We Teachers Need to Learn
via angelamaiers.com
Great video highlighting some of the digital divides between teachers and students and how we are doing a disservice to our students by trying to wish away Facebook, the web etc in the classroom.
I feel a rock in my stomach everytime I see the infamous Blue Web Page of Death from our school’s firewall when an excited student is trying to show me a video or webpage about something we’re studying in class that they found on their own.
BTW, we can’t watch this at school since YouTube is blocked 
Sam you are one of the most “get it” teachers I’ve encountered yet!I salute you! What I write here is targeted to those still holding out. Thinking it’s “beneath them” to go down to “this level.”The business world is starting to catch on. Conversations are going on in the social media space about them. You can’t stop it. So get out there and engage and help shape the conversation about YOU. It holds true for the education community. From schools, to teachers, to parents and students. Go to http://facebook.com/search (you need an account, so set one up!) and plug in a teacher name, an administrators name, a school name or try http://search.twitter.com (you don’t need an account) and do the same. Even if you’re not there today. You will be soon. You’ll see good things and bad. You need to hear both. You need to be listening and LEARNING. What if you see 15 kids posting how they didn’t understand that new Algebra concept, or the latest grammar point? Don’t you need to KNOW that! They’ll tell each other long before they’ll tell you.Schools blocking access to all the major social sites, will make less and less sense with each passing day. What are you really accomplishing? You are just shutting yourself off from powerful engagement opportunities with your students. You are teaching to the text messaging instant messaging generation. So text. IM. Put up a chat feature on your blog page. Speak their language use some of their tools, not all the time, but when it works.There’s a lot of silly stuff out there, but there’s plenty of relevant timely info.The President has a YouTube channel a Facebook page a Twitter account. So do most of the powerful influential people of our day. Social media is now a career. There are important things for students to learn about it, regarding safety, that our schools can reinforce.Schools that block the mainstream social media sites are missing the boat.And if you are blaming your IT department, that is a complete cop-out!If the White House can manage to allow Facebook Twitter YouTube and MySpace to invade without crashing the system, your school can too!So get on with it. And if you need some ideas on how to employ social media in a school setting – Sam can help you!
Amy is exactly right! I will echo two points. First, as a college professor I can tell you that university classes increasingly make use of new forms of social media. My colleagues and I have our students write blog entries, do video projects, collaborate online, and so on. Students who come to college without an understanding of the online world (its potentials and pitfalls) will be at a disadvantage, just the same as if they do not learn how to do basic computing.Second, technology is similar to many of the more applied or practical areas taught in schools (like health education or driver’s ed). Students *will* use online social media at home and in their own time. Wouldn’t it be better to teach them about the new online world and help them use it effectively and responsibly than leave it to their own devices? Perhaps with some guidance and encouragement we can a) help them be safe and private online, and b) help them move beyond the easy stuff like inane IM chatter and MySpace.
Thank you both for your incredibly moving comments. I'm crafting a letter to school admin and I'll share. To me, digital literacy is one of the primary realms of responsibilities we as educators must take seriously in the 21st century. Otherwise, we're just paying lip service to the idea of education. More soon