scott mcleod – te(a)ch french

Although I’m currently teaching three MYP French classes, my normal job as a technology integration coach involves more time in front of teachers than in the classroom with students. When I saw that this week’s topic was the remix culture, Scott McLeod came to mind. His copyright is one of the most impressive examples of open sharing that I’ve seen.

Creating professional development sessions and workshops for our staff and for conferences is part of my job. Quality PD takes a lot of research and time to put together: the perfect chance for some remixing. If the ideas and resources are already out there, why spend time recreating everything when I can, instead, spend time remixing?

I was recently asked to present at a conference in Kuwait in January. The theme of the conference is 21st century learning and teaching. Among other topics, they’re looking for one 90 minute session for administrators. Although I’m currently in the UKSTL program, I haven’t every created a session specifically for admin. I reached out to Scott and Jayson Richardson (one of my current profs) to see if they had any advice. Jayson pointed me towards Scott’s workshop resources and we brainstormed a little during a Hangout. Scott has also agreed to chat sometime. I’d like to remix previous workshops Scott has done with activities that I’m learning from Jayson in class. I’m really excited for the possibilities of this session!

A question for you
Are you a school admin? What overarching message do you think is important for school leaders (re: technology)? What do you think admin need most? Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who helped me last week by answering my questions about Technology Coaches. My PLN is awesome!

Student safety and cyber-bullying has been the focus of a lot of press lately. As educators, we need to be aware that just because students know how to use devices (tablet, computer, etc), they don’t know how to behave when they’re using them. Behaving appropriately online is not an innate ability that students are born with. Instead it is something that must be taught. Who and how is the golden question!

This responsibility of teaching kids digital etiquette needs to be shared by both school and home. Parents can start from a young age at home. Common Sense Media has lots of great resources and parent agreements to support parents. Although I’m not a parent, I think it is parents’ job to help students understand how to appropriately use technology instead of banning it. If your kids are inappropriately using the technology that you gave them, help them learn what they should do differently instead of simply taking it away. Am I a crazy no-kid lady?

Unfortunately, not all adults understand how to behave online. This is where schools should come in to support and educate parents. Once students start school, teachers should be incorporating digital citizenship into their lessons on a daily basis. In 2013 most people own multiple devices, these type of lessons do not need to be an “extra.”

Parents and teachers also need to be living what they preach – if you don’t want your child to text during dinner, parents shouldn’t either; if you don’t want your students to text during class, teachers shouldn’t either. We need to be constantly modeling digital etiquette for our students.

Parents and schools should be working together to help students harness technology for good. Bullying and students being disrespectful to each other is nothing new. Unfortunately, however, technology can exacerbate the situation. Many students around the world are doing amazing things with technology (even if the media focuses on the negative). Scott McLeod‘s keynote, Powerful Technologies Powerful Youth, at the NESA Spring Educators Conference in Bangkok last month highlighted some of these students.

It is important that both children and adults are aware of the power of technology (good and bad). Explicitly and implicitly teaching students how to behave online is the job of the community, not the individual.

This post doesn’t seem revolutionary or original to me. But I’m glad I had the opportunity to find some good resources and get my thoughts down on “paper.” 😉

Tag: scott mcleod

Remixing Professional Development