Be More Than Just Digitally Literate

This week’s prompt could not be more perfect for the current situations going on in our world – what does it mean to be literate?!  I don’t know about my fellow teachers, but I am exhausted after this week!!  It was jam packed with bad and surreal news – provincially and globally.  And with all this uncertainty circling the STF sanctions as well as the pandemic of COVID-19, it has left A LOT of opportunity to have a lot of real conversations with my students.  I have to say, the overall maturity my students have shown this week has been impressive, even if it has come with it’s fair share of debate as well.  We have had a chance to dive into these topics, what it means for them, look at different sides of the arguments, and generally appreciate where our province and our world currently is.  We have discussed the dangers of misinformation and the importance of being informed by the right sources.  If there is one take-away from this week I have learned, it’s that there is a time and place for social media, and there are other times to just step back and let go.  I think this week has been really informative for students to test how digitally literate they really are!

So, what does it mean to be digitally literate in today’s world?  Common Sense Media defines digital literacy as the “ability to effectively find, identify, evaluate, and use information. Digital literacy specifically applies to media from the internet, smartphones, video games, and other nontraditional sources.”  I think in today’s world, it is greatly important to be literate online, especially with all the misinformation and the dangers that it presents.  However, it does extend beyond just being digital literate.  In my major project, I plan to begin with digital literacy in my ELA course and then extend this to include other forms of literacy, especially those in literature.  It’s important to improve on skills like lateral reading and being as unbiased as possible when navigating the world’s information as discussed in my reading from this week.  This does not just apply to recent news.  It also applied to many different facets of life, including things like health, wellness, and general information.

If you were looking for a “new diet” for example, it’s important to do your research and not buy into the first fad diet you come upon.  The same goes for the latest workout plan or the latest information when raising young children.  You cannot believe the first thing you read, and it’s important we give students to tools to be successful in life beyond the classroom.  Being literate obviously includes making smart and informed decisions, and it includes steps in Fren Blumburg’s interview with Renee Hobbs including access skills like reading and listening and using a computer appropriately, analysis of a given piece of information, collaboration with others, reflection on who is affected or what the purpose is, and action related to changing the society we live in.  Leigh’s post discussed the idea of multiple intelligences, and she is completely correct.  We all have a range of multiple intelligences, and it is important to improve them all throughout our lives as some pieces are stronger than others.  These multiple intelligences help improve our overall literacy which I believe makes us more rational, intelligent, well-rounded people.

There are many types of literacy, just check out this infograph here.  It is incredibly important to be vastly literate in a variety of facets, and to have the skills to improve on these different literacies.  They range from media, digital, visual, data, game, health and finance, civic and ethical, news, computational and coding and foundational literacy.  One not mentioned on this list that I spend much of my days as a teacher on is mathematical literacy.  And this is also where people bring up their pitchforks and claim “I hate math.”  But it goes much farther beyond computational mathematics and more about a way of problem-solving and rational thinking.  Even the Saskatchewan curriculum states that mathematical goals include logical reasoning, number sense, spatial sense, and math as a human endeavor.  The curriculum states, “All students benefit from mathematics learning which values and respects different ways of knowing mathematics and its relationship to the world”  and “the more exposure that all students have to differing ways of understanding and knowing mathematics, the stronger students will become in their number sense, spatial sense, and logical thinking.” 

Teaching AP Calculus over the last few years has really changed my perspective on mathematics and what I want my students to gain from a course.  It’s changed from teaching content for the next level to understanding the process and applying it to new scenarios.  The thing I’ve learned as a math teacher is most of my students won’t use math in their daily lives the way we study it in school so it is important that they come away with skills that they can use in their daily lives, like being challenged, problem-solving, and thinking rationally when faced with a difficult situation, in a way improving their mathematical literacy without really knowing it!

Overall, improving our literacy is very important and helping our students be well-rounded is just as critical in this world.  We tend to focus a lot of digital literacy in this course and it’s being pushed much more recently in schools as well.  It is a very important skill, but so are many of the other pieces of being literate.  Let’s not forget to have growth, we need to encourage it in all aspects of life, struggle, and find balance in all things.

