22nd April 2006

MySpace, Conversation, and Songs of the Heart

posted in assessment, globalvoices, isafety, literacy, podcasting |

Bud the Teacher posted a new podcast on the subject of MySpace last week. He stated in the podcast:

We are creating networks in our schools that don’t reflect the realities of our students and their lives, their literacies, and what is important to them.

Bud commented how many of his students have Xanga and LiveJournal websites, and the importance of teachers getting involved in the social networks of students. Bud’s post “The Value of Xanga” a year ago reflected on the possible value of school counselors hooking into the social networking conversations of students.

I agree with Bud’s view that “it is the wrong time” to be closing the doors of conversation with students and with each other as educational praticioners about social networking. I discussed this 2 weeks ago in the post and podcast, “Censored for relevance.” The April 20, 2006 article “Five students arrested in foiled southeast Kansas school shooting” was one of many things precipitating Bud’s podcast and thinking on these issues. I agree that we need to be paying attention to how students are using these tools, not just because we might be able to learn critical information to save lives (”avert disaster” in the words of Bud, as educators in Riverton, Kansas, did last week) but also because students are leveraging their use of these tools to make statements on issues that matter to them: like US immigration policy. Social networking is increasingly becoming part of the social fabric of the lives of digital natives in our classrooms and homes. We need to pay attention, and use these tools ourselves so we can understand them better.

I am struck by how peoples’ perceptions of these issues probably relate at a basic level to their paradigm of education. I view authentic education as a conversation. I think many others in our society, however, disagree with me. They continue to see education as fundamentally an activity of content transmission. If this is true, then the issues raised by social networking and student use of sites like MySpace further highlight the importance of helping others (especially teachers, school administrators, and educational policymakers) understand the importance of VIEWING EDUCATION AS A CONVERSATION. We are personally transformed through conversations. Through conversations, our perceptions can be challenged and even changed. When perceptions change, behavior usually changes, and that equates to a changed world.

If we don’t view education as a conversation, then why should teachers and school administrators care about MySpace and students’ use of it? If school is just about learning content and skills to pass tests, then discussions about MySpace are NOT being “censored for relevance.” According to that view, they ARE irrelevant, because they do not impact the perceived and de-facto overriding rationale for public schools today: test preparation.

This reminds me of the booth at our Arts Festival today in Lubbock from the beef producers’ organization. Their ad tagline is, “Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner.” Changing contexts to this educational discussion of MySpace and related issues, I’d change this to:

Conversation. It’s the authentic education our children deserve. What’s being served and offered in your classroom today?

I am NOT saying “MySpace” should be “served and offered” in classrooms today. But discussion about social networking, blogging, and the impact as well as appropriate use of these tools definitely SHOULD be on the menu. That’s why I added a sidebar link to Think.com this weekend on my blog. We can’t afford to ignore these social networking tools in our schools, anymore than we can afford to ignore a bomb threat that is phoned in to the school secretary. We’ve got to take these tools seriously, and more importantly take seriously the voices of students who are speaking out with them.

That is the closing message of the wonderful musical, “Dear Edwina.” The show ends with the piece, “Sing Your Own Song.” Isn’t that what many, if not all students, really want to do in their lives? Figure out who they are, and what song they should be singing? This relates perfectly to my podcast interview from February, “Engaging the Heart and Singing the Song of the Student.”

We’re not here in the classrooms of planet earth to just shove a textbook down someone’s throat. We’re hear to talk and engage in dialog. We’re not here “for the party.” We’re here for the conversation. We’re here to engage the heart as well as the mind, and listen to the songs of our students. And we’re here to sing along. It’s a harmony the kids are begging us to join in on.

On this day..

