Dear Teachers,

What a whirlwind of learning we’ve all be thrown into in the past couple of weeks! Few of us were prepared to start executing the emergency remote teaching we’ve had to learn so quickly, and those of us who have had ANY experience with distance learning courses know how much goes into the planning stages of a successful one. Being thrown into this circumstance with little to no time for preparation leaves most of us feeling pretty stressed out. We all find ourselves doing the best we can now to help our students without seeing them face to face. Not exactly what any of us signed up for, right?

And then, along with all of the other things you’re all having to learn so quickly, I want to throw in digital citizenship stuff, too? I imagine that if you’ve even read this far, you’re thinking, “Sure, Nancy. Exactly what I needed. One more thing to do.”

But the thing is, friends, this is really a PERFECT opportunity for you to start teaching those digital citizenship skills that you might have been putting off when you were all in your classrooms. You are, by necessity, being forced to interact with your students virtually now, whether that is synchronously (in real time) or asynchronously (at each person’s convenience, by recorded videos, discussion boards, etc.). My #digcit nerd friends and I are always stressing the importance of teaching digital citizenship authentically. And I’m not sure how things could get much more authentic than they are right now.

So in the spirit of keeping things simple, I offer you three-and-only-three tips to think about as you maneuver your new role as a remote learning facilitator:

 [PDF of Infographic is available here.]

If you’d like additional tips on how to get your kids engaged with digital citizenship topics, check out the app I created with Glide – Everyday #DigCit has lots of talking points and questions to get your students thinking about their digital lives.

Don’t forget to take a break from your devices, too, and to remind your students to do the same. And do some slow, deep breathing as you remember that we’re all in this thing together.

Fondly,

Nancy

Dear Teachers,

What strange times these are! Only a couple of weeks ago, I was out at a mall doing some shopping, and a whole bunch of other people were doing the same. My husband and I were starting to make plans for an anniversary vacation in May. I was furiously planning several different professional learning sessions for the summer. I did my usual Sunday morning yoga class. Scoring some toilet paper did not elicit a celebratory social media post.

And then, just this past Monday (is it really only 6 days ago?), I went to work. Yes, I tried to stay in my own area and keep my germs to myself, and people were perhaps a little more subdued than they might normally have been on the Monday after Spring Break, but we were there. Monday evening, I got an email from my yoga studio saying they were temporarily closing, in accordance with city recommendations. Tuesday, our department at work was allowed to work from home, provided we came up with some Zoom sessions on how to do remote learning (which we did, by the way – and I am terribly proud of what we accomplished with about 12 hours’ notice!) Also Tuesday, my yoga studio was starting to offer classes via Zoom. By Wednesday, everyone in our service center was told to work from home.

I keep hearing people say “these are unprecedented times,” and certainly that is true. In our lifetime, we have had neither a health scare of this magnitude, nor the technology to keep us all connected in spite of our semi-quarantines. But aren’t all times unprecedented, really? At the beginning of 2019, I had six people in my small nuclear-ish family; by this date last year, I was down to only four. And those four of us were all reeling from the unpredictable/unprecedented events that had befallen us. The fact that those dark and scary times were happening (seemingly) only to me did not negate the reality of unprecedented-ness. I’m guessing anyone who might be reading this has also had times of personal unprecedented-ness: times you would never willingly go back to but that will stay with you forever.

Remember that as unprecedented as these times are, every moment of our life is actually unprecedented. The best gift I get from my yoga practice is that of learning (over and over and over again) to stay in the moment. Each beautiful, unprecedented, unique moment.

I’m actually not a country music fan and would not be able to pick Tim McGraw out of a lineup, but these lyrics came into my head today, and I think they are good ones to keep in mind, regardless of the kind of times in which we find ourselves:

And I loved deeper
And I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying

Speak sweeter today to the people who are working in the grocery store or pharmacy. Speak sweeter to the Amazon driver, mail carrier, trash collector, yard guy. Speak especially sweetly and send out all the possible good energy you can muster to health care workers who are feeling the brunt of this unprecedented time more than any of the rest of us. And love the people in your family a bit deeper.

Fondly, with many virtual elbow bumps,

Nancy

Dear Teachers,

When I’m not delivering professional development or talking/thinking/dreaming about digital citizenship, I’m either reading, walking my dog, or doing yoga. Yesterday at yoga, I got an inspiration for this blog post: let’s make social media more like yoga! If you’re scratching your head a bit at that thought, allow me to explain.