Until next time,

Shelby

Digital Citizenship Moving Forward

In this week’s class, we elaborated on the idea of a portrait of a graduate, and focused on the portrait of a digital citizen.  The conversation ensued and debates about age, access, and expectations evolved. Every group focused on a different age, and these conversations left me thinking about my expectations for my grade twelve students.  I take a lot of pride in what I teach and molding their young adult brains into what I hope to be successful citizens of our world. I have always left opportunities for discussion on real issues, global issues, and debates they take interest in within my ELA classroom.  I believe it is really a place they can explore who they want to be and what they want for their future and their world.  

I think as we move forward in the world of education, it is greatly important we educate students on media literacy, as much if not more than regular literacy.  For those who don’t know what media literacy is, it is the “ability to identify different types of media and understand the messages they’re sending” according to Commonsense Media.  This is not a subject many teachers feel comfortable with and as we discussed in class, I think educating teachers on digital citizenship is the best place to start.  It is too easy for teachers to say they don’t understand what to do so they just don’t teach anything to do with media. According to Fran Blumberg’s article from this week, Ezther Hargittai stated, “there are substantial skill gaps between people who claim to be effective Internet users…Many instructors at the high school and the college level remain woefully ignorant of the economics of the Internet and few can explain how Google produces a list of hits when you enter various keywords.”  We need to give teachers the tools to be successful in order to then successfully educate our students. It cannot be a stand alone unit or lesson either. Digital Citizenship needs to be integrated into many subjects areas and lesson plans – that is where it is most effective and valuable for students.

As Adam said in his blog this week, many students don’t understand the ideas of privacy or the inappropriateness of taking photos of everyone and anyone around them.  This is where the education needs to begin – online etiquette and empathy. I recently had a teachable moment in my classroom where we discussed why we do not check banking information over public wi-fi and it shocked me that no one is telling students this!! It is these simple teachable moments where this information can be taught.  Students need to be responsible for their technological uses and we just assume because they grew up in a tech world, that they understand the uses, but they don’t. Students need to be able to “consider the potential risks and harms of media messages; and understand how differences in values and life experience shape people’s media use and their message interpretation.”

In the interview with Renee Hobbs also said in the article that teaching media literacy can be messy, but that’s why it works and teaches students how to be responsible online.  They need to experience it. If I think about my current practices, I always assumed students understood what to do and how to do it online. I never educated on properly researching because I assumed they had figured it out by the time they got to me.  I was soooo wrong. This year, I am really trying to focus on finding credible sources and having high expectations for the resources they use online. It is time consuming, but I know it is worth it!  In Alina Tugend’s article, These Students are Learning About Fake News and How to Spot It, I found the acronym IMVAIN to be really useful moving forward:

“Are sources independent, are there multiple sources, do they verify evidence, and are they authoritative, informed and named sources?”

My students are currently working on a research project, that I will be talking about more in the upcoming weeks in my major project updates.  They have really taken to the challenge of lateral reading and finding good sources. They have been asking good questions, and trying to be as unbiased as possible while preparing their presentations.  I’m excited and looking forward to seeing the results! I also want to challenge my students to use the following questions I got from the Renee Hobbs article:

(1) Who is the author and what is the purpose? 

(2) What techniques are used to attract attention?

(3) What lifestyles, values and points of view are represented? 

(4) How might different people interpret this message? 

(5) What is omitted?

It is easy to use these questions for fake news and checking sources, but my hope is to apply them to all literature challenging my students to always think no matter what they are reading, viewing, or listening to that there is a purpose and viewpoint to the text.  I am hopeful for the future of teaching digital citizenship in our classrooms. As Tegund put it nicely, “research has shown that an inability to judge content leads to two equally unfortunate outcomes: People believe everything that suits their preconceived notions, or they cynically disbelieve everything. Either way leads to a polarized and disengaged citizenry.”

Until next time,

Shelby

A Teacher’s Digital Identity

This week, we discussed the ideas of digital identity and what a conversation we had!  After some digital sleuthing of some volunteers courtesy of Twitter, I think it was safe to say we all felt a little creepy and some of us might have enjoyed the process more than we expected!  In the current digital world, it is almost normalized to “creep” on other people, especially when we do not know the person well. And we all know we are guilty of it, whether we want to admit it or not.

