This evening I was an invited guest speaker for a Charleston, SC high school (Wando High School–Charleston County School District) who had a terrific parent workshop for social networking and teens. I conducted my same portion in November at my own school, and was asked by one of the two LMS’s (Emilie Woody and Laura Judson) to visit their school and present the same content at their school. I said I would, but I made some recommendations that they used whole-heartedly. When I had mine at my school, I was the sole speaker. (In my defense, my session was only to be 30 minutes, and parents could attend 3 of about six planned workshop topics.) But when all the parents came to mine first, my principal asked me to do a 45 minutes session, and then opened it up for parents to ask questions. (We had a good event, but I knew it could have been better. I had only prepared for a brief session that I would supposedly repeat a couple of times that evening, and it was adjusted on the spot to be much more. Although I wasn’t fully prepared for what i was asked to do, we used collective wisdom of the audience to generate answers to questions asked.)
So I suggested to Emilie, my primary contact, that the workshop needed to have a panel, and that panel needed to have a variety of representation, including perhaps teachers, parents, guidance counselors, perhaps administrators, school resource officer, any one that may have dealt with issues related to teens and social networking. Emilie put together a fantastic expert panel that went way beyond even what I was suggesting. The panel included me and:
- Kat Hagood, a computer forensic expert
- Kristin Millonzi, an attorney
- Sgt. Trish Taylor, Charleston County Police Department expert on online safety
- Lisa Poston, college admissions advisor (Citadel, I believe)
- Dr. Chris Starr, parent & Computer Science Professor, College of Charleston
- Susan Shrankle, therapist, social worker, author of What in the World are Your Kids Doing Online.
- and Four OUTSTANDING senior students who came from a variety of backgrounds, including average teen, academic scholar, female athlete, and student government representative type.
We began the evening with a dinner that was catered by the Wando High School culinary arts students. What an awesome way to include other organizations in a program! Even though these kids and their instructors were not directly involved in the program, they planned and executed a meal that I swear was restaurant quality, and they fed us in their “bistro,” a small dining room that allowed the panelists to chat and get to know each other before the event. That was a wise move as it put us at ease on stage, and allowed us to see what expertise we were bringing to the panel, and also let us know who may be better qualified to answer posed questions. A wise move indeed.
I am not a good counter for activities, but there was an auditorium FULL of interested community members and parents. I spoke for roughly 35 minutes, and then it was turned over to the panel. Many parents and community members came and asked a lot of great questions that were easily answered by the panel experts. At just before 9:00, Emilie had to tell the lines of parents at the microphones we would only be able to entertain three more questions. But she promised the crowd that plans were underway to have another similar event in the fall. Parents were very pleased with the activity, and students were also pleased to have a voice in the discussion, both from the audience and the panel.
The absolute BEST part of the night had to be the students on the panel. They were the true “experts” in the mix, and they were absolutely amazing. The panel Emilie put together was made up of authorities on the topic that represented groups impacted by social networking. I grabbed some great ideas for the next time I conduct this workshop.
My hope in writing this post tonight (I started it late last night, and am finishing tonight) is that other educators (be it LMS’s, teachers, administrators, or whatever organization works with kids and is responsible for learning) will be able to read about last night’s parent workshop, and create their very own very successful workshop. See her flier too–it’s really cool. myspaceflyer2.pdf
Today we had Career Day at school and I had industrious plans, which you can read 
to classrooms where they were presenting. By 9:00, I was frantic, so I went ahead and called my first guest, Chrissy Hellyer, a Year 7 teacher from Taradale Intermediate School in Taradale, Napier, New Zealand. Chrissy had to get up at 3:00 a.m. to participate, and I can happily report she showed up webcam style complete in her “jarmies” as she called them, happy to help us out. Chrissy was all smiles as she described the differences in grade levels from the US vs. NZ. She talked about the job being a passion and one that is a calling to serve. Next we skyped Lisa Parisi of Long Island, NY (who declined to be on video before a morning shower!) and she talked about 
We changed sessions, and that is when Murphy’s Law kicked in. The internet was down district-wide, ending all plans to skype any of my network into other sessions, even though I had six people contacted, four of them scheduled. Oh well. My purpose for having different people from my network was
two-fold. One, I didn’t have to worry about kids being bored by me, and two, these extra voices could talk about the diversity of jobs in education. My back up plan included a looping ppt containing pictures or screen shots of them in their work or element (Chrissy you are very obscure on the Interent!) I had put together this powerpoint that would loop while I was not in a skype conversation, and I wound up using it to talk about my area of education (library media) as well as all their different areas to the best of my knowledge. I even challenged these students to consider this career, and come back to make learning even better for future students.
