Holy Violet Valentines, tonight's chat was a whirlwind. Several weeks ago, when Heidi and I planned this topic, our vision was a conversation about the nuts and bolts of working social media into regular classroom routines. As seems to happen so often, it turned into far more than we envisioned. Of course, it should not surprise us that kindergarten teachers are passionate advocates for the decisions we have made about using social media with our students. Let's be honest, most of us are passionate about the exact brand of pencil crayons we use...
It is certainly not unusual to encounter debate around the use of technology, and even more so, social media, with our youngest students. In my experience, those debates usually follow a pattern: those opposed to social media with young children do not use it in their own lives, and those in favour of its use are frequent users, themselves. Tonight's debates, however, were unique in that: by the very definition of #kinderchat, EVERYONE present uses and sees the value of social media for themselves. There is no one in the crowd shrieking: "Twitter is silly and self-indulgent!!!" We are all Twitter users. We all participate in a chat for like-minded professionals. And yet, the range of opinions on using SM with students was tremendous.
I often tell my students: "When something is hard, that is when you're learning the most." It is easy and pleasant to chat away an hour with people whose opinions mirror mine exactly. Tonight's chat was challenging to many of us, and I think that means... we learned.
Here is the archive. Happy reading.
Coming up next week: Put your thinking caps on as we reflect on: Social Justice and Cultural Sensitivity.
xo
-Amy
No comments:
Post a Comment