My yoga studio is a lovely, warm, inviting place, and because it’s been so successful, the adorable owner, Samantha, was able to open a second location. The grand opening of that new studio was held yesterday. Everyone wanted to congratulate Sam and see the beautiful new space, so it was a bit crowded. The room, obviously, only holds so many people, and we were all feeling a little comfortably crowded – and then someone else showed up. So we scooched our mats a little and made room for the new person. Then, two additional people walked in. Same thing. Then, FOUR MORE people wanted to join. Right as the clock was striking 9:00 (when the door is locked and class begins), one more person who was brand new to yoga stood timidly at the door, not knowing where to go. Once more, we all waved her in, adjusted our spacing, and absorbed her into the space of the room. Our yoga studio uses props like soft blocks and blankets; obviously there were not enough of these for everyone in such a crowded studio. And when the teacher asked if anyone would be willing to share props, you should have seen all the hands go up, waving their blocks, and offering them to anyone else who might need one. Because we were all so cozy and close, the teacher also had us do some crazy hard pose near the end where we were pressing against each other’s hands for support, all up and down the line of mats. I was the weak link on that one, I can tell you.

As I looked around at everyone being happy for Samantha and her beautiful new space, I thought, wow: this is the very best of humanity right here. People welcoming others, sharing what they have, and laughing together at an impossibly silly yoga pose fail. (Ok, maybe SOME of the participants found success on that one, but I was not among them.)

And because I have that digital citizenship thing on my radar like ALL THE TIME, this morning I was reading this terrific opinion piece by Leonard Pitts, Jr titled The Perils of Online Shaming. Pitts states that “there is something about the anonymity of social media that does not encourage us to be our best selves.” Boy, ain’t it the truth. I got to thinking about the scenario I described above and what it might have looked like if it had played out on Twitter instead of in real life. The tamest comments might have looked something like this:

• You should have gotten here earlier! OMG. <eye roll emoji>
• Coming in at the last minute, and you’re BRAND NEW? Not everyone would expect to get a spot with that kind of entitled attitude. Just sayin’.
• I can’t believe the owner didn’t plan better for this crowd. She should have known there would be this many people.
• I bet she’s the type who is always late to work , too. I’m tweeting a video of this outrageous behavior – c’mon, Twitter, let’s identify her and figure out who her employer is. #lateisnotgreat #beontimeforcryingoutloud #toomanymatsintheyogastudio #rookieyogamistakes #sincewhenisitfashionabletoonlygettoyogatwominutesbeforeclassstarts

You get the idea.

Moral outrage. Righteous indignation. I’m a little weary of this shaming cultured we find ourselves in right now. Then again, shaming has certainly been around a long time, probably since, like, forever. Maybe it’s just a part of our DNA.

But then again, kindness has been around a while, too, and the optimist in me wants to believe that’s just as big a part of our DNA.

The next time you see a snarky post on Twitter or Facebook – and it probably won’t take long for that to happen – imagine there is another side to the story. Imagine there is a human who has feelings, and who might be struggling with something difficult. Even remember that about the snarky person who made the unflattering post. Scooch over a little and make room for that person, even if they’re doing something you don’t especially agree with. (Maybe ESPECIALLY if they’re doing something you don’t agree with.) Share what you have. Welcome them. Build a relationship when you can. Because I can tell you, you’ll feel pretty good when you act like that. And maybe you’ll even restore someone else’s faith in humanity a bit, too.

Namaste,

Nancy

Dear Teachers,

For years now, I have wanted to build an app for Digital Citizenship, one that would give teachers a variety of simple activities and talking points for doing that “seamless integration into what you’re doing anyway” that we in the #DigCit world always talk about. I was thinking that I would develop it and then sell it, and that it would be a source of retirement income. But the wonderful folks at Glide have made it so easy to build a free app from a Google Sheet that although my dream is coming true, I won’t be making any money off it. But I don’t even care because this is seriously EXACTLY what I’ve wanted.

What Glide has done is take a Google sheet I created and turned it in to a beautiful little app that I’m hoping will be very useful to educators who want to know how to incorporate digital citizenship every day. It’s still in a very “beta” stage, but you can take a look at how it’s shaping up at http://digcit.glideapp.io. Within each of the grade levels shown at right are 5 broad categories that pertain to digital citizenship: Safety & Security, Communication, Personal Ethics, Information Literacy, and Advocacy. And within THOSE categories are multiple sub-categories like Empathy, Screen Time, or Intellectual Property, just to name a few. And each of those sub-categories contains one or more questions or statements – just that one bite-sized talking point that might spark a conversation about digital citizenship that hopefully won’t feel like “just one more thing.”

