It is difficult to appreciate what you have sometimes. This is my second year back in the classroom. Last year I got a late start with my classroom blog, Room36. I was able to get a few things done even though I was still dealing with learning the curriculum and my class management skills. This school year I've had an even slower start. I signed up for a classroom blog with class blogmeister but have been slow in training my students. Then along comes Al Upton and the minilegends.
There is a debate going on in education regarding the use of filters on the internet. The basic idea is to protect our students from inappropriate content and online predators. It's a very weak argument at best. Never the less it's a reality in a lot of our districts. The Super Bloggers such as Will Richardson, David Warlick, Miguel Ghulin, Wes Fryer to name a few, have been advocates for educators to teach our students 21st Century literacy skills. The new ISTE standards go a long way in this process. The Edublogging community now has a cause to fight for. Websense -- Internet filters at our district level are headed by reasonable people. It is our duty to educate them regarding the urgency of our students learning these new literacies to participate in a global community. So, that is what Al Upton and the minilegends have been up to. It is also a reminder that I need get back on the right path and lead my students into the 21st Century.
1 comment:
I teach in Australia as well, but in the State of Victoria. In that respect, I am lucky as our Education Department has been very supportive of using the emerging technologies in particular, blogging and other web 2.0 tools. In fact, they are actively promoting it, provided I assume, that we do our best to protect our students in the classroom, yet encourage them to be good digital citizens.
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