#ce14

Digital Citizenship Week is an important opportunity to educate ourselves and others on the issues we all face in an ever-more connected world. Here are some of the most valuable insights to take away from Digital Citizenship Week 2014:

1. Teaching works, bans don’t

In a world where barriers are being eroded on all frontiers, digital and otherwise, it is foolish to think that restrictions and bans are an effective response to the issues teachers and students face in a hyper-connected world on a daily basis.

But how do we maintain privacy for our youth? How do we prevent the often devastating results of cyberbullying? The simple answer is education. Tom Whitby writes that kids need to be introduced to the importance of digital citizenship and personal responsibility online from an early age.

An easy way to do this is to make use of the technology students are growing up with to educate them. Speak to students in their own language. They’ll listen.

2. Digital literacy isn’t just for kids

It’s easy to forget that just as our kids must learn how to engage with digital technologies, so should we. We wouldn’t hire unqualified teachers to teach subjects they know nothing about, so why do we assume that we have all the answers when it comes to digital literacy?

Suzie Boss makes a compelling case through the work of Renee Hobbs for why digital literacy and digital citizenship should be as much a priority for older generations as they are for younger ones.

3. Let’s not forget about our rights

Digital citizenship discussions aren’t short of arguments when it comes to online social responsibility, but what about our rights?

Technology journalist Larry Magid recalls that the definition of “citizen” also includes the concepts of “rights” and “protection”; two points that shouldn’t be relegated to the sidelines.

While we may accept that constantly evolving digital technologies are inevitable and uncontrollable, this doesn’t negate the need for good judgment and critical thinking when it comes to weighing all sides of our digital citizenship equation.

4. Take your students seriously

One of the best ways to cultivate responsible digital citizenship is to empower students through opportunities to lead, be heard and make a difference in their day-to-day lives.

Holly Corby writes about how such opportunities cultivate a sense of self-worth in students, and can be as simple to initiate as asking students what they want.

5. Cultivating digital citizenship doesn’t have to be overwhelming

We are equipped with an abundance of resources at our fingertips to help us navigate the ever-changing online world. This unprecedented access to information is a boon but can also be overwhelming.

Media Smarts, Canada’s Centre for Digital and Media Literacy, is a great place to start. With lesson plans tailored to age groups, fun educational games and helpful tip sheets, it’s a great way to incorporate digital citizenship and media literacy throughout the year.

As we near the end of Connected Educator Month, it’s obvious that Twitter has been a great resource for teachers to stay connected and build a PLN. To continue this growth, check out the Twitter chat #whatisschool:, an interactive twitter chat about education around the world!

This event will be held today, October 22nd from 6:00-7:00pm EDT. The description of the event states, “We have done our best to create an edchat space where people can express an unbiased response to questions about schooling, where educators have a voice in shaping the future through their experience, recommendations and interests.” 

Source Photo: "Making model airplanes for U.S. Navy at the Armstrong Technical High School. Washington, DC." Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. News Bureau. (06/13/1942 - 09/15/1945) Taken March 1942.

A Love Supreme: Reflections on Why We Continue to Teach | contains a sample of “Acknowledgement” from John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Originally recorded December 9th, 1964. © 1964 MCA Records, Inc.

Over the summer of 2014, we launched a meetup of self-identified Black male educators hosted at The Center for the Study of Race & Equity in Education. What began out of a friendly conversation of our relative scarcity in classrooms transformed into an interdependent approach to move ourselves and others collectively forward in our practice. We came with various backgrounds, various experiences, and various questions about our positionality and our profession. Through impassioned dialogue, we landed on what we all felt to be a generative inquiry into our motivations to become educators, recognizing the overwhelming number of educators who leave the classroom in their first five years. We investigated the interrelatedness between what brought us into teaching and why we continue to stay in teaching. We present this podcast as an exhibit of truthful self-interrogation of unfinished thoughts from a moment in these conversations. The process of recording one’s thoughts leaves a marker in time as even when reciting written words, no audio take is completely the same. We all struggled to balance our truth and its clear delivery to those that will become listeners. Recognizing our imperfections, we uphold that our strivings remain true. The same can be said about our practice as we take the necessary steps to reflect and think critically about how we can support those that we lead and learn from in the classroom. We fluctuate in our delivery daily, yet we hold fast to principles that guide us in our journey. For this illustration, Coltrane’s A Love Supreme becomes the canvas for the journey, emphasizing our supreme love for our work. [total runtime: 25:55]

00:33 | Brendon Jobs, Philadelphia, PA

The son of Trinidadian immigrants, Brendon currently teaches kids World History, African American History and Sociology at the Girard Academic Music Program in Philadelphia. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Columbia University and a master’s certificate in Secondary Education from the Penn GSE as a Philadelphia Teaching Fellow. He returned to Penn, as a James Madison Fellow to earn a M.S.Ed in Teaching, Learning and Curriculum with a focus on Gender and Education. Last year he completed the National Board Teaching Certification process. Beyond the classroom, he affiliates with Teacher Action Group (TAG), a group of like minded teachers working to organize, innovate and empower other educators throughout Philly in the midst of this a politically orchestrated school funding crisis. His experience includes work as a Lehrman Fellow, National Constitution Center Annenberg Fellow, and an Education Pioneer Fellow with the SEED Foundation in Washington DC. He is an advocate for public education interested in developing structures that support diversity and student voice in school communities.  

