Group items tagged

Both presentations will help you get that tune that's stuck in your head out of there --- not "Let Me Entertain You" (there's no hope for that), but the "KIDS these days..." one. Hopefully, they'll help get that tune out of being stuck in your school as well. Because, let's face it: that tune is really just a flimsy excuse to not change.

Recent reports from the Pew Internet and American Life Project show that 93 percent of youth ages 12 to 17 go online. Of those kids, 55 percent use social-networking sites (like Facebook and MySpace), and 64 percent are creating their own original content (such as blogs and wikis). Unlike watching television, using the Internet allows young people to take an active role; this move from consumption to participation affects the way they construct knowledge, develop their identity, and communicate with others. "Technology, from my perspective, has created an opportunity for students to use new digital-media resources to express themselves in ways that earlier generations could never have imagined,

Students today "more quickly tune out a teacher or someone who doesn't relate," she adds.

This is something Jim Gates hears a lot. As a coach for Pennsylvania's Classrooms for the Future project, he works to make technology available to students and teachers. He's also got a blog of his own called TipLine. "There's a growing disconnect between how kids embrace technology and where teachers' skill levels are," he says.

Teachers who must hide their online activity because of nonexistent social media guidelines risk losing their jobs and reputations. A better approach is to collaboratively develop a policy that is acceptable to administrators, school board members, teachers and parents allowing for involvement in the global conversation in which many are contributing.

As I said before, blogging forces me to come up with stuff to write about. As I do that, I am forced to analyze some of the situations in my life and try to find out why the work or why they don’t work.

. Reading other blogs also helps me to gain new perspectives. These are perspectives that I wouldn’t have without blogging.

I'm sure it couldn't have been an easy decision, but we became teachers because it is a part of who we are, who we were meant to be. I always tell people "The heart wants what it wants." Obviously, your heart wanted to be back with the kids. How fortunate for them to have such an amazing educator to work with. As for being a classroom teacher with an amazing PLN, I can assure you...nothing beats it!! I know if I'm struggling or having a horrible day, I can hop on Twitter or Plurk at ANY time - day or night - and someone, somewhere in the world will be there to listen and offer support. The same holds true when I have something amazing to share, because those will happen too.I can't imagine just relying on the people I work with at school for support, we don't really seem to make time for each other like we should. But I can always find strength and support from one thousand other people willing to make time for someone they may not even know. How amazing is that!The long and the short of it....Congratulations, Lee! Welcome back...we're right behind you!!

Beyond such undeniable excesses, a quiet reappraisal of helicopter parents is underway. Some researchers have begun to argue that late adolescence and young adulthood are such minefields today - emotional, social, sexual, logistical, psychological - that there are valid reasons for parents to remain deeply involved in their children’s lives even after the kids are, technically speaking, adults. Moreover, they say, with the economy in a deep swoon, helicopter parents may have a vital role to play as career counselors or even as providers of financial aid to their offspring.

There’s much more here, obviously, in terms of even bigger questions about the roles of schools and teachers and classrooms in a networked learning world. But I agree that here is where we have to start. What is it we most want our kids to know about what it means to be a person of this world, and how do we best convey it in ways that make sense for the times we live in? Everything else flows from that. What do you think?