacher in the classroom will agree to this, yet they still use texts as their top source for true and up-to-date information. Back to Mars rovers, you see in 2008 when I first taught EDL I thought the text was so cool that it had this recent information. But on August 5, 2012 there will be another Mars rover landing. (For those who haven’t heard I will be at the JPL attending the #NASAsocial – here is more info in case you are wondering #shamelessbragging)  You see, it will take 7 minutes instead of 6 to land a rover on Mars. There will be no airbags. Now BAM, just like that, my video and my textbook is out of date. This is what will happen that day:

So you see we go back to the tweet that Josh sent out, it is not the tool itself. It is all about how we use them. It is about whether we use multiple tools and don’t rely on just one. It is about how up-to-date we are as teachers, do we constantly look for best ways to use these tools as well as staying current with our curriculum.

So I started this post earlier this week and now my blogging app says it doesn’t exist. Love technology, right? Anyway last week I wrote a post about my #2 take away from #iste12 but i got distracted at the beach and haven’t finished reflecting on #1.

Through each of the keynotes and sessions I attended, one thing kept standing out to me – student voice. Maybe it wasn’t worded that way but it was an idea that stayed with me.

Maybe it stuck with me because at the end of the school year I had to fill out a PLP (professional learning plan) that said I was going to focus on best practices of student reflection, which to me equates blogging. My kids have blogged in the past but I’m not sure if the reflection (and opinion) part shined. My goal next year is to take it to the next level and really go beyond posting a post for a grade and never looking back. I’m on the hunt for ideas and methods which is silly. Students just want to be heard, just like us the teachers.

Someone said (no comment on who) that one of the keynotes was pointless because kids have been writing letters to others since the 70s. That’s great but you see, I wasn’t even born in the 70s. And in the state of Alabama most teachers who were teaching in the 70s have since retired because we have a pretty good retirement program here. So for the rest of us it was we need reminders and examples of how powerful student voice can be.

I have a lot of opportunities available to me because some how I have found a voice here on this blog and even through Twitter. (Have I mentioned I’m going to NASA?!?!!!) I’m surprised everyday that people actually care about my crazy ramblings. If little ol’ me from Alabama (bless my heart) can have a voice, so can my students who have been told their entire lives that they don’t have a voice and to be quiet. No matter what they come from or what they go home to, they have a voice. This voice can open doors or even give confidence. Confidence that may have never been their in the past – or confidence that has been squashed by teachers whose focus has been on grades and tests. My goal next year is to help them find that voice while mixing in a lot of science, of course, right?