Can we unblock stuff now, please?
Check out this article about a new study. It describes teenagers’ social interactions using modern communications tools. It finds that, amazingly enough, they do not represent the coming of Satan. In fact:
“It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, lead researcher on the study, “Living and Learning With New Media.” “But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”
So can my school district please unblock Twitter now? That would make me happy.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
As the excuses for blocking access to the Internet from schools (porn, bandwidth issues, downloading, whatever) begin to erode, we begin to see exactly what the problem is; fear of the unknown, and unwillingness to learn. It is going to take a drastic shift in the “groupthink” of the institution, and a break from the old school (pardon the pun) way of doing things. Stop rewarding students for “seat time” and start rewarding them for learning. Stop basing success or failure on a concrete set of archaic standards while preaching to Teachers that we need to differentiate instruction to meet student needs (lip service). Finally, I’m a professional, I was hired as a professional, if I feel that I need to access something on the Internet, that is my decision. If the school doesn’t like my decisions, then fire me, but don’t babysit me.
Maybe with young teachers entering the field things will change.
Thanks for letting me rant. You just touched a nerve with this subject.
jeffslough’s last blog post..1 Thing New Teachers Should Know
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:16 am
I agree with you that schools should not block web information from students. I actually had a student tell me that the school blocks Wikipedia because it’s “evil.” He told me a teacher told his class this enlightening news. Because I know this student well, and in the past he has mis-interpreted auditorily presented information, I figure this was the case. But never-the-less!! Our students need to learn how to evaluate the validity of information from all media sources; that is difficult when they are denied access to the information they need to evaluate!
As for Twitter…I discovered this quite by accident, but I built a PageFlakes for my students to access websites we are using in our English class. I also showed them how they could add tools to the PageFlakes I built, as well as, build one of their own with tools they use. After class today, I logged out of my PageFlakes and one of the default tools on the site was Twitter. So out of curiousity, I logged onto my Twitter. And there it was! My twitters on a school computer. So if students have a twitter account, they can access it on PageFlakes. Just a tidbit. I also checked out edmodo as an alternative to Twitter to use with students. It looks good.
I am glad that many educators agree that students should have access to web content, especially Twitter! Hang in there!
By the way, I got my students email through ePals, which also has a blog site. I got that Okayed by my administrator. I am in the process of getting my students ePals, which both my students and I, find exciting! We also just started using Blogmeister.
I guess many of us are “venting.”
Jill’s last blog post.."Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est"
December 18th, 2008 at 11:27 am
hey u guy just go on google then type in youunblock.com then the first one there u go or runesnake.com or (any letter)-tunnel.com there u guys go have fun