So obviously I have been following the events in Egypt. I know many students are active on social media, and I wanted to see if they could figure out why the internet was shut down in Egypt. (well, it went back online the other day). After I briefed the students on the current situation, I asked them if they were an Egyptian protester, how would they spread the word?
The results, were spot-on. Everyone mentioned about social networking, wiki's, blogs, etc. We further discussed how they were related. They mentioned about how you could organize and spread information. Since most of my 7th and 8th graders are on FB, no big deal. They got it. Only a few 6th graders have FB accounts. My one 6th grade class totally surprised me by talking easily about the interconnectedness of Web 2.0. However, when I asked the class if they heard about which countries might be concerned, they mentioned "Saudi Arabia", "Iran", and "Islam" (yet another reason why we need to teach content as well as skills and I immediately clarified the difference).
The kids had been using Gaggle, iCloud, and Prezi in Technology class, and were quite comfortable when talking about the differences between Web 1.0 and 2.0. They easily picked up the concept of cloud computing and mentioned how they are happy that they can collaborate online and not have to wait on an email or pass around a flash drive.
Overall, my kids seemed really into the discussion and they followed along and understood. Sixth grade really surprised me. Several students mentioned at the end that it all made sense. They were aware of it, but really never thought about it. I walked to my car with a warm, fuzzy feeling.
You deserved that warm moment. It sounds like you really connected with the kids using stuff they understand and interface with often and applied the applications to current events. Great job.
ReplyDeleteRay
Haha... and when you said "kids" i thought you meant YOUR kids!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how many don't have a clue on the difference between iraq and iran, or egypt and india, but absolutely they know about the packers and ... who are the others? LOL
I hope you don't mind if i bring up the 6th graders at an upcoming presentation. I like to tell folks that even if you don't know them today, you're gonna know them in a couple years!
Given that technology is so cheap, relative to cars, houses, spouses, etc... it can spread even where people are dirt poor- this has all kinds of ramifications, perhaps allowing the message to be mightier than the sword more often.