Journey to Citizenry

Since the days of AOL 2.0 I have been infatuated with technology and the world wide web! I never recall anyone ever teaching me how to act online. There were the obvious, don’t give out your information or agree to meet anyone you don’t know in real life...And now in 2019 we literally call strangers to our homes to get in their cars! The last 2 decades have been filled with so much evolution and change. Thanks to my studies in EDLD 5316 I can now visualize a future where schools can really do their part to help all children be good citizens both online and off.

Ribble (2015) offers educators, parents and adults a blueprint for how to educate our youth. The focus in K-8 on the nine elements can make for a very digestible diet of digital citizenship tailored to the needs of today’s digital world. The biggest challenge for me was to visualize how I could, in my language classroom, implement teachable moments for all 9 elements. Specifically, digital commerce may seem like a stretch. However, as I reflected on all our readings and videos I began to find easy ways to start implementing teachable moments for most elements. Recently I rolled out a Travel project for my HS Spanish students. They had to plan a vacation to a US city with a rich Latin flavor. They were given a budget and had to account for all expenses. What a great opportunity this was to talk about digital commerce and how to make smart decisions when thinking about making an online purchase. We discussed how to determine if a site is reputable and secure.

The other area where I saw students needed the most direction is in security. Often times kids stay logged into Google or on public computers without realizing the dangers. I did a demonstration for one class where I left my wallet on the table or my phone unlocked on a table. We all agreed that was a bad idea and then discussed how keeping your login information available to others by not properly signing out can leave you susceptible to hacks and identity theft. It may not seem like a big deal with you Google Drive, but when we think about our digital footprint, we are responsible to make sure we are always in control of it. If we leave our ID on a computer other can make poor choices that will appear to have been made by us. Thus, leaving us the victims of identity theft and fraud!

We live in a brave new world. The digital world is ubiquitous and in American culture is vital to success. We need to ensure we provide equity of access and knowledge on how to navigate safely in this world to ensure we are productive members who not only consume, but also contribute. The nine elements are our guide. They are principles that help us digest the world around us. We must learn to be critical thinkers and approach our digital society with a healthy fear and awareness to ensure that we are always safe and protected.


References:

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2015). Bullying beyond the schoolyard preventing and responding to cyberbullying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Ludwig, T., & Marble, A. (2018). My secret bully. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital Citizenship in Schools: Nine Elements All Students Should Know (3rd ed.). Washington DC: International Society for Technology in Education.

Bullying: A Rite of Passage?

As I ordered the class books for my recent course on Digital Citizenship, I balked at one of the titles on bullying, thinking that I knew all I needed to about bullying. I went to school, I was a victim and at one point an aggressor. What more can be said, could I maybe save myself a few bucks? I’m glad I purchased it because to be honest we as educators, parents or even just adults often romanticize our past or even worse we tend to forget that you never step in the same river twice.

Bullying was defined by the CDC in 2014 as “any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or groups of youths...that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated. Bullying may inflict harm or distress on the targeted youth including physical, psychological, social or educational harm” (Hinduja 2015).

As I read about the definitions of traditional and new age bullying I couldn’t help but have the thought that all of this is just a “rite of passage”. However, as I kept reading, Hinduja (2015) goes on to discuss the purpose of his latest book on Bullying which is to educate parents and teachers because if we can help prevent or reduce the harm to those being bullied then it is worth the effort. And that really resonated with me. I was immediately transported back to my own middle school days when I was the target of bullying by the kids a grade above me. I never understood why and often times that is unimportant, but I do recall being told I smelled. Now a lot of that stemmed from my unusual last name of Yoder which had a Dr. Suess connection to odor. That became my new name in the locker room before and after basketball practice. Then I recall one day even seeing etched in a desk “Oder is Gay”...I couldn’t beleive someone cared enough to take the time to etch that into a desk...what could I possible have done to deserve such a monument. I do recall even confronting one of the aggressors in an outside environment and he continued to tell me it was because I smelled. Thus I carried numerous amounts of deodorant at all times. Eventually it all subsided and became a distant memory. But it definitely had a lasting effect since I can recall vividly some of those issues. I do recall that it never occurred to me to tell an adult.

As I think about today’s world, I can’t use that same lens of its just a “rite of passage’ because the game has changed. With the advent of technology, bullying has evolved. As Hinduja (2015) noted it no longer needs to be about a power imbalance. And often it's about how well the aggressor can navigate technology to cover up their tracks. I can’t imagine how much more distress I would have been under if social media or anything beyond a beeper were at our fingertips. I could easily walk a different way to class or avoid the locker room, but what if the locker room and the talk had a way of reaching beyond the 20 of us on the team or in my class? I would have been mortified. I already had a disposition for depression and anxiety and that could have exacerbated it to monumental proportions.

