My First Fail #DigCit

One of the things about starting a new job with new expectations is that I will be encountering tasks for the first time. Not only that, I will be trying to navigate a great new community and try to make sure everyone is supported. As much as I would love to just share my success on this site, that is not realistic. As a reflection tool, this site is supposed to help me look at the good AND the bad. My first big failure was last week and I finally have some time to write about what has been running around in my head.

Part of my job as the Technology Coordinator is to run the Digital Citizenship for grades 6-8. I was left resources from Common Sense Media by the amazing lady who had the job before me. A schedule was established before I arrived that would have me working with each grade 6 times for 45 minutes over the first two and a half months. My goal was to use the resources provided to me and try to recreate what had been done in the past. What a rookie mistake.

I worked hard going over all of the materials and made copies of the handouts from the previous year, I made a presentation and felt super ready to go from my meeting with the 7th grade. Nope. I had a room filled with 40 seventh graders and I tried talking to them about what the digital world around them looks like today. I had support of another teacher in the room and it helped keep the students focused, but it was still a mess. I know I can be hard on myself, but it was a mess because I was trying to do something that is not who I am. Any teacher that is not authentic to who they are, will be eaten alive.

It was embarrassing to give a presentation to students with a peer watching that falls flat. Well, it was beyond flat. It fell through the ground into the lower mantle of the Earth's crust. That embarrassment was a great motivator for me to reassess how I plan to move forward. I'm supposed to give the same presentation to the sixth and 8th grade in a week. I felt like I did not have the time to really process my next steps because I was preparing for the Eighth grade Leadership Days. It was this event that ultimately inspired me to make the changes I think will be most positive.

The teachers spent the time with the Eighth graders talking about taking ownership of their school year and being leaders for the rest of the Middle School. This was something I loved about the event. As we talked more and more about Leadership and Ownership, it struck me; students should be in charge of their Digital Citizenship. Instead of talking to students about Internet Safety, I can work with students who are exploring Dig Cit to present to other students. This is the Project Based Learning approach I used in the classroom and it should be able to work outside of the classroom as well.

One of the cool things about University Liggett School is that the Middle School has a Morning Meeting. The entire Middle School comes together to hear announcements and see varied presentations that are designed by a different Advisory (think homeroom) each week. A captive audience each day for 10 minutes would be a perfect time to share a Dig Cit tip each morning. The students will be more engaged if the tip comes from their peers. It seems so obvious now, but I was too stuck in trying to recreate what someone else had done.

I've got some work to do as I look to provide the Advisory classes with some info on the topics to tackle for the their Morning Meetings, but I'm excited about working with students as they explore Digital Citizenship instead of just talking at them. Updates to come as I put this together.

Hugs and High Fives,

NP

Connected in a Crisis #DigCit #DigCitSummit

The other day, my school had a lockdown. It started during the last few minutes of the school day, so it seemed odd for it to be a drill. Standard procedure has the teacher shut and lock the door, pull the shade, and move students out of possible view of the door. Students are to remain quiet and stay off their phones. It turned out that this was not a drill. A student claimed to have had gun in their backpack.

Thankfully, the student did not have a weapon. While we were locked down, I was keeping students quiet and had to keep telling them to put their phones away. We do this to prevent students from sharing information on social media that could possibly aid an assailant and to prevent wild rumors from going around that could cause other problems. Rumors spread anyway.

When the lockdown was called off, a student of mine proclaimed he knew what happened. He said someone had been stabbed across the street at a local market, the assailant ran into the school, and they had a gun. I told him this was ridiculous and that he should not have been on his phone. The principal came on the PA and explained what had happened shortly after the lockdown was called off because rumors had gotten out of hand in the brief 20 minute window. How wild? Local news stations were reporting the false information as fact. Take a look at this article.

