Category Archives: my classroom

Cyberbullying: Upstanders Make a Difference

by dogtrax

 

We’re nearing the end of our Digital Life unit, and yesterday, our topic was cyberbullying and bullying, in general. It was a deep conversation across my sixth grade classes, rich with questions and insights and, unfortunately, experience. One of the topics we discusses is the role of the bystander, and as luck would have it, I came across this activity/event in my National Writing Project network.

upstanders_not_bystanders

It has to do with thinking through and understand the role of the bystander who takes action. The term is a bit odd to say — upstander — but I had my students write down what they thought it meant before we talked about what it meant. Some of those notes have become part of this presentation that I will be sharing with my students and families, and also, submitted to the Upstanders, Not Bystanders event.

See the slideshow: The Role of the Upstander

Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad
This also reminds me a presentation that I gave at last year’s NCTE meeting around cyberbullying (thanks to the invite by Kylene Beers). I’ll share it here, too.

Peace (in the strategies),
Kevin

 

A Collection of Avatar Creators

by dogtrax

Last week, we were talking about online identity and avatars, and my students are now working on creating a visual representation of themselves for our Glogster space. Here is the list of avatar creation sites that I shared with them (the Lego one was the most popular).

Peace (in who you are),
Kevin

 

 

Our Digital Media Lives

by dogtrax

As part of our class discussions around digital footprints, we used an activity from CommonSense Media that has students thinking of a comparison/simile for the way they use digital media. I like it because it allows us to talk about figurative language, and opens up some interesting discussions around themes of responses.

First, I will share the one that I created.
medialife

And here are some student responses.
media life similes
media life similes (5)
media life similes (4)
media life similes (3)

What’s your media life like?

Peace (in the simile),
Kevin

 

When FOX (News) Came to Town

by dogtrax

Yesterday, I celebrated Digital Learning Day with television cameras in my face and boom microphones dangling over my head. Don’t worry. I wasn’t in trouble. Instead, a crew from the Fox News network out of New York City traveled to my small school in Western Massachusetts to document an hour lesson around digital footprints and digital citizenship for a special they are producing in a couple of weeks.

Fox News Host John Roberts, fresh off the plane from the previous night’s grilling of Rep. Eric Cantor (whose ideology is as far removed from Western Massachusetts as I think you can get), hung out in my classroom as my students discussed privacy issues, data collection from companies, Facebook and Instagram, and their own media lives. I’ve known the television folks were coming for a few weeks now, and my students were ready.

“Act natural,” I told them in the morning. We all laughed at that.

They did more than that. While the class Fox joined is a wonderful one, the students really upped their game yesterday. They were articulate, thoughtful, and fully engaged in the discussions we were having about how the things they do now online impact the way people will perceive them in the future. John Roberts spent some of the time asking them questions about their own use of technology, whether parents talk to them about how they use websites, and what kind of steps they take to protect themselves. (He had his questions written out on his cell phone, which he kept pulling out to read to the class, ironically). At the end of the class, as my students were huddling to line up for their class, Roberts was right in their midst, having informal conversations with them about digital media. (I forgot to pull out my camera! Doh.) It was a nice moment, you know?

Roberts also interviewed me, one-on-one, in the morning, asking about why I think teaching 11 year olds about the concepts of digital citizenship is important. I think I was pretty articulate, too (although who knows what will end up on the cutting floor and how I will be portrayed.) Their larger piece is about data mining, and privacy issues, so I can’t say how much of our discussions will end up in the hour-long program (I suspect just a few minutes). While I was a little nervous about having a television crew in the classroom (and Fox, to boot), they were very kind and understanding, and appreciative of the time.

And if my own message gets out there to more teachers and parents about being vigilant about privacy, sharing and what companies do with our data, than it was time well-spent. I’m just hoping I am portrayed in the “fair and balanced” light.

:)

Peace (in the settings),
Kevin

 

 

Student State of Technology 2013: Online Safety and Experiences

by dogtrax

I’ve been sharing out some of the data from a grade-level survey that I did with my students around their perceptions and use of technology and digital media. I’ve talked about how much time and what they do with that time, and also, I’ve shared out how many of my students use Facebook and Instagram. Today, I want to share out their views and experiences around online safety and cyberbullying. All of these topics will be part of our class discussions this week as part of our work around Digital Learning Day.

This topic of safety is one that often falls below many of our radar screens until something has gone too far for the kids to deal with. I was curious if adults in their lives have talked about the issue of how to be safe when in an online space and what to do if the tone turns negative and maybe even threatening. I was pleased to see that about three-quarters of the students reported that they have had those kinds of conversations before with a teacher or parent.

In looking at their narrative experiences, you can see that the line between other just being annoying and being threatening is very vague for my students (and, let’s be honest, for many adults). When a student says that another person writing in Spanish or “liking” a picture on a site that encourages that, they may be reading more into the activity than is there. But when a student says that there are too many incidents to even count, that is a cause for concern, I think.

Parents/Teachers/Adults Talked About Online Safety?
State of Tech 2013 parents talked tech

I also wanted to know if they had experienced this negativity in online spaces, and about one-third said they had.