Today’s youth deserve to be protected and we as adults need to inundated ourselves into their digital lives and better understand the social structure so that we can help them navigate these waters. They need guidance and structure and often times we consider tech just toys, but they have the potential to be weapons of social destruction that have taken lives and continue to do so. The wounds are not easily seen and the isolation can make them virtually unseen until it is too late. We as adults sometimes become the bystanders who don’t speak up...we close our eyes and adopt a don’t ask don’t tell policy inadvertently and in direct violation to what we would say is our intention. How much do you know about the youth in your life and their online interactions? How many social media apps can you name? When is the last time you had a conversation with a young person and it involved discussions on issues they face socially? Find someone in your life that can help educate you on today’s social structure. If you have kids, it may not be them. You may need to find someone with whom you are not directly responsible for. But try to make a real connection. Let them know you need an education that only they can give you. Be sure to withhold you judgements and open your ears.



Reference

Ansary, N. S., Elias, M. J., Greene, M. B., & Green, S. (2015). Best practices to address or reduce bullying in schools. Kappan, 97(2), 30-35. Ansary_Elias_Greene_Green_Bullying.pdf

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2015). Bullying beyond the schoolyard preventing and responding to cyberbullying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Digital Citizen's Arrest

As educators we have a very important job. We must help encourage our students to be lifelong learners so that they can create. Anderson’s taxonomy is an evolution from Bloom’s in which the highest virtue is to create and in doing that we must ensure they are creating their own work. We must hold our students accountable for digital copyright law. The goal of copyright law and policy is to foster the progress of science, the creation of culture, and the dissemination of ideas. (ARL, 2015). Thus teachers and copyright lawyers are essentially there to foster a society in which everyone wants to create.

As educators I wonder what efforts we make to this end? What have I done to help foster the creation of culture and dissemination of ideas? I would think that most teachers look for plagiarism, but this is more of a punitive action. We should be doing more to help our students understand what plagiarism and copyright infringement are and what they are not (Bailey, 2013). Often times the the 2 overlap, but not always. Ribble (2015) discusses digital law as one of the 9 elements of digital citizenship education. Plagiarism is fairly simple, it essentially asks the student to ensure the work they turn in is their own. So why do students plagiarize? Most often it is due to extreme procrastination that puts them into a corner and up against a deadline. Other times they are disengaged from the topic and could not be bothered to read and analyze so as to create their own thoughts. There seems to be a bigger issue at play. And it is the student engagement. For me the COVA approach (Harupnik, 2018) has allowed me to give up control in the classroom and allow my students to take a more active role in their own education.

Recently, I sat in a meeting where department heads were chatting about a testing incentive for our statewide assessments. I couldn’t help but think if there were better incentives aside from just exempting students from the final. What if we provided alternative options to create something. Perhaps if we are discussing Biology class, the students could focus on a real world topic from the course and give a TED talk on something they have seen in the real world where the concepts taught in class intersected with their own lives. Perhaps they can start a blog in which they discuss biological topics that matter to teens. Helping students to create new and innovative projects can actually help us get a better idea of just how proficient they are in a subject area. It also allows them to unlock their creativity; something that bubble tests will never accomplish.

Ultimately, instead of viewing copyright and plagiarism as a burden of education we need to see it as an opportunity to do what copyright was meant to do all along. We want to progress our society and encourage people to create. It starts with the lens through which we look. Students need good role models who are willing to step outside the box of what was always done and help us forge a new path in education that more efficiently gets us to our destination.




References


(2018, July 14). COVA - It's About Learning. Retrieved December 7, 2019, from http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=6991

Bailey, Jonathan (2013, October 7). The Difference Between Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism. Retrieved December 7, 2019, from https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2013/10/07/difference-copyright-infringement-plagiarism/

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital Citizenship in Schools (3rd ed). Eugene, OR: International Society in Education.

We hold these truths to be self-evident...

We are still in the middle of a long running major societal trauma. Technology (i.e. social media) has so enamored us as well as overwhelmed us. A lot of our society is still deciding how we feel about it. We are still processing all of this ‘information’. Some of us have decided to avoid it as much as possible only using it when there is no other option. Others have completely embraced technology and use the newest gadgets at will while a good amount of us are still on the fence cautiously optimistic about technology of any form; just waiting for the dust to settle so we can sort out what items have stood the test of time and can be trusted (Lenhart 2015). 

