One thing we have learned in the last 20 years is that many young people — certainly most teens– are pretty savvy about how they use the Net, though all of us can use some reminders now and then.
And parents — even those who may be technologically challenged — continue to have a crucial role to play in guiding their children and helping them sort out and deal with the stresses of life, both online and offline.
A better strategy would be to teach children to be “street smart” in order to better safeguard themselves in any potentially uncomfortable or dangerous situation.
It's a healthy reminder that struggling through a difficult problem—whether it's learning Photoshop, getting used to a new webapp, or picking up a new skill—is a necessary part of the learning process.
Perhaps more important than the content we teach are the life skills we model by embracing these concepts. Using social media in the classroom allows teachers to remind students of the power their words can have online. This understanding will be crucial as they head to college, start a career and become adults in a digital world.
Anyone can look up Benjamin Franklin on Wikipedia and create a PowerPoint presentation of the information found there. Creating a fake Facebook wall for Benjamin Franklin that delivers the same information, but from the perceived perspective of Benjamin Franklin himself, adds a level of higher-order thinking to the activity that students will long remember.
At that point I took all the phones away and we had a little reminder chat about when it was appropriate to use your phone and when it was not. Also that it was rarely appropriate to hide under the table.