06:35 | Shamir Reese, Philadelphia, PA

Shamir Reese, a special education teacher, mentor, and youth advocate, is currently a special education co-teaching 7th and 8th grade literacy. He has been the only African-American  male SPED teacher in his school for two different schools within a 3 year period. Shamir has been a youth advocate for going on 10 years advocating for youth ranging from Philadelphia, to San Francisco, to Nigeria. Currently, Shamir is volunteering for several mentoring groups, one of which is at his school, Cleveland Elementary, called Men of Mastery.

09:31 | Kenloy Henry, Brooklyn, NY

Kenloy Henry, A Penn Alumni and Bill Gates Millennium Scholar, recently worked in the KIPP Philadelphia Schools system as a High School history teacher. Recently he moved to New York where he has been serving as an advisor and mentor to inner city youth preparing for the college application process. Kenloy is also participates in the Urban Community Teachers Project and the Black and Latino Male Initiative  at Brooklyn College. He is passionate about improving the lived experience of inner city youth. He can be reached at [email protected].

13:17 | Christopher Rogers, Chester/Philadelphia, PA

Christopher Rogers works currently as an in-school Media and Technology Specialist, spreading the opportunity for PK-8 students to explore and investigate what the world is to move us closer to what it ought to be. In Spring 2015, Chris will be leading a course at Arcadia University based on integrating community relationships in the classroom. He also is behind a new startup, JustMaybeCo. which aims to reignite teaching and learning through collaborative inquiry between schools and communities. He can be reached at [email protected]

16:52 | Samuel Reed, Philadelphia, PA

Samuel Reed, III, a teacher consultant with the Philadelphia Writing Project, is an active member of the Teacher Action Group (TAG Philly) and has been teaching secondary students to read, write, and make sense of thew world for more than 17 years. He blogs for the Philadelphia Public School Notebook and has previously contributed to  the University of Pennsylvania GSE Perspective of Urban Education. Reed recently won the prestigious 2014 Black Male Leader Award (BMe)   He can be reached at [email protected].

22:10 | Raymond Roy-Pace, Philadelphia, PA

The flipped model has been integrated in classrooms around the world and has yielded great success for students, but how would this style of learning help teachers? Tune in to the webinar Flipping For Professional Learning: School Leader's Guide to Improving Professional Development to learn how!

The webinar will be held tomorrow, October 16th from 1:00-2:00pm EDT. Steve Anderson of @web20classroom will introduce various ways the flipped model can be utilized in meetings and increase learning time for educators.

There has been an ever growing movement to connect teachers across the world with one another for professional development, sharing resources and stories, and overall elevating individual and collective practice. I love this. I benefit from it. I cheerlead it around my school. But underneath, I know something is missing from this formula that we estimate to transform educational practice.

Students.

Families.

Communities.

People*

The contributions of those who we intend to impact.

They become our patient [in crisis, some will say] lying unconscious under anesthesia as we debate which tools are the best to solve their trauma. 

EXCEPT they aren’t unconscious. They are awake, and they feel our every touch, wince at the pain, and squint at every insufficient “life-saving” innovation** we talk about over top of them.

*people because too much we rely on insufficient categories and titles to describe the full gamut of stakeholders [actualized and potential] that can play a role in the transformation of America’s educational debt.]

**does MLK's evolution of values count as an 'innovation'? Or are innovations only measured in potential business models? 

Growing up in Chester, PA as the son of a public school teacher, I knew all too well the failures of family and community engagement through parent-teacher conferences, PTA, and school-board meetings.

“Mom, how many came to your parent conferences today?” “Not enough.” 

My mom would say after returning home late from work.

“How come we have 1200 students and only 10 parents show up to the PTA meeting?”

School and community leaders (politicians, reverends,etc) say/said this to huge applause at every function, and twice on Sunday.

“If they care about their schools, they would be here.” - The School Board

[here at our twice a month, Roberts Rules of Order meetings, with 20 minutes dedicated to public comment, and a print out of the proceedings at the door and nowhere else]

It’s a perfect time for us to take a step back from talking amongst ourselves, and begin to listen to the communities in which we work. What can we truly say we include them in? What can we truly say we expect of them? What are we mutually accountable for?

Underneath all our degrees and Act 48 hours lies this belief, this revealing truth we have in our perception of students and families: “They don’t know what’s best for them…” Even in all our niceties, we walk around with this benevolent deficit about the families that we serve. Maybe this isn't true in those who couldn't be easily miscategorized inside "urban education". Maybe it is. I ask as Jay Electronica asked:

"Look at where we live at. Tell me you don't hear that, tell me you don't feel that..."

[and I’m not saying I’m past it either. I continually live(d) the struggle to find faith. But we have got to move on.]

At some point we have to consider is education about teaching FOR them, or learning and growing WITH them. I pray that the legacy I shall leave lies closer to the latter. WITH means not from a space of responding to our questions, but playing an integral role in generating the inquiries that will inclusively lead the journey towards educational transformation.