Technology like anything has its pros and cons. I personally believe that the pros far outweigh the

cons, but both must be examined constantly because this is a fast evolving area. It is a lot like parenting. The minute you get comfortable with how things work with your child there is a shift and new variables are added. So it calls for us to do a lot of what the Ribble text (2015) asks, which is to think in terms of categories and principles and let those principles guide us. As Americans that is the foundation of our country. So teaching digital citizenship is really an opportunity to look at our country's history and reflect on those principles in today's context. As we declared our independence almost 250 years ago our founders made it a point to mention....

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (US 1776)

If that is true then we all need access to today's digital world. With the majority of our society interacting in an online environment socially, professionally, and financially, we need to make sure that we do not have any citizens feeling like a fraction of that. We must work harder to provide equity. And when we consider the right to the pursuit of happiness that brings up an important topic of teaching Digital Citizenship with a mindset of empathy and kindness. The concept of the pursuit of happiness was based off of the British philosopher John Locke who in his Second Treatise on Government (1689) discusses that pursuit and his intention was to discuss that you have the right to pursue happiness so long as it does not impinge upon anyone else's pursuit of happiness. Thus when we think about digital communication (cyberbullying, scamming, trolling or ghosting), we need to use those same principles to guide us. We need to think before we post and just because that impulsive tweet may make us feel a sensation of joy with each like or laugh; if it will affect another person's right to happiness then it is in violation of what we should be doing to one another. If we attack digital citizenship education with those guiding principles and we all can agree to start with the same foundation as the history of our original citizenship then we can move forward in harmony; together. By making this an interdisciplinary concern we can involve the whole school community. All stakeholders have a role. We must model the society we want to see online or otherwise. We must value honesty, tolerance and transparency.

Digital Citizenship: Communication

Digital citizenship is defined as the norms for how one should interact in the digital world. As a classroom teacher I am increasingly concerned with the way communication has changed. It is of paramount importance that we adults begin our focus on helping today’s young people learn proper boundaries for communication. Just because you can communicate with someone 24/7 does not mean you should. This unlimited access to communication is causing some tears in the fabric of our society. Students today have a hard time setting boundaries. This is not just merely an academic issue, it is also a safety issue as well as a social justice issue. We adults need to find important moments to teach valuable lessons to today’s youth on proper communication.

How can we go about this? Well it will depend upon our role within society. Let’s explore some common scenarios that are prime examples of how to best model good communication. First, let us begin with teachers. We must hold students accountable in the classroom. Students today often find themselves getting lost in a digital wonderland instead of paying attention in class. We must not only plan engaging lessons, but we must also enforce rules for proper class etiquette. Students need to see that they cannot divide their attention and still function in our class, much in the same way they should not be texting and driving. Our working memory can only handle so much stimuli. It has serious limits. Thus not only do police need to do their best to enforce texting and driving; and yes perhaps cameras will be able to capture drivers violating this in the future and deliver tickets online, but self regulation must be taught. Just as the latest insurance commercial hints which parodies the concept of “smart dogs” trained to knock devices out of the drivers hands like superheros. Also, business owners need to have strict policies with their employees so that they can ensure they are getting the work they are paying for. If employees are allowed to surf on their phones, then will work get done to level expected?

I think we can all agree that parents are really the most important cog in this machine since they are the ones who usually have the most time under tension and have a certain innate respect from their children as a part of their birthright.There are a multitude of opportunities to set boundaries such as dinner table etiquette, which can help prepare students for in class interactions without checking their phones. Parents by not using their phone while driving can help set a good tone for what is good driving. Parents can also have important discussions on security and health. They can enforce important guidelines for bedtime and limit device usage during the hours when they need to be sleeping. Parents also need to not contact students during school hours via text. Often times this is very convenient, but it can cause confusion for students and then creates an excuse as to why they need to check their phones. I really hope that as we move forward we can use reason and logic to guide these discussions. By providing good consistent modeling combined with clear consequences we can help set the discipline students need. We can all be doing more. Technology is wonderful, but moderation is the key to life. Just because I could find a restaurant open at 3AM does not mean I should be eating at 3AM. We need to learn self regulation. This is no different than any other time in history, but what is different is the media through which we communicate. We used to rely on natural barriers such as not being in the same class or fear of getting yelled at by your friend’s dad for calling too late or during dinner is no longer relevant. There has been a major paradigm shift and we are now searching for the light in the dark. We are bound to bump into some proverbial furniture along the way.