Another thing we probably don’t want to admit is that we all ran to google immediately after class to double check our own digital identity and make sure it was as clear as it was last time we “googled” ourselves.  I definitely wanted to make sure my digital footprint was similar to what it was in the past and I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that in fact it was pretty crystal clear!

It’s safe to say that since I was a teenager, adults have scared the life out of me lecturing about how my digital footprint needs to be clean and how one mistake can affect the rest of your life online as well as in the real world, particularly related to your career choice. Growing up, knowing I wanted to be a teacher, I made sure I was smart online.  When I was a teenager, we also had to take pictures with a camera, and almost all of them ended up on Facebook but at least we would edit out certain ones first. Nowadays, kids have a lot more to worry about because it takes less than 3 seconds to upload a photo to the internet or social media, instead of hours or days! I didn’t really have to worry about inappropriate photos ending up online, and honestly I was a pretty good kid, and I was mature enough to understand I didn’t want certain things to end up online. 

When I applied for education, and went through the program at the University of Regina, the professors often warned to clean up our online profiles because school divisions will check and will not hire anyone who has provocative photos, posts, or anything illegal like underage drinking on their profile. In the year of 2010, the only real social media platform I had was Facebook and so the purging of friends and photos commenced taking care to ensure my profile was clean for hiring – almost too clean. Looking back, I was pretty freaked out about the whole idea and although it was an important aspect, I don’t think it should be everything. People make mistakes but I also have some pretty awesome memories but feel uncomfortable sharing because there may be something in the background.  Is this what we want for our future? Hide everything unless it’s perfect and proper? I was confident that I was “google-able” and nothing undesirable would pop up if anyone looked for me online. However, the only things that really did pop up was sports articles and results, and the odd random photo from Facebook. All in all, not really a digital footprint at all! I was so conscious of my footprint that I had basically erased it entirely.

As I made it through university, and into the teaching profession, one thing that is continually on my mind is about what I post online and what others post about me.  As we all know, we can control what we post, but we often can’t control what others post about us online. Currently, I live a compartmentalized life online. One as a professional, and one as an individual.  Platforms like Twitter and Pinterest, I leave public, showcasing a more professional life in the online world. Obviously, I use twitter for networking with other teachers, and especially in these types of courses.  My private online life consists of the other realms with platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. I post and comment for my friends and family, often leaving the professional facade behind, however I am still incredibly cognisant of my online footprint, making sure nothing would be deemed inappropriate if my online worlds ever blended together.  As I tell my students, we live in an incredibly negative world, where we overlook the good often, and focus on the blemishes a lot more frequently.  This is an unfortunate reality, but for teachers, I find it can be a lot more harsh as we are placed on a pedestal of society, always role models whether we are on duty or off. And this calls into question, is this what we really want as a society? Do teachers need to be ‘perfect’ online OR should we be real, showcasing that we are indeed human too, making mistakes and also having lots of different opinions, talents, and interests beyond just being teachers?

Over the years, I’ve become less strict about who I allow to follow me on platforms, and my world of compartalization is slowly blending as I believe it should.  I’m not ashamed of anything I have online, but as we learned in class this week, there is a lot more about us online than we think, which can be a very eerie thought for most of us.  Moving forward, I want to continue to create a positive digital identity online and encourage my students to do the same. And I think the best way to teach students this is through modelling.  We can lecture all we want about the do’s and don’ts of the online world, but the real way students learn is through practice and example. Leading by example and setting expectations for students is the real way to get them to listen and think about what they are doing online. Fear-mongering does not work and if teachers also become students in the online world, creating a digital identity their students can see, I think it would do a lot for everyone moving forward.

I had a student this week tell me he appreciates the way I teach because he doesn’t feel like he’s just a student but that I genuinely care for him, his growth, and his success.  This was one of those moments I thought, this is it. This is why I became a teacher. With teaching comes great responsibility, and maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to blend my worlds a little more, allowing my students to see how I live my live online and also encourage them to improve their digital footprint and individual media literacy.  If I have to be a role model, then why not use that power for good, and really attempt to teach my students through example how to leave a healthy digital identity behind.

