Interesting Perspective – Blame Parents For Kids’ Obsession With Texting And Social Media

On December 31, 2013 By Patrick LarkinIn online behaviorLeave a comment

I’ve spent the last few week’s reading Clive Thompson’s book, Smarter Than You Think, which dispels many of the notions of those who feel that technology is doing irreparable harm to our children and our society. In fact, I wrote a short post with some initial impressions last Friday. Interestingly enough, I also came across an article by Thompson this week (h/t to Lyn Hilt) which gave an interesting perspective on the role society has played in creating the world in which our children are so easily drawn to their devices.

Thompson’s article from Wired cites the work of Danah Boyd, who has spent thousands of hours interviewing teens regarding their online habits, and has written a new book called It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. Thompson cites the following:

“…teenagers would love to socialize face-to-face with their friends. But adult society won’t let them. “Teens aren’t addicted to social media. They’re addicted to each other,” Boyd says. “They’re not allowed to hang out the way you and I did, so they’ve moved it online.”’

Thompson also cites research done by Pew which has found that students who text the the most are also those who socialize the most.

The bottom line here is that, we need to be careful of jumping to conclusions about the activities are kids are taking part in online and categorizing them too quickly as antisocial and/or useless. I am reminded of another optimistic excerpt on the online behavior of our children from Clay Shirky’s Cognitive Surplus:

“Although some of what kids are doing may look trivial and frivolous, what they are doing is building the capacity to connect, to communicate, and ultimately, to mobilize.”

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A Great Conversation On The Technology Concerns Of Parents Regarding 1:1

On December 30, 2013 By Patrick LarkinIn 1:1, Parent Education, ScreentimeLeave a comment

photo via Wesley Fryer on Flickr

As I was playing catchup on my blog reading from the last couple of weeks, I came across a great post from Scott McLeod on the topic of parents choosing to opt out of their students having a device in a 1:1 setting. The major questions that Scott asks here are certainly ones that have been wrestled with in every school that has implemented a 1:1 program:

“Should parents have the right to refuse or limit a 1:1 initiative – or other educational technology usage – for their children? If so, in practical terms how would that work (e.g., would schools be required to provide analog assignments and/or homework)? What do you think?”

When it comes to supporting parents here in Burlington, my typical response is “we own the device, but you own the child.” We need to try to work with parents to help them ensure that they can find the balance of screen-time that they feel is warranted for their children. The problem here, however, is that this is far from a black and white issue due to the fact that most debates on this topic we tend to leave out the purpose of the time that students spend online. Personally, I think there is a difference between a couple of hours spent researching and creating a multi-media project as opposed to a couple of hours spent playing candy crush.

With this in mind, it is imperative that schools communicate with parents in regards to the expectations for device use at home. What tasks will students have to have access to their device to perform? Also, what tasks will students be able to complete with devices that are already at home (and which parents have a better grasp on monitoring)? The comments on Scott”s post offer some wonderful insights into responding to these issues. One in particular comes from Sandy Kendell, an Educational Technology Specialist in Texas who provided the link to a great blog post Parent Concerns in a 1:1 Initiative. Kendell nails what is at the heart of the issue for parents:

“Keep in mind, the child being able to say, “I’m working on my homework” is somewhat of a game-changer when it comes to supporting and setting limits. How easily could you tell your child to just put the technology away when it could be impacting their grades?”

Sandy’s post is one of the best I have read in regards to the conversations that need to take place in order to support the dramatic change that a 1:1 school can have for parents and students at home. Another must-read link in the comments is to Beth Holland’s post The Balancing Act of Screentime. Beth really gets to the heart of the matter in regards to what we need to ask ourselves concerning device usage and our children by asking three simple questions:

Is it Appropriate?

Is it Meaningful?

Is it Empowering?

It is definitely worthwhile to read all of the 32 comments from Scott’s post. There is so much more to talk about on this topic. I particularly like the direction that Lyn Hilt takes the conversation in her comment about ensuring that work assigned as homework (whether on a device or not) is meaningful. However, I’ll leave that for a discussion on another day.

Some Thoughts On Online Etiquette

On December 26, 2013 By Patrick LarkinIn Digital Citizenship, online behaviorLeave a comment

Christmas Has Brought More Devices Into Our Home and More Worries…

My son Tim is a sophomore in high school and we spend a lot of time in the car going to one of his sporting events or one of his two siblings. Recently, I told him how much tougher I thought it was socially for him than it was for me when I was his age. There really aren’t a lot of private moments for our kids nowadays as they tend to take photos and share information without forethought whenever they get together in small or large groups.

While I see some very positive effects from the connectedness of our kids, I often worry about the negative impact that a momentary lapse of judgement might have on the short-term or long-term future of Tim or one of his friends. Thank goodness some of my poor decisions as a teenager were not archived online for others to see! My only defense for my own children and others is to talk openly about this issue and provide concrete examples of the poor decisions of others.

With this in mind, the story of Justine Sacco is one that we should all be sharing with our teenagers. Tarun Wadhwa outlines the story of this regretful tweet in his Forbes article, Justine Sacco, Internet Justice, And The Dangers of a Righteous Mob. For those who may have missed this story, Justine Sacco is PR Executive who made a racially insensitive tweet prior to boarding a flight to Africa. Unbeknownst to her, the tweet went viral and became a national news story as she made the lengthy flight to Cape Town. In the interim, she lost her job and who knows if she will ever be able to repair the damage done to her reputation.