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 22nd, 2006 at 11:39 pm and is filed under assessment, globalvoices, isafety, literacy, podcasting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

There are currently 4 responses to “MySpace, Conversation, and Songs of the Heart”

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  1. 1 On April 23rd, 2006, Cheryl Oakes said:

    I am glad you mentioned think.com again. In our school district we are just finishing up a week of school vacation. For the past month I introduced our 3rd and 4th graders to think.com: and explained internet safety; discussed cyberbullying; how to incorporate surveys and votes into their webpage’s; demonstrated a closed email within think.com; and actively monitored 200 students on this website. This is a teaching social network and I am the facilitator and moderator! Now, while my students have access to the world, they begin the conversations with their own schoolmates. They get “stickys”, the equivalent of chat messages publicly on their webpage’s from all over the world. They choose to ignore the middle school and high school kids, for the most part; they don’t speak the same language. They speak to their buddies in our school and make friends with students outside of their classroom walls. They ask questions starting with your favorite color, favorite class, (we talk about not putting favorite friends as it may hurt someone’s feelings and we are a bully free zone at our school and the internet is a virtual bully free zone as far as my students are concerned) and now favorite music, president, holiday. They were surprised to have some “friends” in Texas vote on the musicians and like their favorite musician. However, they were stunned when someone from the United Kingdom voted on that same musician!
    This project is a great project for young people to start with, I am having a say in how they will use myspace and Xanga later on. I am not naïve enough to believe that there will never be bullying or sharing information with this group of students but I do know that they know it is not COOL to share personal information and it is not COOL to be mean to someone. Students this age are really black and white when they view the world. I immediately get sticky messages or email when they observe someone has done wrong! These are teachable moments.
    On the other hand, it has been a great teaching/learning moment for parents of these students. A few are rightly “afraid” of the social networking they have seen in the papers and nightly news. I explained that this think.com is a closed site and I am moderating. I also reinforce that as parents they need to be aware when their student is online, whom they are talking to and what they are saying. This is a partnership and I am teaching the parents as well as the students.
    My dilemma this weekend has been how will I follow up with my think.com lesson? First of all, I will praise all the students who have participated. They really followed the rules, monitored themselves and whew! they continued conversations and participated all week long. If I had to guess it would be about 75 of the 200 students making over 500 hits to the think.com site throughout the vacation. Two students continued conversations with their classmates from Florida and Arizona where they vacationed. Some students with special needs began the vacation week writing one word messages, yet ended the week writing full sentences! This is motivation! But, all this great stuff is not available on the web; it is a closed site. I think they are ready to showcase their skills. So, next week I am introducing them to Project Poster, http://poster.4teachers.org/
    This is a teacher-moderated site where students can publish their work for all to see. I will keep this introduction simple by having students “showcase or introduce” different areas in Wells, to the world. It also makes their think.com site still their “social network” while demonstrating another use for the web, that of publishing their scholarly work. This is too important to put to rest, I want to continue engaging and motivating my students to communicate to the world. I want to continue to have parents participate in the conversations so I am moving to a more open web offering. I’ll keep you all posted. I’ll post updates at http://www.cheryloakes.com

    Over and out!

  2. 2 On April 23rd, 2006, Stephanie Sandifer said:

    Wesley –

    Very well put! I don’t think I could have expressed this any more perfectly — the concept of “Education as a conversation” as opposed to content delivery is very foreign to our policy makers, the public, and many educators.

    And yet… if we all became more reflective I think we would all recognize that our deepest and most powerful learning occurs within the context of dialogues and conversations. Whether those conversations are occuring face-to-face or online, they still have the power to increase our growth and learning.

    It’s time for educators to harness the power of the social network sites so that our children are engaging in conversations that constructively contribute to learning for all.

  3. 3 On April 23rd, 2006, Cheryl Oakes said:

    Well, this is an update, I underestimated the power of think.com!!!!
    my students were very busy, 89/200 participated on the think.com website during our school vacation! That is incredible. Cheryl

  4. 4 On April 23rd, 2006, How-To Primers said:

    Social Networking Sites and Education as Conversation

    Another very interesting post from the Wesley Fryer’s “Moving at the Speed of Creativity” blog: “MySpace, Conversation, and Songs of the Heart” talks about the need for educators “to be paying attention to how studen…