Until next time,

Shelby

Ribble, Green Eggs, and Common Sense!

With final exams ending and my basketball tournament schedule lately, I have definitely not gotten as far on my major project as I would like so far but I’ve made some progress since my last post! My plan is to create a digital citizenship unit plan for my grade twelve English students.  It fits nicely into the curriculum, hitting a couple of outcomes. and I have already done bits and pieces of online citizenship with them in the past but as I have mentioned, it’s definitely an area I know I could be more conscience and explicit with in my teaching. As Leigh stated in her update, I assume my students have the skills to be responsible online citizens and, in some cases, even as budding adults, they lack the necessary skills to be successful. 

I originally thought this unit plan would be a stand alone one, where I only focus on teaching digital citizenship and attempt to work through each one of Ribble’s Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship.  Then as I began planning out a timeline and the lesson ideas, I realized this might be a little too much to take on timewise, integrity wise, as well as curriculum wise.  I’ve decided to pinpoint closer to the skills I know my students both lack and need more experience with which is Digital Etiquette, Fluency, and Rights and Responsibilities.  These ideas I can easily tie into articles, essays, and videos that will help teach my curriculum as well as teach my students about digital literacy.  I’m going to tie it directly into my global issues and social experience unit plan to hopefully teach my students that being globally active and responsible counts both online and in the real world.

These are some of the big issues we tackle in this unit:

As grade twelves, you would expect them to know a thing or two about the online world, but after some discussions in my courses, even over this past week, it is evident they need to learn how to find credible sources for information and be able to evaluate real news from “fake news.”  Tomorrow, I actually plan of having my students critique a text (video or article) for its credibility as well as its argument and persuasive tactics.  I will let you know how it goes! You can check out the assignment here if you would like! I also got some inspiration from this article!

They also live in a bit of a dream world, not expecting what they do online to ever have consequences in the real world, but I think it is important to teach them that they need to be respectful to one another online, because they can be very guilty of spreading a picture or discussing classroom happenings in their ever-expanding group chats on many different platforms.  I’m still processing how to do this all, and it has involved quite a bit of research, looking at different articles and strategies for teaching in a digital world like this article here from Common Sense Education.  The part I am struggling with is that it needs to be authentic and not preachy, so I get the glazed over looks and they forget what I say the minute they walk out of the room.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

The last idea I really want to address in my unit plan is giving credit where credit is due.  As exams ended a couple weeks ago, I was incredibly frustrated grading my grade twelve final essays because guess what?  They plagiarized.  Not all of them, but enough to cost me energy and time, as well as it leaving a sour taste in my mouth leading into second semester.  Some do it on purpose, but in my experience most were never explicitly taught what not to do and this is a problem!  And not just for the students going on into university.  The internet is a vast network and it is important that students learn the value in giving credit to other sources of information online.  Not everything there is free, and it is a skill going forward that could be vastly important in the digital age.  I happened upon this awesome powerpoint, from a colleague, that helpfully explains how not to plagiarize and how to cite properly (Green Eggs and Ham anyone?)!  I am going to start here and hopefully teach them the right and wrong ways to find and give credit to sources in a variety of templates (not just an essay).

Going forward, I have a lot of ideas swirling in my mind, and I think it is important to start thinking about how in the future I will start this topic and unit plan.  My process has so far been a lot of research and a lot of reading.  It’s time to get to the real work in the next week and put these ideas into physical lesson plans and continue critiquing some previously made lesson plans!

Until next time,

Shelby

The Future of Education

After our discussion this past week on the generational divide and where education is going, I began reflecting on what I really think is in store for educators of the future.  I always refer to one of my all-time favourite TED Talks spoken by Sir Ken Robinson, called ‘Do Schools Kill Creativity.’  The questions from this week’s prompt reminded me greatly of the things spoken about in this TED Talk.  Topics like how can schools change?  Where are we going from here?  Are we really preparing children for the future?  If you haven’t seen it, it’s 100% worth your time and will likely change some form of your teaching practice. 

