Alan November's "Four things every student should learn...but not every school is teaching."

I agree, for the most part, with Alan November’s article Four things every student should learn…but not every school is teaching.   The thing that scares me the most is that I feel like at some point there is going to be a breaking point for me as an educator.  More and more parenting obligations are being pushed on educators along with the pressures of meeting state standards, expectations for no child left behind, and funding cuts.  (Do I dare mention the slap in the face we educators are getting from the legislation and its supporters.  It looks to me that empathy is something that our very governor is very much lacking.)  I think empathy in general is something that many people are lacking.  Many of my students are very “me” centered and have very little concern for the person sitting next to them let alone someone across the globe.  I have always been an empathic person and try to hit on that every day in my classroom.  I try to make students understand that respecting someone else’s point of view does not mean they have to agree with them—it just means you have to see where they are coming from and understand their point of view.  Sometimes I like to say we can agree to disagree, but we need to learn how to move on and learn how to work together despite our differences.  This is especially hard when you are teaching in a very rural and homogeneous district, where the culture of the community is very closed minded.   However, this will never stop me from implementing it in my classroom! 

November’s second point, in my opinion, is probably one of the most important (however I must admit this is something that parents should be doing not just leaving it to educators).  I believe that when we address bullying in the school we most definitely need to address cyber bullying.   I completely agree that blocking assess does nothing when it comes to teaching them how to responsibly use the tools.  How can we model the right uses of these tools if we are not allowed access at school?  This ties in with his third point about the permanence of information online and even more importantly the consequences of having personal information out there for the world to see. I have seen many students learn the hard way that when they are “journaling” their daily lives online that things eventually come back and bite them in the butt.    Take that and add the whole reappearing website trick and that could hopefully open a few eyes. 

November’s last point was actually something that many of our high school teachers are battling every day.  I think the topic about the order of appearance in a google search alone is something that every student should be aware of.  This statement sure makes me think about the research that I have done in the past.  I can honestly say that I myself don’t know how to determine whether a site is trust worthy (unless I am familiar with the organization or author from other sources).  It almost seems to me that there should be a class on the ethics of online tools that should be a graduation requirement.  I suppose, however, if every teacher takes one thing and addresses each year this could at least make some sort of an impact on students.  Sometimes I find myself struggling with ways to incorportate web 2.0 tools into mathematics let alone these technology lessons.  However, I have a substanial role in implementing PBIS (positive behavior intervention system) into our school district and cybe bullying and sexting could most definitely fit into our behavior matrix, school expectations, and goals.