mbfxc

Last night was a defining moment for me as I watched an idea become a reality. Last May I began planning how to teach my first First Year Seminar at our college. I hoped the seminar would define their college experience. The course was called, Pleased to Tweet You: Are You a Socially Responsible Digital Citizen? I wrote a post looking to collaborate, High School Skype and Twitter Project Request. Many people responded with interest, but only Beth Sanders made it happen.

We met later face to face at ISTE in June and really started to plan our #fys11 #icitizen project, but even as the semester began, I was not sure how we would really get to a final product. A constructivist approach to teaching and learning plus a little help from Skype, Twitter, Schoology, Posterous, Prezi and YouTube made it all possible. College freshmen from Connecticut collaborating with high school juniors from Alabama – what I had wanted to be a defining moment for my college freshmen became a defining moment for me. Students separated by geography defining What does it means to be a citizen nationally, globally and digitally? Amazing! What was the best part of being part of a collaborative project?

Last night was beyond fantastic! @MsSandersTHS and her students co-hosted #digcit, a chat dedicated to empowering students, educators, parents and policy makers to integrate empathy into 21st century learning. As I’ve read over the archives a few times today, I’m so proud of @MsSandersTHS students and I’m not the only one saying it:

I hope others were inspired and co-host another #digcit chat with their students. Change happens within. We need to engage more students into this critical conversation. Please sign up to co-host #digcit chat every Wednesday @ 7pm EST.

As the students said so eloquently last night:

A special thanks to all for supporting #digcit and @MsSandersTHS and her students! We had 81 contributors last night! Woo Hoo!

*Posts written during our collaborative project: Local. National. Global; I care Jamey Rodemeyer; What is your responsibility – legally and morally?; Students as Change Agents; A Million Reasons and More; A Teachable Moment in Line Waiting for Santa; Thirteen Reasons Why

Adolescence hasn’t changed. Young adolescents still recycle the same three questions all day long: Who am I? How do others view me? And where do I fit in? I asked those questions and so did generations before me. I was awkward as an adolescent. Who wasn’t? I made poor choices. Who didn’t? The only difference was I wasn’t answering these questions online.

Today’s adolescents have a difficult road to navigate. Their frontal lobes haven’t developed any more quickly, but social media is recording their every move and decision. It actually reminds me of one of my favorite songs from high school, “Every Breath You Take”. (Make sure you listen to the song while you read this post.)

Who would have thought that a 1983 song would depict the future? Just some of the lyrics: “Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I’ll be watching you. Every single day, every word you say, every game you play, every night you stay, I’ll be watching you. Every move you make, every vow you break, every smile you fake, every claim you stake, I’ll be watching you….”

How can we help teenagers survive adolescence in a digital age? How can we teach and not preach about the seriousness of their digital footprint/tattoo? How can we engage more students in this conversation?