Month: November 2018

The 21st Century Resume – Sasha Dichter’s Blog

On By Patrick LarkinIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Sasha Dichter’s latest post, The 21st Century Resume, talks about what a 21st Century Resume should look like.  It is definitely something we need to spend a lot more time thinking about in regards to students and the types of learning experiences they are having in schools.  I love the following points from Dichter’s post as potential interview questions:

Tell me the latest skill you mastered and what you’re working on.

Describe a knowledge gap…and how you filled it.

Identify the networks you’re a part of or have created, and what you’ve done to strengthen them.

While we are at it, I think we could use these as personal reflection questions for ourselves to ensure that we are continuously learning.

Thankfulness + Giving = Thanksgiving

On By Patrick LarkinIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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As you approach Thanksgiving weekend and reflect on all that you have to be thankful for, I encourage you to consider a donation to the recovery efforts for the people who have been impacted by the California wildfires.  It is hard to understand the level of destruction just hearing about the wildfires on the news with over 11,000 homes lost and nearly 80 lives (so far).  A local weather outlet posted the picture below to show people how big the area would be if this had happened locally. As you can see, numerous towns would have been totally wiped out.  It is really incomprehensible when I look at it on relative terms.

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Personally, I was touched by the short podcast on the wildfires by the Better Human Project.  A quote from Josh Mantz during the podcast resonated with me:

“All of us experience suffering…as hard as that can be, healing is never a process that we have to take on alone.”

This quote coupled with the reminder that “Loneliness is toxic” from David Flood in his talk last week with Burlington High students has me hoping that a number of people will contribute and let our fellow humans on the west coast know they are not in this alone.  You can donate here

I hope everyone has much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!

Supporting Healthy Social Media Habits

On By Patrick LarkinIn #BPSChat, Balance, Social media, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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This past Saturday at our third annual Parent University, I was fortunate to lead a short session on how parents can help support their kids in the development of healthy social media habits.  During the session, I shared some of the ways I have monitored my 12-year old daughter’s use of her newly acquired iPhone and her subsequent use of various apps and social media tools.

In regards to the monitoring of apps on my daughter’s phone, I love the way Family sharing on iTunes allows parents to approve the addition of apps to their child’s phone. This allows me to have a conversation with my daughter before allowing her to add new apps and ask the following:

  • Why do you want that app?
  • What will you use it for?
  • Will that app make your life easier in some way?
  • How much time do you think you will spend on that app each day?

One example of an app that we decided did not need to be added was Lipsi. When I got the request to add Lipsi, I immediately asked my daughter why she needed it. She informed me that it was an app that many of her friends had that allowed them to comment on Instagram posts.  I have to admit I was confused here because my daughter has a private Instagram account and she is only allowed to follow friends from school and pre-approved celebrities. Therefore, I am not sure why another app would be needed to comment.

Common Sense Media is a great resource for parents

In order to shed some light on this, I turned to Common Sense Media which is a goldmine of information on apps, websites, movies and books.  All you have to do is enter the title of the media source that you want more information on in the search bar and Common Sense Media will provide a review and rating. In the case of Lipsi, here is what I found:

“Buggy, anonymous app invites misuse, bullying.”

In addition, Lipsi is recommended for ages 18-plus.  Also, why would someone need an app that posts anonymous messages on Instagram? I told my daughter that if she had something to say about a friend’s post on Instagram that it should be public and the same should go for her friends commenting on her posts. There are enough stories about teens bullying one another on Instagram out there without this type of app.

Keeping a handle on screen-time is something we all need to do

Finally, we spent some time talking about the need for all of us to be mindful of the time we spend on screens.  While this is a neverending topic for me, one thing that opened my eyes was the Infomagical Bootcamp put out by the Note to Self podcast back in 2016.  One of the things I have done since my Infomagical experience is turn off all of my notifications on my phone and organized all of my apps. I encourage anyone interested in improving the balance in their lives in regards to technology-use to give the Infomagical Bootcamp a shot.

At the very least, you should check out your app usage on your iPhone or iPad and look at how much time you spend on particular apps daily and weekly.  There are also ways to do this for android users.   The latest iOS updates for Apple also include options for parents to set app and screen-time limits for their children.

It’s a new world for parents who grew up without the rapidly-increasing list interconnected tools and resources that are available.  It is important that we have an ongoing dialogue within our communities in order to ensure a healthy balance for ourselves and our kids.

Here’s a Google Doc with everything I discussed in my Parent University 2018 session.

 

 

Most Schools Are Not Set Up For This

On By Patrick LarkinIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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One of the bloggers who always gets me thinking is Harold Jarche. His insights into the ways that organizations and individuals need to function in order to ensure continuous learning are important for educators to consider since our ultimate goal is to prepare students for the “real world.”

His most recent post shared the following quote:

“Connections drive innovation. We need input from people with a diversity of viewpoints to help generate innovative new ideas. If our circle of connections grow too small, or if everyone in it starts thinking the same way, we’ll stop generating new ideas —Tim Kastelle (2010)

How can those of us who work in schools be sure that we are developing the skills in our students that are necessary for them to develop a diverse network that allows them to generate new viewpoints and ideas?  Don’t we first have to develop learning communities where educators are encouraged to establish the connections necessary to drive innovation in their schools and classrooms?