There are clearly two lessons here. First, there is the basic warning about thinking twice before you share something online. This one that we cannot share enough with our children. The second lesson here, however, may be more important. This lesson is the one about jumping into a hateful or insensitive mob in the name of righteousness. As Wadhwa points out in his Forbes piece:

“this wasn’t really about fairness, it was about entertainment… Sacco’s comment was terrible and indefensible, but there is no shortage of offensive things said frequently in public across the internet… We’ve “democratized” witch-hunts; a paparazzi is nothing compared to the digitally-empowered righteous mob. The next Sacco might not be such a clear case and instead of pointing and laughing now, we’d be better served by analyzing how best to react to similar cases in the future.”

As I continue to reflect on these viral situations where individuals are caught up in these web controversies that may or may not be of their own doing, I will ask my children to consider the importance of not adding more hate to and already hateful commentary. My wish is that my children will see the hypocrisy in the actions of those who promote tolerance with ugly remarks about those who are intolerant. There will come a day when we will all seek to be pardoned for something and that is the time when we will reap what we have sowed with our network.

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Someone Gave Me Homework…Now It’s My Turn

On December 18, 2013 By Patrick LarkinIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

So my friend Tony Baldasaro tagged me in a chain-blogging task which obligates me to share 11 random facts about myself and then to answer 11 questions that Tony has asked. As much as I dislike chain letters and things of that nature, I am excited to do some writing in this space. My blogging has been limited during the first half of the school year, so I want to thank Tony for what I hope will be a kickstart for my resolution to blog more frequently in 2015!

My 11 Random Facts

I grew up in the “Little Town of Mendon (MA)”
I was a sports writer out of college and covered the Bruins.
I got to attend game six of the 2013 World Series with my son Tim #priceless!
My dad was at game six of the 1975 World Series at Fenway.
My brother Jim was a minor league baseball player and is now the golf pro for Vice President Biden.
I hold the world record for whiffle ball home runs and stink at golf.
I enjoy hyperbole.
I will go out of my way to get Starbucks coffee.
My top two take-out restaurants are Las Olas in (NH) and Sammy’s Deli (Burlington)
I completed a Tough Mudder in 2012.
I was a drummer in high school and still annoy my children by drumming on the steering wheel when a good song is on the radio.

My responses to Tony’s Questions

Have you ever been to New Hampshire? Yes, I lived there for a few years.
What item could you not live without? For this task, my laptop 😉
What’s the highest peak you have ever climbed? Mt. Monadnock
If you could live anywhere else for one year, where would it be? Ireland
How many TV’s do you have in your house? two
At what age do you think it’s appropriate for a child to own their first cellphone? sixth grade
Who was your third grade teacher? I moved in third grade so I had two…Mrs. Vignone and Mrs. Grady
When is the last time you posted a picture publicly? Today
Other than the birth of your children and/or the day you were married or met your soulmate, what was the best day of your life? The day I became a teacher
What is your most artistic skill? Playing the drums
Who has been the most influential person in your life (non family version)? This is a tough question because I have been fortunate to have a lot of great mentors. I will go with my first Principal, Paul Daigle, who hired me for my first teaching position and then my first administrative position a few years later.

Now for the fun part. I have to find 11 more bloggers to keep this thing going and ask them 11 questions (hoping they have not been tagged previously).

George Couros
Jennifer Scheffer
Michael Podraza
Brad Gustafson
Daisy Dyer Duerr
Dave Meister
Cale Birk
Dawn Casey-Rowe
Jessica Johnson
Dwight Carter
Anyone who wants to play along! (Just follow the guidelines below)

Here are your questions

Have you ever been to Massachusetts?
What is your favorite sports team (college or pro)?
Besides you, name a blogger that you would recommend to others.
When you were little, what did you dream of becoming?
How far away do you live from where you grew up?
What is your favorite meal?
If you were offered a free trip to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Do you prefer Macs or PC’s?
Other than the birth of your children and/or the day you were married or met your soulmate, what was the best day of your life?
What is the best movie you’ve seen in the last year?
What is the last live concert that you’ve attended?

The Guidelines for your Homework…

Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
Share 11 random facts about yourself.
Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
List 11 bloggers.
Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer, and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. Don’t nominate a blogger who has nominated you.
Post back here (in the comment section) with a link to your finished assignment. Go on, you have homework to do.

#HourOfCode In Burlington

On December 14, 2013 By Patrick LarkinIn Burlington Public Schools, Computer Science Education WeekLeave a comment

Many of our students took part in the Computer Science Education Week initiative this past week and spend an hour learning how to code. According to the data compiled by the folks csedweek.org, over 15 million students took part in the Hour of Code initiative. Check out a few of the tweets compiled from our #bpschat Twitter feed during the course of the week. You can also check out the activity from around the world by checking out the hashtag #HourofCode on Twitter.

Thanks to all of the staff members who gave their students an opportunity to participate in this initiative! For those who did not participate, the resources are available on the Computer Science Education Week site. There are also a number of great resources for those who want to continue coding on the Beyond One Hour section of the website.

//storify.com/patrickmlarkin3/the-hourofcode-in-burlington/embed //storify.com/patrickmlarkin3/the-hourofcode-in-burlington.js[View the story “The #HourofCode In Burlington Public Schools” on Storify]

My Un-Learning Journey

Month: December 2013