I often show it to my grade 12 students and the discussion that ensues is always enlightening and engaging.  They love discussing the topic because they are the topic.  They don’t want to be stuck in a desk, learning for 8 hours a day, and then go out into the workforce, only to realize they actually never will have to write a research report on a dead soldier, or use calculus to optimize the amount of concrete they need for their driveway.  There are other, more practical ways of preparing them for the future and I believe it has already begun to change our way of thinking in terms of education.  One thing I have always found interesting about my students’ opinions, is they never place blame on the teacher.  Lots of them recognize that teachers can be just as stuck as the students are in the education model, and while a fair assessment, there are many ways teachers can break out of the mold, the only problem is money.  Cost and resources are a huge disadvantage for teaching in many ways of the future.

Another video I have shown my students that really gets the conversation about schools changing is Prince EA’s poetry video called ‘I Sued The School System.’  Once again, we dive into the ideas on how our society is constantly changing, yet our methods of evaluation and teaching of future generations remains the same.  So to answer the question, do schools need to change?  My answer is absolutely.  We are currently preparing a generation of the first “digital natives” to work in a world that is constantly changing, in a world where many manual jobs will be eventually replaced by machinery.  Jobs will continually become obsolete, and the skills our students need are far greater than we have seen in the past.  They need to be creative problem-solvers, who can work collaboratively with others, and think outside the box.  Most of the careers our students will have don’t even exist yet.

I checked out this article (9 Things That Will Shape The Future Of Education) to see what others think will be the future of education, and the results were what I expected.  Teachers think there will be more creativity and freedom in education, and we will no longer test knowledge that can be googled.  Instead students will be critiqued on their critical thinking and problem solving skills. One teacher, Nicholas Provenzano, said “Math will be taught as a way of learning how to solve problems and puzzles. In literature, students will be asked what a story means to them. Instead of taking tests, students will show learning through creative projects. The role of teachers will be to guide students in the areas where they need guidance as innovators.”  I love this idea, and I hope it holds true.  I try to get students to think in this manner already, but it is difficult because our students are used to having ONE right answer, and they just want to be told what to think instead of thinking for themselves.  I think this will be one of the biggest hurdles the education system will have to overcome – students being okay with being wrong, or not knowing the right answer, or there not being one.

Another teacher even mentioned the idea that schools and teaching could be a dying profession.  This is an interesting concept to me; I always thought teaching would be ‘safe.’  I might be wrong, but I know the way I teach now will change in the next ten years.  I think teachers will become more like directors, helping to oversee student progress and learning but not be the ‘keepers of knowledge’ we have been in the past.  I think the future of education needs to change regardless of whether it wants to change or not.  However, I also don’t think it is something that can be mandated, like the mandatory online courses in Ontario.  There is no one way for students to learn, and as Albert Einstein said, “if you judged a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it would live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”  The future of education will be more flexible for the student and the teacher, allowing students to showcase strengths and work on weaknesses in a supportive environment where it is encouraged to make mistakes.  This dream might sound idealistic, and like a lofty goal, but I think it is possible if we want to succeed as a country.  We just need the opportunity and the resources to try.

Until next time,

Shelby

Social Media and Mental Health

Last week, we had the pleasure of having Mary Beth Hertz discuss digital citizenship and media literacy with our class.  What a wealth of knowledge she has!!  I was left feeling awed and also completely incompetent as someone who thinks of themself as “tech literate.”  Boy, do I have a lot to learn!! Mary Beth brought up so many ideas I never really thought about as an online user and as a teacher.

I have always encouraged my students to be smart on social media, and we always discuss the media world but after listening to Mary Beth, I know I can do a better job.  One of the ideas that really stood out to me and made me think more critically was the ideas of online and offline identities and the blurred line in between – they are the same thing now.  I think the online world is a great place for people to explore their identity and find other people with the same interests and ideologies as themselves, especially in this giant world.  For some small town kids in Moose Jaw, SK, the world can feel pretty small.  Having an online identity can allow teens to explore beyond the confines of our small city and make connections with real people across the globe.  I love the idea that some of my students can be completely different people in the online world, whether it be a persona or finding a group of people they really connect with when they lack those connections elsewhere.  The thing that stands in the way is that they need to be smart and educated about how to interact with people online, and how to protect themselves. I know when I was a teen, I was on MSN Messenger 24/7 and often ended up online playing games or on platforms like Whyville.  I was so vulnerable and my parents had no idea what I was doing, and realistically, neither did I.  We lied about our age all the time to get on chat rooms, or access different parts of a website that were 13+.  Looking back, I was probably dumb more than a couple of times, but the consequences were quite less than they are today.  Teens think they know everything about the online world, and in most cases, they definitely know a lot, but the difficult part is making them listen.

