Having Jesse as a guest speaker today was very eye opening. I feel like I just missed all the safety on the internet/social media safety talks in schools. I had already graduated when snapchat came out and before that, for my friends and I, social media just consisted of Nexopia, Facebook and MSN messenger. I don’t remember ever having a discussion or warning about social media while I was in school, maybe they never happened, or maybe I just simply wasn’t there that day. But I feel like now that we know more about social media and its impacts on everyone it is our duty as future educators and adults to inform our younger generations how to use technology safely. I really resonated with that portion of Jesse’s presentation. I loved his outlook and ideas around teaching responsible use rather than being punitive with the use of cell phones. Although I do hope to teach K-5, his idea of “phone breaks” is very appealing and I can see this being a very useful system to use in middle school years.
Lastly, I am looking forward to going through the books he left as resources. I’m particularly interested in the “Haircuts by Children and Other Evidence for a New Social Contract”. I’m interested in what is meant by a new social contract. Often times adults forget how observant, smart, witty and wise children can be. I love this idea of showing a child that level of trust and creative license and am really interested in learning more about this.
