On February 13 I added a post entitled Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff, Please?. This has generated a good discussion (14 comments at the moment) and Dr. McLeod has joined in the conversation. In case you haven't gone back to check the comments on that post, I want to call special attention to Dr. McLeod's latest comment. This is what he wrote:
"I have been following your comments, both here and at my blog. Many of you seem pretty fearful about children and adolescents accessing the Web. I encourage you to read through a few posts of mine to maybe reframe your concerns a bit (you can search for any of these by post name at Dangerously Irrelevant ):
Fear
The One Percent Doctrine
From the Head of Zeus
I'd Like An Idiocy Filter, Please
I Don't Like Internet Filters
Online Predators: Overblown Threats
See also my article for School Administrator, Blocking the Future
See also Educating Trumps Blocking, by Kim Moritz."
In my post of February 13 I asked you to find out who Scott McLeod is. Did you do that? If not do it!
Read his posts which he has suggested above. His assignment is a good one. And when you find out who he is you will understand why he gives good assignments to a class like this!
I have made it easier for you to find his posts by making the titles links. He suggested you search for them. That was an excellent suggestion. But to make it even easier I have done that for you!
Posts
He makes some great points about not being afraid to let our children access the internet. The media, according to his statistics, does seem to zero in on these incidents causing fear and panic as they are so prone to do. I see his point about spending all this money, provided by taxpayers, on technology for only a few to be able to use. My children's school didi this a few years ago. They spent $9000 for a program for children to play educational games. Just a waste! I did find out who Scott McLeod is and I now see why you reference him often.
ReplyDeleteI read this awhile ago and looked up Scott Mcleod, I didn't think we had to comment about it, but now I'm not sure so I'm gonna leave a comment today. I googled Scott Mcleod and came across his blog http://www.scottmcleod.net/, what an accomplished guy!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about his opinions and statistics about children on the net. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMr. McLeod makes such insightful points. As teachers we SHOULD be more worried about our students' interest in education and how we are affecting it. We should be opening their eyes to all of the wonderful educational opportunities that are in this world, not making them fearful of the tools that are available to access these opportunities.
ReplyDeleteWho is Scott McLeod? He is a very busy man with a very impressive resume. His work with CASTLE is very important. As a teacher, trying to convince administrators about the importance of technology use in the classroom can be the biggest hurdle. I appreciate his work that he is doing to help teachers and educators, and anyone interested in helping our children. I read his posts. His post on Fear was an accurate account of how the media uses "scare tactics" in their reporting. I am (admittingly) one of those people who is quite protective of my students and my own children. I have to disagree that the topic of online predators is overblown. I firmly believe that the problem is still growing, but is not always reported to agencies.
ReplyDeleteI googled Scott McLeod and came up with his blog address: http://www.scottmcleod.net/
ReplyDeleteI looked through his blog and I am amazed that someone has accomplished so much. I am so pressed for time these days that I admire people like Mr. McLeod that have accomplished so many things and goals. Thanks for sharing!
Well I went to Mr. McLeod's blog. He is a very impressive person! He has accomplished sooo much. This excites me that someone like him would take out the time to read our class blog. On his teaching bullet point i saw this and it caught my attention.
ReplyDelete***My teaching philosophy is pretty straightforward. I believe that
■the teaching-learning process is primarily for the benefit of the learner, not the teacher.
■all students can, will, and want to learn, given the proper learning environment.
■students actively and individually make sense of what they learn by integrating it into what they already understand. Because by definition teaching cannot occur without learning, I should always seek and value students' points of view in order to understand students' thought processes and knowledge acquisition.
■my ultimate responsibility as a teacher is to create a learning environment that facilitates learning for every student. My ultimate goal is to make each class the best learning experience students have ever had.
I just saw this and thought I would bring what I saw that caught my attention to everyone else too.