Raise your hand if you’ve felt personally victimized by a teen eye roll?

If looks could kill, am I right?  We discussed a lot about cookies and tracking as well in our class and I couldn’t help but think of ways to make my students listen to this!  I care for these kids so much, and all I want is the best for them.  I don’t want them to fall for some crazy scheme, be catfished, stalked, or tracked by any hooligan online.  Nor do I want my students to feel bullied, or worthless just because some model on instagram can pay for high quality photoshop or hire someone to follow her around snapping pictures.  Mental health is a huge issue for teens, and I agree with Mary Beth when she said social media is a huge influencer of this.  In fact, there is an actual list of the top 5 worst social media apps for mental health — instagram being at the top of this list.  I feel for children growing up in this era, as it must be difficult to see so many people online “living the dream” when the reality is so much different.  As we discussed in class, things aren’t always what they seem, and FOMO although feels real, is not all there is to life.  It is so important to teach students about these ideas and concepts, and also allow them to know it’s okay to feel a certain way, but compartmentalize it, and go back to the real world.  You live there, not online.

Most of my students feel like they get preached at for being safe online.  They “already know” or “learned this already.”  In my grade 12 ELA classes, we discuss media and the messages out there.  This semester, I asked them to pay attention to the advertisements they saw online for one day and find one to bring to class.  We then analyzed it using Aristotle’s Appeals.

Aristotle’s Appeals

I made them dissect these advertisements and we talked about why they are great ads, or why they are fake, why they call to the person, and what they really want.  Of course, lots of people have done this in classes, but I think the trick to getting students to buy in is to get them involved.  I cannot lecture them about how to be safe online (let’s face it, I’m young — but not THAT young), instead I have to involve them in the practices and let them discover WHY they need to be safer online.  We need to talk about the dangers and the facts together, and hopefully through these experiences, they learn why it’s important to fact check, why it’s important not to send that picture, and think about why it’s important they protect their digital identity.

Until next time,

Shelby

Intro to EC&I 832

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog!!

I am so excited for another semester and become one step closer to completing my Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction.  I’m now on course number eight and I am anxious to be done!!  This is also my fourth course with Alec, and I’m looking forward to learning more about digital citizenship and integrating technology in my classroom.  I find these classes super applicable to my classroom and I’m hoping to find some more tools and resources to use in my classroom this semester.

I currently teach at Central Collegiate in Moose Jaw, and am in my seventh year of teaching.  I’ve taught many different courses over the years, and have finally settled into my chosen path of senior English and Math.  Currently, I am teaching grade 11/12 English, and Calculus.  Second semester is just around the corner and I will begin helping my Calculus students transition to AP Calculus and help them study and get ready for their AP exam in May.  As well as teaching, I help coach the senior girls basketball team and coach track and field in the spring.

This past summer, my boyfriend and I adopted the sweetest chocolate lab puppy named Milee (like Cyrus).  We also have a three year old cat, Jax.  The two are slowly warming up to one another every day so stay posted for updates on their friendship.  In my free time, I love reading and doing anything athletic, including ultimate frisbee, basketball, and weight lifting.  Our summers are usually spent camping, hiking and biking all over the place.  We already have our camping spot booked in Lake Louise this summer!

I’m really looking forward to this semester because I always enjoy learning from Alec as well as the atmosphere that is created in his classes.  I look forward to learning from and all of you as well!!  The community that is built is something I have never experienced in other online classes.  I am hoping this course gives me more information and ideas for teaching digital citizenship in my classroom as well as incorporating more appropriate online techniques in my classes.

Looking forward to learning with you all!

Shelby