by Tracy Rosen, teaching & consulting since 1996, blogging about it here since 2007. All views are my own and you should take them with a grain of salt, I do.
I hear so many educators complain about how technology is hijacking our students’ education. How they don’t know how to be digital citizens. How they are addicted. How all they care about is YouTube and Facebook and their social lives. So instead of teaching it they dismiss it, poopoo it, and try to ban it.
Tell me… How do you propose students learn about being digital citizens if not at school?
Note over. And out.
This post was originally written in 2009 and is still very relevant to me. I hope you think so as well.
—
A norm that I aspire to, however difficult it can be at times is this one:
Seek to understand before being understood.
I just read a story about an administrator who practices this norm.
From Karen S. about a Kindergarten student in trouble in Talking Him Off the Ledge at Talkworthy:
“In a few minutes, he got the idea that I wasn’t there to make his day more miserable but that I was genuinely trying to understand him.”
She described the encounter between herself and the child as magical. I felt the magic as I read her words. Karen is a true leader. Go read the whole story. It’s a story worth listening to, sharing, and believing.
“We are responsible not only for the stories we tell and the stories we listen to, but for the stories we choose to believe.” ~Thomas King
How can he complain? What outlet do students have to express their concerns about their teachers? What is a more appropriate method?
If they are lucky they have found an adult at their establishment that they can confide in but even then…they are being heard but what is being done?
People (in schools) do not like to hear complaints about teachers. A public school teacher is still very untouchable.
University courses and professional development sessions always end with time for anonymous feedback to be given via evaluation forms. What if we did that in public schools? An evaluation form could certainly be adapted for different levels.
Could this help change teaching practices that don’t touch our students hearts?