Net Smart

As teachers, we see first hand how technology is influencing and impacting today’s youth. One of the quotes that really stuck out to me from this book is to, “beware of the media equivalent of secondhand smoke; the impact of how you use media in your children’s presence.” (p. 48). You go out to a restaurant and you see a family out to dinner, both parents are on their phones and kids are either sitting there or also on devices. This is what our world has come to...tech addicts! Parents are obsessed with their devices, and now their children are too...apple->tree.

I enjoyed that this book broke down the idea of being Net Smart into different literacies. At first I was confused with the term literacy because I automatically thought, reading. But literacies in this sense are areas for knowledge. Rhenigold discusses crap detection, participatory culture, collaboration and cooperation, and network smarts. However, my favorite literacy is definitely attention. It is so important to pay attention to where our attention is being focused. Over the past few years, thinking about your thinking has become more popular. In schools, teachers are beginning to use mindfulness activities to get students to become more aware of where their attention is being focused. This is the first step in becoming net smart. If we aren’t paying attention to our attention, we can’t give full attention to what we should be paying attention to.

Synthesizing My Diet

After looking back at the comments on my last post, I have decided to look at my diet differently. I need to remember to provide myself with choices and teach myself to choose which information I want to obtain. I want to keep the positives and cut back on the negative information I receive. 

It was interesting thinking about “food labels” for information. Most foods come with food labels, but our information sources do not. The labels tell us how many calories and the specific macros of that particular food, however, our information sources do not come with these warning labels. It got me thinking, how the heck do I cut back my intake if I don’t even know what it is that I am consuming?! Maybe I need to create my own food label, one serving of Facebook is 10 minutes, one serving of Instagram is 15 minutes, etc. Maybe I need to limit myself to 10 servings a day across all information sources. But then how do I account for parent and other work related emails…...I haven’t quite figured that out. I know I need to cut back on my information consumption, however, just like any diet, getting started is a learning curve and then once you understand it, it's hard to form the new habit. 

I need to allow myself to fail at my diet a few times, and keep trying. In the long run, I will probably be a happier person without carrying all of this (information) weight on my shoulders. What strategies have you tried using to cut back? What strategies have you actually stuck to?

Copyright (un)Clarity

While reading Copyright Clarity, I honestly felt overwhelmed. I most definitely fall into the “close the door” category. I have not been directly taught about copyright and there are so many grey areas. I have my students use pictures in their projects that they get from the internet, and typically do not have them site them...with third graders that is just another step that will take time. 

Transfomitiveness is definitely a good starting point for me to understand what and how it is appropriate to use others’ work. Fair use is also a fairly new concept for me. The four factors allow me to think about the work that I am using. I need to make sure I am thinking about the purpose, nature of the copyrighted work, the amount used, and the market impact when evaluating whether or not copyrighted material should be used. As they mention in Copyright Clarity, these are not the end all be all or checklist of what is considered copyright and what is not. So still we have it...GREY AREAS! Determining fair use requires us to really think about with the material is that is being used and how we want our students or ourselves to use it. To be honest, teachers have so much on their plate that copyright is typically the last thing on our mind. 

Teachers are encouraged to collaborate and share materials. We often make a copy of what we are using for each person on the team for them to then make copies for their students. Is this not acceptable because I am not the one providing it to the students? Should I be making copies for all of the students in the grade rather than the teachers? Lines are still blurred as to what is acceptable and what is not. I guess this is why I have shied away from thinking about it ...it's still so confusing!