And here is where I’d like to invite you to help participate in this project! I’m betting you have an idea of what might be a good topic or one-liner that should be included in this app. Or maybe you have an idea for an additional direction this app might go. Please add your ideas to this spreadsheet. (Be a good digital citizen yourself and don’t delete anyone else’s ideas. 😉 ) I hope that this app will become a terrific crowd-sourced resource for those educators who really would like to address digital citizenship in their classes but might just not be sure about where to start or what to say. Questions? Email me at nancywtech@gmail.com.

Looking forward to hearing from you! As always,

Nancy

Dear Teachers,

One of my favorite yoga teachers has a gift for words and language, and as a CWN (Certified Word Nerd), I love what she has to say and how she says it. One of her oft-said phrases is “Reach for nothing; push nothing away.” She says this while we are bent into some unusual body shapes. But she means it in general, I think.

This phrase must have been on my mind when I offered up to the universe several weeks ago a semi-prayer. “Universe,” I said, “what is next for me in this life?” Sometimes the universe takes awhile to answer; other times answers come quickly. I was just barely paying attention when the universe answered. Here is what happened next.

I went to a meeting of a bunch of regional Instructional Technology geeks on November 6. A colleague told me about a job opening. Although I hadn’t been reaching for a new job, I got my resume together and applied. I was sick as a dog the day of the interview; I dragged myself out of bed, tried to make myself look presentable, and did my best, but I honestly couldn’t tell you anything about the interview itself. When it was over, I came home, changed clothes, flopped back on my bed, and stayed there for another six hours without moving.

But: I was offered the job. So then I had a dilemma. I love my current job! My coworkers are fantastic, I am well respected, I mostly know the correct answer if someone asks me a question about a program or policy. The new job does not pay more. SHOULD I TAKE THIS NEW JOB WITH ALL ITS UNKNOWNS???

Reach for nothing; push nothing away. Universe, what is next for me?

I talked over my decision with a few people. One trusted friend gently pointed out that neither decision would be a bad one. (She was right about that.) Another friend had recently changed jobs, and she shared that she’d had similar thoughts before deciding to accept her new position: What am I doing? What if I don’t like it? What if I don’t take it and hope for something to come around “some other time”? If I don’t take it, I’ll be “the girl who said no,” and I might not get another chance. What to do, what to do.

I hadn’t reached for the job; the universe seemed to present it to me on a platter. I chose not to push it away. So after 18+ years in my current district, I’ll be starting fresh as a Digital Learning Consultant at Region 10 ESC on January 3. I’m really excited about a fresh start at this point in my career. I’m looking forward to learning new things, helping new people, and having new experiences with another terrific team. Yes, I will desperately miss so many of the educators I’ve come to know and love in my current job. Yes, there will be a learning curve on How They Do Things at the new gig and I will probably screw up a time or two. Yes, I am completely unaware of where the bathrooms are. But I am proud of myself for not pushing away this opportunity.

Whoever gets to sit in my current chair next is in for a treat, because (as I have said so many times in the past), I have had the good fortune to have the best co-workers in the world. I like to think that I am creating space and opportunity for someone else who might even now be making a supplication to the universe. #TeamAwesome will continue to be an awesome team.

I hope the universe delivers great things to each of you in 2019. Push nothing away.

Fondly,

Nancy

Dear Teachers,

Every week I look forward to my favorite 75-minute Deep Stretch yoga class. It’s a delicious and therefore very popular class, so I always try to arrive early so I can find a spot and get settled in. Today the spot I selected was about a mat’s length away from the front corner of the room, and I knew I might be crowding someone who might want to lay his or her mat down in that space. I didn’t have a whole lot of room to back up, though, and spots were going quickly, so I eyeballed the space I was leaving in the corner and hoped for the best.

As it got closer to the time for class to start, a woman did approach that space, and she started to roll her mat out in the spot. She was somehow holding her mat, a water bottle, her gym bag, her flip-flops, a yoga blanket, and a couple of yoga blocks, so she was pretty laden down. I asked her if she had enough room and told her I would try to move back a little. She said she thought she had enough room, but looked at all the stuff she had dumped on the floor near her and said, “I just have all this baggage.”

“Don’t we all,” I said and smiled, and she and the others around me laughed knowingly.