students are scheduled to hear guest speakers, and this week at school we have a bevy of career exploration opportunities for our students to participate in. Today we had a slew of visitors that spoke auditorium-style. They were community leaders that our 8th graders could turn to and that was the gist of the motivational speeches. Tomorrow we have over 100 8th grade students scheduled to shadow or apprentice adults at their jobs. We also have roughly 30 students coming in to “interview” staff members about their job and how or why they chose it as a career. Thursday we are having shorter sessions where students can rotate to 25 minute sessions where more career representatives are coming, and I’ve been asked to give three sessions on the career field of education. I didn’t want to seem like I wasn’t a team player, so of course I graciously said yes. But our kids, well, they already know me. Many of them have already heard “my” story. 
What’s a girl to do? My fear was that my session would be challenging b/c they would not have any questions for me or worse, would not choose my sessions. So, in 21st century learner style, I have chosen once again to ask my network to rescue me! My plans are to open up my Skype at school, and have guest speakers that my kids will not know speak to their choice of education as a career. Maybe I can even figure out a way to make it possible for students to ask questions too. We’ll see. 
send out the video, and asking participants internationally to join into the backchannel of conversation that would take place as we (the live audience of students and guests and blogger audience) via adding comments to a blog account set up specifically for the project. At the intro the students were shown visitors video feed (and wouldn’t you now I was answering a phone!) and simultaneously I could see the video of the inner circle of students the remainder of the time. For several consecutive weeks students and guests will gather each period of the day there are English classes, and talk about the chapters of the book. My first participation was on the chapter of “games.” I selected this chapter b/c I know in my heart that I learn most and best when I get to “play around” with the topic, be it information, hardware, software, or more. Interacting with it in the sense that it is a game or “play” allows me to take risks without worrying about failure or being rebuked by peers.
amount of time on “gaming” as it relates to video games, and I was not disappointed. What I did find, however, was that the backchannel where I was and the inner circle of participants on the video were surprisingly like-minded. There were those who were opposed to the violence of some games (like me) and felt like games dehumanized the actions–lot’s of talk about killing, blood, and guts. There were also those who supported the industry, saying it helps people, and the examples from the kids were simulations that assist soldiers to prepare for combat. I was astonished at the depth to which the kids defended their point of view, and found my self siding with both at times. Does that make me wishy-washy?
too, as I feel strongly that learning has to be meaningful. The chapter on “play” and “meaning” remind me of the Wow framework I studied a few years ago, that of designing lessons that address qualities to engage students. Read about it 
library by connecting them to the resources available print or electronic. I also talked about modeling the use of the tools in instructional practice so that teachers can see how students respond when we use 21st century tools, and learn side by side with students (and with me.) I discussed that the stakeholders all need to see that we are all on a learning journey, and not everyone is at the same place in this journey, and i can act as a friend, guide, teacher, assistant, or whatever the situation calls for in my quest to bridge the gap of yesterday’s way of learning to the new horizon ahead of us. I want to be that bridge that my learners are willing to take advantage of, and my mission is to model effective and ethical practices along the way. Being in the library gives me the perfect scenery to bring up ethical use and best practice while using or introducing new tools. I just want to connect my learners (students, teachers, parents, stakeholders) with 21st century tools, and make them associate the use of them with learning from the library.
One of my morning “regulars” is in that class, and his group is creating a “critic’s corner” for their newsletter. After getting a “no” on anything that might criticize a specific teacher or student, and getting shot down on love, sex, drugs, or profanity, the group has finally come up with a new topic they are enthusiastically researching for their contribution. It will be a critique of the new student login and restrictions on the computer. The plan to write about blocked sites, no icons, the inability to make a workspace that is “theirs” (translated they want a cool background on their desktop, their own bookmarks, etc.) and get this: they are going to QUOTE me making my statement.
So, my network, I need some feedback. Should I nix allowing them to use my comment? Perhaps I should allow it on the grounds of anonymity. Maybe I should allow them to use my name and stand by my quote. What would you do?
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