A student started a random rumor on social media because they thought it would be funny and it was reported as fact. Less than 20 minutes and the message had spread throughout the community. Parents were scared. They needed to find out if it had been their child stabbed. The police had to check to see if this were true or not. Time and energy was wasted on this wild goose chase while a potentially serious situation was unfolding in the building. This is why Digital Citizenship needs to be stressed.

I took the first part of every class I taught the next day to explain the seriousness of these false tweets and posts. Explaining to the students that misinformation in a crisis could lead to loss of life really shook some of them. The look on some of their faces told me they had never even thought about it.

We want to be connected during a crisis to let our loved ones know that we are safe. That is one thing, but spreading rumors is another. This was a terrible situation that needed to be used as a teachable moment. Posts have consequences and a crisis is not the time for jokes or rumors.

I hope teachers will take this story and share it with your classes if/when you talk about Digital Citizenship. Our posts have power. We must remind our students and remember this ourselves.

Hugs and High Fives,

Nick

Why Do We Need Digital Citizenship? #DigCit

This is what I have seen across social media the past few days:

One "celebrity" share a secret recording of another "celebrity" on the phone. 

Another "celebrity" stand up for that secretly recorded "celebrity" only to be attacked by others on social media and another "celebrity" posting a fake NSFW photo of her.

The wife of a candidate for President gave a speech at a national convention that was plagiarized from a speech given by another wife of a President. 

Defenders of the plagiarist have denied (lied) using the excuse that common phrases are used by many people and this is only a big deal because the other person running for President has people making it a big deal. 

A Presidential candidate was not given permission to use a song and used it anyway.   

I use celebrity in quotes because I have a hard time validating the actions of people like this with suggesting their actions should be celebrated at all. 

I refuse to tag any of these people and their tweets because I do not want to drive traffic to anything that might support them. 

I also think everyone knows exactly whom I'm talking about despite my lack of names and direct links. That is why we need Digital Citizenship. 

We are living in a world where students are exposed to more sources of information and have access to share their own information. Sadly, the crazy, mean-spirited, violent, angry, and bigoted voices are becoming louder on social media and people that are in the public eye are using these spaces to say awful things and, sadly, it helps support their "brand". It is disgusting and there needs to be a louder and better voice. 

Schools need to step up and provide strong examples of what appropriate use of social media looks like and how using it hurtful ways, or using the Internet to plagiarize, or using songs without permission is wrong and possibly illegal. Twitter does not seem able to block everyone that is being bad on Twitter, so schools need to educate students AND parents on best practices of using the Internet. 

If we do not do it, who will? 

Digital Citizenship Still Matters #digcitsummitUK #digcitsummit

I think some of us in the tech world take digital citizenship for granted. I know I do from time to time. Since I am so involved in social media and technology in the classroom, I sometimes assume that everyone, students included, should just know how to act in online environments and using digital media. This is not the case.

Just like the faulty assumption that all students are digital natives, we cannot assume that all users of digital media have been taught solid digital citizenship skills. Many of us have learned these skills through various trial and error scenarios. Not every person is willing to take the risk and try something in the digital world and hope it works out for them. That is why there needs to be an effort to support all users of digital media on how to properly use these tools. Right now, it is hard to go to any comment section and not see the absolute worst of people. This can change with solid education and support for educators around the world.

Yes, I said the world. Now more than ever, we need to come together and support one another and positive digital citizenship is a start. We need to teach a generation of users how to best leverage digital tools for social good and not spewing hate filled rants. We need to break the power of the trolls by giving people the tools to cope with them and ignore them. We want to create safe environments for everyone to freely share their ideas and connect with others without the fear of harassment. We can do this and we need to work hard.

I'm proud to be helping some great educators plan an event in the UK in the new year. #digcitsummitUK is a great start to the global conversation on how to best support great digital citizenship. Thanks to my great friend Marialice B.F.X. Curran for brining me on board to help make this event a reality. If you want to show your support for this event and global digital citizenship, please share this post with others and sign up here for this Thunderclap.