Negative Online Experiences?
State of Tech 2013 negative experience

 

Next, I asked, if they said “yes” to that last question, what was the incident, and was it resolved? Here are some of their answers:

  • Some creep “liked” my pictures and I blocked him.
  • People being mean.
  • Someone didn’t care about the Newtown ct. shooting so a big fight broke out on Instagram and the person who didn’t care had so many people against him, he just stopped typing. The guy was swearing a lot.
  • It is not really a problem people post pictures that say this girl died and if you don’t re-post you will be next.
  • Cyberbullying. I resolved it by going to a counselor.
  • People swear at you and it has not resolved.
  • I re-posted some of a girl’s pictures (what you are supposed to do and she said that I was “taking all her pics”) so I unfollowed her and yes it did work.
  • A rude message was left for me in Minecraft and it did not get fixed.
  • It was not resolved but someone kept calling me really bad things.
  • Someone was talking Spanish, asked to stop, and they said something in Spanish.
  • On fantage.com while I was playing (virtual world) and someone said those clothes you are wearing (on my character) are ugly. What I just did is clicked on them and then I reported them.
  • Well, I don’t know how many negative experiences I’ve had online. There are too many to count.
  • The people swear at you.
  • Teenagers on Xbox live mocking my gaming abilities.
  • People call me names on Xbox Live.
  • Me and a person got into a really big fight. We have really never talk ever again.
  • I saw an inappropriate and got it blocked from YouTube.

One of the areas I will be addressing this week is privacy settings and letting them know there are ways to report bad behavior of other users to most online sites. I’ll also be reminding them that they have supportive adults at home and in school who they can turn to for help in situations that seem to be careening out of control.

Peace (in the sharing),
Kevin

 

Student State of Technology 2013: Facebook, Instagram and More

by dogtrax

Yesterday, I began sharing out some data that I collected from my sixth grade students about their use and perceptions of technology in their lives as we lead up to Digital Learning Day on Wednesday. Today, I want to share out the data from questions about social networking, but in particular, about my students’ use of Facebook and Instagram. I should note that my kids are 11 and 12 years old — not officially old enough for Facebook and Instgram (as if Zuckerberg and company really care).

My observations?

  • The percentage of my students who are on Facebook seems to have dropped this year, from last. I don’t know if an informational email that I sent earlier this year to all parents with information about Facebook (age levels, advice on how to monitor traffic, controlling privacy settings, etc.) had any impact but I am glad that the numbers are not growing.
  • It’s clear that my students view social networking spaces for the value of connections among friends more than sharing of information. But still …a fair number on FB are sharing images and videos, and probably not at all considering the privacy ramifications, nor their digital footprints (that will be our topic next week).
  • I notice a few students are using Facebook without parent knowledge. That always concerns me. I know, from experience, how hard it is to keep track of what our children are doing. But it is critical.
  • More than half the class is on Instagram now, which means they are probably sharing a lot of photos. This app will be a main focus next week, I think, as we talk about privacy issues. I also know that they probably have access to a lot of inappropriate content in those spaces (thus, the age 13 level).

On Facebook
State of Tech 2013 facebook account

Use of Facebook
State of Tech 2013 Facebook use

Parents Know About Facebook Use
State of Tech 2013 facebook parents knowledge

On Instagram
State of Tech 2013 Instagram use

How Using Instagram
State of Tech 2013 Instragram use
Peace (in the social sharing),
Kevin

City-States and Maps

by dogtrax

Our social studies teacher is finishing up a unit around city-states, and students created their own maps of an imaginary city-state. I grabbed images and created this animoto video to celebrate and share the project with parents.

Peace (in the lands),
Kevin

Student State of Technology 2013: Tech Useage and Perceptions

by dogtrax

Each year, I have my sixth graders take a survey we call The State of Technology. The data I collect over a series of questions forms the basis for discussions (we will have next week) around digital citizenship and privacy and footprints. Plus, I find it fascinating to get a glimpse into what they do with technology and how they perceive it. I’ll share out more elements in the coming days, but these questions ask about amount of time on tech and what they do, as well as their impressions of themselves as tech savvy kids.

What observations can I make?

  • First of all, notice the amount of time they spend with technology. Hours and hours each day. That’s a bit frightening, and it is something we grapple with in our home, too, with our children. I continually return to the questions as a teacher of the amount of screen time I am bringing into my instruction.
  • Mostly, they are using the technology at home and not in school. No surprise there, I suppose, given the proliferation of devices now available.
  • The shift to mobile devices over desktops and computers is clearly evident, and this has grown by leaps and bounds each year (reflecting society, I suppose). In fact, each time I introduce some technology in class, the first question is always: is there an app for this? (We had this yesterday, as we worked with Glogster for the first time)
  • It’s also interesting that text messaging is still an extremeley popular use of technology, but playing in online gaming environments has grown considerably in the past year, and watching videos online is a steady growth pattern over previous years.  What I would love to see is more growth in the categories around making, creating, producing … instead of the ones around watching, experiencing, staring.
  • Finally, the question about self-perceptions shows another shift in my students. Not long ago, I would have had a whole group identifying themselves in the “uncomfortable” category, but now, the vast majority either feel comfortable with whatever device or platform we put in front of them, they also consider themselves “experts.” (Reality check: they still need guidance and help to see the larger picture of how things work, and why.) And when they think about their own use in comparison to their parents, well, kids always know best, right? Here, they clearly think they are more knowledgeable and savvy than mom and dad.

Amount of Time
State of Tech 2013 hours of tech

Where Time is Spent
State of Tech 2013 time on device

What They Do on Tech
State of Tech 2013 outside of school

Home vs. School
State of Tech 2013 Home vs School
Self-perceptions of Tech Use
State of Tech 2013 rate self
Compared to Parents
State of Tech 2013 compare to parents
In the next few days, I will share out their use of social networking spaces

Peace (in the data to understand),
Kevin

PS — Want a copy of the survey to use with your students? I think I created a blank template in Google Drive that I can share here with you. Feel free to use it as you see fit.