As a teacher, I like to be able to control what my students are experiencing. I don’t believe that I am alone in the fear of what my students might experience online that I cannot control. I had never thought about the tough situations online as a learning opportunity as is presented in Social LEADia by Jennifer Casa-Todd. I now think differently about how I allow my students to experience the digital world. Our students will experience tough things in this new online landscape, and we can either allow them to flounder alone or give them the tools to develop the skills needed. We can teach them how to lead online. I know that I would rather give them the tools to navigate tricky situations than to pretend that they won’t happen. I know first hand how out of control online situations can become and the lifelong effects that situations like cyber bullying can have. I never want my students to feel that they have to face that with no tools.
I confirmed to myself the transformational power that social media has. No longer are students expected to get all their information from a textbook and take that as fact. I love when my students challenge an idea, It allows for a dialogue to happen. With social media, my students are able to explore ideas in context and further their thinking. A classroom that I am in quite often is doing their first inquiry projects, students who aren’t typically engaged in the class work are happy working on their ideas. Ideas that they picked and that they wanted to explore. One of them wanted to do a project on music, so they are doing work on Reggae and exploring what life was like for Bob Marley. They are able to understand the music on a deeper level because they understand more in context.
Something I learned was how to help explain the benefits of social media. Not all parents will be on board and I do think it is important to present information to the parents about the benefits of using social media. As Jennifer Casa-Todd points out, many of the issues around getting parental consent are based on generational issues and misunderstanding how social media is used in the classroom. It is important to hear where the parents are coming from, and to reflectively listen to their concerns.
Social media is her to stay, it has given us tools to connect globally in a way that was unthinkable a few generations ago. With this, comes the responsibility to teach our students how to lead online. Social LEADia gives a base understanding of what we can do as teachers. I will be reading the entire book soon, to see what other knowledge I can glean from the author.
References:
Casa-Todd, J. (2017). Social LEADia: moving students from digital citizenship to digital leadership. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting. doi: February 7, 202
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