PD with COVA

Just this week I had the honor of running 2 PD sessions for our new HS teachers on Technology. The first session was only allotted 40 minutes to sprint through all the different  tech systems the district uses and why. But the second day I had double that time to focus on our new learning management system, Canvas. I care very deeply how these PD sessions run, because I have sat in too many sessions myself where I felt unfulfilled by the end. I wanted to be effective, inspirational and fulfilling. So how would I use my time! Well I first did some small projects for my own classes to get myself back into the rhythm. How could I possibly be on my game if I hadn't taken a few swings in the cage so to speak. I worked on a project I had started at a conference back in July, but didn't have enough time to tinker and see through at the time. 

Then I decided to organize my presentation. I wanted to do what was successful in my roll out last year with our whole faculty, so I decided to spend the first 10 minutes in TED talk fashion focusing on the Whys of using Canvas and Chromebooks in the classroom. Then the How and the What of it all. (Sinek, 2016). After helping them better understand our districts mission and the system's capabilities it was time to show them how. I began by touring a couple Canvas courses that I developed and how I had revitalized the syllabus and made it into a media mixed module that culminated with a quiz on all the important info they should have gleaned. I showed how I would conduct my classes online and in person. Now it was time to give them space to choose their own path, show ownership, have a voice...the only thing left was for me to sit back and enjoy the significant and authentic learning experience I had created. The last 30 minutes was their time to choose. They could take a self paced course I made for them to experience all the submission styles with creative assignments that would show them just how the system would occur for their students and hopefully inspire them along the way. They could search the guides for tutorial videos or the Canvas Commons, they could start to make a landing page or begin to put together a bio for their syllabus page. They sky was the limit. This way my colleague and I were free to be facilitators in their learning journey. We got such rave reviews with the only criticism that they wanted more time than we were allotted and someone requested snacks! 

My point being that the COVA model of education works. It allowed me to envision what my classroom will look like this year. And although I am doing a complete overhaul of my classroom philosophies to embody COVA, I am not nervous. Previously as a younger teacher I think I was so worried about being a fraud or that they were expecting the Wizard of Oz and I didn't want them to know there was just a man behind the curtain and as a result I feared trying new things. I am so grateful that I now see the bigger picture. Although I am seemingly giving up control of the classroom in the moment by not lecturing, I still need to be ready and flexible for all the possible teachable moments that lie ahead and because I know this method will not only lead to achievement, but will ultimately lead to engagement and fulfillment for all my students, I can walk in proudly day 1. Make no mistake, I will stumble and some lessons will fail, but deep down I have a serene feeling because I know this is the path of education in today's world and it is what the students deserve. I am excited to finally be ready to embark on my version of that path, because just like language...we may say we all speak the same language, but really we all develop our own version of it with our choices and style. And because of that I have no anxiety that I need to live up to some unattainable goal. I just need to be myself and provide a significant learning environment...aside from that I just need to learn when to get the heck out of their way; there is no better time than now to be a learner!

I hope you all have a great start to the year! 

Learn more about COVA here!

A Lifelong Learner

At the end of last year I helped our most veteran faculty member utilize our new LMS of Canvas to administer his Chemistry final. It was an honor and I wanted to be perfect and work hard to match his stellar reputation. So all year we would meet and develop a plan. Then the week before, we really sat down and refined the exam. As I set to copy it from our sandbox course into the live courses I made a mistake that caused us to lose a portion of the final 72 hours before the exam. I was mortified. He worked over the weekend to redo what was deleted and when I went in to profusely apologize thinking he was going to holler at me, he just asked me if I learned from it. I said that I absolutely did. He said that's all that matters and that he personally hopes that he never stops learning. The exam went off without a hitch and he then wrote me a nice email thanking me for all my efforts. As it turns out that was his last day and he retired quietly without telling anyone.

I tell that story because of his line that he hopes he never stops learning. And after 35 years in public education and retirement upon him, I found that to be a profound statement. And as I finish my coursework on my ePortfolio, I realize the work is not done. I have been given choice and I take ownership of that and have found a platform that gives me a voice about how I view education and a place to soundboard the ways I hope to create authentic environments for my students. So I look forward to continuing to grow my ePortfolio. It has become an extension of myself and the act of curating it is very therapeutic much like in my favorite 80s movie, Karate Kid, I want to be like Mr. Miyagi curating the branches of that Bonzai tree. I have a lot of great work to do in education and I have a lot to say about that work. I'm grateful for the opportunity to shine my light for others to see. It gives me continued purpose and allows me to be like Mr. Garman and never stop learning!

Check out my ePortfolio!