We recently had Jesse Miller come to our class as a guest speaker and he discussed so much rich content that really resonated with me. But I want to focus on one of the points he made that really stuck out, how we focus on technology and social media as a dangerous and negative place for kids, that we always tell our kids and students how detrimental the internet and social media can be, but we don’t seem to talk about the positive aspects. We don’t take the time to develop our childrens and students media literacy so they can safely access the internet with the awareness of how to do it in a positive way. In schools, adults often take away phones, tell students to put them away, and we do not incorporate them into their learning. It is like the invisible elephant in the room, the phone may go away for a little while, but as soon as the bell goes and the students leave school for the day, they are spending a majority of their time on social sites. So why are we not talking about the positive aspects of these sites, and teaching students how to engage with them? The talk that Jesse gave really made me reconsider how I looked at technology and social media for kids and I am excited to explore further how to incorporate it into my teaching.

I want to make sure that we all continue to consider accessibility and equity, especially when using technology and personal devices within the classroom. It is easy to assume all have access based on our own experience of having easy access, but this is not the case for many students. It is important to really know your students and know their general access to technology before incorporating personal technology into your class. It doesn’t mean that you cant, but as educators it is important to create an accessible and equitable environment so all of our students have the opportunity for rich learning experiences.

I have added a TEDx talk Jesse did about this idea of teaching media literacy to our children, that we need to teach our children online responsibility and appropriate ways to interact with our online worlds.