Reflection 2.0

I’m reporting, as promised, on the second parent workshop I led at my middle school. There were only 3 parents in attendance, but again, this allowed for more discussion and personal feedback. My district’s IT director and the middle school principal were also there, which led to a broader perspective on the topics being covered - our IT director was able to answer some of the more technical (hardware) questions and my principal was able to address some of the district policies in more depth.

We were yet again unable to get through the filters to visit some of the sites I planned to, but that didn’t stop us from having an excellent discussion about the technologies that are popular with students today. The parents in attendance were unfamiliar with web-based email, so I gave a demonstration of how to set up a gmail account. This was actually an excellent introduction to a discussion on how easy it is for anyone to create a new identity online, as well as how easy it is for students to create their own email accounts at home. The gmail demonstration led to a demonstration of instant messaging, which the parents were also unfamiliar with. I just used the chat feature available in gmail and sent out a cry for help to three members of my PLN asking for some sort of response to help with the demonstration. I was lucky enough to get a response from @brunsell - thanks Eric! It was very interesting to describe something that has become so much a part of my online life - the parents kept asking “why do you do this?” and “why would my child want to do this?”. These were excellent questions and led to a great discussion on setting limits on time online and the distraction factor of instant messaging.

In an attempt to demonstrate social networking without being able to access MySpace and Facebook, I showed the parents Classroom 2.0 and my page there. I think everyone in attendance was a bit shocked at how much information I put out online, as well as the fact that my picture is plastered everywhere. This led into a discussion on how I use social networking for my profession, and giving more information is necessary to gain credibility. I, as an adult, have the choice to offer this information as I see fit. Our students and children should not be given the choice - it’s the same as all of the other rights that come with adulthood. We also discussed parents putting pictures of their children online and whether that is appropriate or not - the parents in attendance were of the opinion that it’s not ok, and I explained that although I don’t put pictures of my children anywhere other than my invite-only online photo albums in Snapfish, many other parents DO make their photos public, and it’s a personal choice.

I look forward to working with parents more in the future, and it would be interesting to see how it would be different if there were more tech-savvy parents in attendance. It would definitely change the tone and level of the discussions, but I worry that the parents with less experience would be apprehensive about asking questions in that environment.

You can see the resources from the workshop on the Parent Workshop wiki.