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Dawn Casey-Rowe hits a tough topic that is the number one complaint that teachers have. I had her on my show not too long a go and she speaks from a tough situation with lots of blocks and bans but gets it done anyway. If your complaint is blocks and bans, then take time to read this post to focus on what you CAN do. Dawn is offering a set of PD blog posts that you'll want to dig into. "This week, we're going to discuss the white elephant in the room. Tech frustration. Many teachers struggle to bring students the type of tech experience they would like because of systemic blocks and bans, or worse, feel embarrassed as students have more access to tech than teachers do. This is the issue that brought me to the tech world myself. Students continually asked the hard questions about why they couldn't utilize technology such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets, and why phones were confiscated when students were using them for educational purposes. I wanted to improve my classroom experience and give my students more, but budget was a concern. Tech access is a problem in many schools. There are legitimate reasons-the desire of administrators to protect students from the darker side of the internet, fear of the unknown, lack of wireless capacity and budget difficulties which cause insufficient numbers of computers or the inability to upgrade existing tech. Some educational leaders have overcome these hurdles, but others are still working to get to that space."

by blocking and banning many of the tools and Web sites that form the cornerstone of teenagers' experiences, educators deny themselves access to the conversations that students are having about how to use these tools intelligently, ethically, and well. And given the overwhelming flow of information that students can access using such tools, it is essential that educators become part of those conversations.

by blocking and banning many of the tools and Web sites that form the cornerstone of teenagers' experiences, educators deny themselves access to the conversations that students are having about how to use these tools intelligently, ethically, and well. And given the overwhelming flow of information that students can access using such tools, it is essential that educators become part of those conversations.

"Where's the fun in that? I have a confession to make. A few years ago I banned fun in my school. Let me give you a little context. I was speaking to all of our teachers, teaching assistants and support staff at the very start of the first INSET session of the new school year. My reasoning was straightforward: I wanted I wanted fun to be superseded by joy."

Doug Johnson is a great read for his blunt, in your face honesty and his point about how technology companies are trying to differentiate is a great one. I think, however, we should extend this to schools as well. If your school is great, say why, but dissing the competition is no way to compete. If you think your school has no competition, think again. So, read this in light of the arriving and coming competition on the edulandscape and have an honest take on how you should "sell" the virtues of your school. If you can't talk about how great your school is and have to resort to how bad the other one is, prepare for a day when you'll shutter the windows and wonder how they're going to keep the bugs out of your empty building. Wake up and smell the wires burning their way into your student's computers and tablets, great teachers are just a click away and we've all got to learn how to blend and trend our courses, teaching, and to bridge our classrooms to add real value as teachers. It isn't hard as you think but if you just sit and teach like you've always taught, you're setting yourself up for some unpleasant days. You can't do everything but you can do something to improve yourself. Next practices are an important part of your best practice. Always innovate and never settle. Standards are only the beginning, you must have purpose if you're going to be a great teacher. Doug says: "But what I do know that when competitors trash each other, I tend to tune out. And I flat out hate it when I know they are lying - and I will NOT buy from a liar. A salesman recently promoted his video storage service by stating "unlike YouTube, we don't own your movies." That's just not true. (YouTube doesn't own your movies, GoogleApps doesn't own your Docs, CIPA, FERPA, etc. do not ban social media.)"

27% of photos taken this year were taken on smartphones. I am not sure why schools are banning cell phones and buying cameras.

Generally adults help young people learn to drive safely before giving them car keys and turning them loose on the streets of the world. Young people also need guidance and adult assistance to learn how to safely navigate the virtual environments of the 21st Century. Schools must be proactive, rather than merely defensive, in helping students acquire the skills of digital citizenship needed today and in the future. Simply banning read/write web tools on school networks is an inadequate response: Educators must strive to learn alongside students and parents how these technologies can be safely and powerfully used to communicate and collaborate.

Class teacher is suspended for letting her students read freedom writers. I would love to have some opinions from other teachers.

This teacher was banned from using the freedom writers diary in her classroom and now has been suspended. I don't know all of the facts, however, I have to wonder why the school sent her to a Freedom Writers workshop and then wouldn't let her use the book. I do respect the desire to limit the profanity -- I wish that perhaps there was a explitive-free version of the book to handle this issue, however, it looks like this entire issue was mishandled. It grieves me as more issues like this seem to be happening in schools. I haven't read this book to have my own opinion, but would love to hear from some of you who have.

Amanda Stone and the teachers in Hoover City use this to teach internet safety. They have to pass certain courses. The teachers set up the student accounts and the teachers manage their own classroom -- controlling their buddy lists and everything. The teachers connect w/ their students on the weekends and off times w/ their kids. Great entry to a virtual world!!! It bans them if they do innappropriate things -- so their goal for 5th grade is to get zero bans for the year. The teacher can control it. Each student have their own woogie -- eg. Davisteacher would be me -- my students would be davis1 davis2, etc. Pretty cool.

Great place to teach digital citizenship, highly recommended by Amanda Stone, instructional technology coach in Hoover City, AL.

This is fantastic!

Many people have not read the Youtube Community Guidelines. You should report any videos that break these rules to youtube - everyone should have a youtube account and be able to do this. Today, a student had a bad video linked to hers -- I had to go to another place to report the other video but you can do this! Guidelines: "Don't Cross the Line Here are some common-sense rules that will help you steer clear of trouble: * YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content. If this describes your video, even if it's a video of yourself, don't post it on YouTube. Also, be advised that we work closely with law enforcement and we report child exploitation. Please read our Safety Tips and stay safe on YouTube. * Don't post videos showing bad stuff like animal abuse, drug abuse, under-age drinking and smoking, or bomb making. * Graphic or gratuitous violence is not allowed. If your video shows someone being physically hurt, attacked, or humiliated, don't post it. * YouTube is not a shock site. Don't post gross-out videos of accidents, dead bodies or similar things intended to shock or disgust. * Respect copyright. Only upload videos that you made or that you are authorized to use. This means don't upload videos you didn't make, or use content in your videos that someone else owns the copyright to, such as music tracks, snippets of copyrighted programs, or videos made by other users, without necessary authorizations. Read our Copyright Tips for more information. * We encourage free speech and defend everyone's right to express unpopular points of view. But we don't permit hate speech (speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity). * Things like predatory behavior, stalking, threats, harassment, intimidation, invading privacy, revealing other people's personal information, and inciting others to commit violent act

Awesome tutorial for administrators of the free SMF software. Do not copy and paste on this page, the server will ban you by IP address. Use the print links on the right hand side of the page in different parts of the site to print the pages correctly. Check out the second page also. This is most awesome and user friendly tutorial for installing and administration of the SMF software.

The case for not banning and blocking technology in school.  Bottom line is engagement is nearly impossible in the stand-and-deliver content lecture model.

"Although many schools ban smartphones, the reality is that many pupils have them hidden away, or are an integral part of their lives once they leave the premises. The 'Selfy' phenomenon is clearly here to stay, but this video (created by London-based design and animation studio weareseventeen) illustrates how we can easily be distracted with our devices, missing out on the world around us - which could be useful for a discussion / assembly activity within schools when talking about online use or safety:"

Children's books burn, courtesy of the federal government. 12 February 2009

Will Rich points to this post re 'online reputation' and job readiness. For me it points to the need for students to use the social tools together with adult help rather than separately as when banned from use at school. And of course..how to help, really?!