I was over at Around the Corner where Miguel Guhlin posts, reading his latest Girls and their Gadgets
I was moved. I so identified with the ideas and feelings he expressed.
I'm sorry, I see the benefits, but it appears that giving kids access to the Read/Write web is like putting a loaded pistol in their hands without education. And, how many kids have to be bullied online before everyone wakes up (no, not you edubloggers...the other people who haven't read your blogs) and realizes that digital citizenship, that education is the only way?
I remember I watched a documentary on automobile safety
once. It emphasized the problems this innovation had in the beginning before
they had figured out the rules and regulations of driving. Lots of people died
and were hurt. Because this was a new technology (cars) they had to figure out
what to do to keep folks safe as things happened. Mistakes were made. Rules
were rethought. Lives were saved.
I have four kids. The youngest is 18. I have taught them all
to drive. As they showed responsibility, I let them have their own car. I also
let schools help educate them about driving and to practice driving with them. But I never relinquished my primary responsibility in determine when they were ready. For one of my
children that was at 16 and for another it wasn’t until 18. And now, I still
ride with them occasionally and gently coach from the side. Because like the
Web, cars can be dangerous places.
Miguel thoughts continued to resonate...
As an ed-tech admin, I can sympathize...I want to turn off the Web at school and home. I have to fight that urge. It's too simplistic a response...it's too late to do that. We have to move forward, painful as the journey is and will become.
It is mentally
overwhelming. I remember when they placed that first child in my arms thinking, “How
will I ever do this all right?” I had a similar reaction my first day in the classroom. But if not us, as their parents and mentors,
then who? We cannot simply give up. We have to go where they are and model and
coach. We have to be consistent. We have to care deeply and remember that for
some of the students we teach, we are the only significant adult with which they will ever
have meaningful conversations around this topic.
You've got it right in my book. Unfortunately, what I'm seeing in schools is that the first reaction is to filter rather than to educate. How do we educate the educators?
Posted by: Karen Richardson | September 15, 2006 at 10:16 AM
You know Karen that really is the question. In a recent conference, an IT director suggested using Web 2.0 tools to write an Internet Safety book. Where we all contribute and we all share. This seems like a great starting place to me. So much so that I am making it part of the advance strand I am implementing in the 21st Century T&L work I am doing in Alabama.
I like your thinking...
What other ways can we educate the educators?
Posted by: Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach | September 15, 2006 at 11:40 AM
Thanks, great points. Loved the title, Sheryl and I appreciate you sharing your experiences...I'll be sure to share them with my daughter when I'm still offering feedback on her driving .
Miguel
Posted by: Miguel Guhlin | September 15, 2006 at 08:08 PM
I think that the car analogy is perfect. I too am a member of MySpace. What is interesting is that when students find this out, they immediately send me a friend request. I told them that I would rather not have my students as my myspace friends, mainly because I don't want to feel responsible if I do stumble upon some questionable stuff on their profiles. It did give me a chance to look at a few profiles and compliment them on their responsibility and good choices for the information they chose to post. I agree that it definitely puts me at the same "table" with them for discussion about social networking sites. We have had some great discussions particularly since the Facebook debaucle of "feeds". It was a hot topic on my blog.
I love this post, Sheryl.
Posted by: Brandi Caldwell | September 18, 2006 at 03:03 PM
How do we educate the educators?
Posted by: Juno888 | June 25, 2007 at 11:23 PM