Those of us who go to yoga do it for probably somewhat similar reasons. We want to be more flexible. We want better balance. We are more about improvement than about meeting a particular once-and-done goal. We feel better physically and mentally when we practice yoga than when we don’t.

My Saturday morning yoga instructor is Lisa, and I love her class for many reasons, not least of which are her humor and her wry word choice. She  and the other yoga instructors have some great catch phrases that work really well off the mat, too. (It’s almost like they do that on purpose.) When I compare yoga to life off the mat, I often think about this ISTE poster and blog:

I’ll be leading an ISTE Certification Train-the Trainer session again in a few days, and one of the opening activities (spoiler alert) encourages participants to consider how each of the ISTE Standards for Educators is similar to a yoga pose. This time out, I hope to remember to drop in some of my favorite phrases that I’ve heard my yoga teachers say.

• “We’re looking for functional flexibility.” I have turned this term over and over in my mind, and I really like it for so many reasons. We try to get physically more flexible in yoga, sure – but cognitive, social, and emotional flexibility are so important, too. Being cognitively flexible allows us to look at problems from different perspectives or design new experiences for our students. Social flexibility means that we know there are different ways to behave in different social situations and different ways to communicate depending on our audience and established group norms. Emotional flexibility means that I don’t necessarily *have* to have exactly the same emotional reaction every time that coworker or relative says something off-putting.
• “Everyone is put together with different glue.” Differentiation, anyone? All of us have different needs, and those needs change even within a single person from day to day. Education is such an art! Think about all those ever-changing needs and how they all contribute to classroom dynamics each day (or each hour). It’s okay – even essential –  to make instructional modifications based on the particular “glue” that is holding a student (or you) together on a given day.
• “Perfect is the enemy of good.” When it comes to ed tech, I sometimes feel that teachers think that they have to use it perfectly on the first try. And that if they don’t use the tool “perfectly” on the first try, then they just won’t use it at all. My personal corollary to this one is “Doing something is better than doing nothing”: even though I might *intend* to get to yoga 3 or 4 times a weeks, I know I feel better if I make it only once a week. So I like to encourage our teachers, especially in the area of my favorite subject, digital citizenship, that taking even a small, imperfect step is much better than not doing anything at all. Ignoring the necessity of #digcit instruction altogether is just not good for anyone. I encourage you to try something new and innovative in your classroom this week – even if it doesn’t come out on the first try exactly the way you had imagined it.
• “Nothing is good for everyone all the time.” We talk to teachers all the time about why specific technology tools are not written in to our curriculum. There is an art to selecting the best instructional strategy for a particular learning goal and set of learners, and this is perhaps especially true in the area of educational technology. The best tech tool for one teacher and his or her learners is dependent on many factors: What devices are available in that classroom? How comfortable with technology is the teacher? What is that particular group of learners like; could they handle more independent tasks or do they need more instruction? (Pro tip: those “digital natives” do NOT automatically know how to get the most out of every technology tool that comes their way, the first time they see it.)We try our best to help our teachers think through these questions as they consider ed tech implementation in their classrooms. We customize our recommendations so that teachers can join the ed tech conversation at any point where they are comfortable. We give lots of options for modifications if teachers aren’t ready for a more challenging technology. We stress that just because their neighbor across the hall is using a particular tool, that doesn’t mean that a) it’s being used appropriately and b) that’s the best tool in every situation. Teachers (and yogis) are different and are at different stages of learning. So if you are one of those teachers who compare themselves to others, remember that sometimes you need to close your eyes and mind your own mat.

This week as you go about your teaching, consider some of these lessons from yoga: start where you are, work with others, stretch yourself a little, strive for balance, and don’t forget to breathe! And above all, remember that we all have baggage, so be sure to save room for those who seem especially laden down.

Fondly,

Nancy

P.S. Shoutout to my favorite yoga studio, The Mat. If you’re in the North Dallas area and are looking for a yoga home, The Mat might be just the place for you!

Dear Teachers,

I gotta admit that sometimes I feel like a lone voice shouting into the void with this digital citizenship thing I always go on about. I feel like I’ve been that little whack-a-mole person popping up annoyingly to say, “Yoo-hoo, over here – digital citizenship is important, remember? Don’t forget to talk to your kids about it!” for years now. Maybe some of you have experienced this before; you’re super passionate about something and want the world to know why they should care too – but you feel like you’re the only one on the planet with your level of enthusiasm.

But a few things have happened recently in my district that make me think my efforts are starting to pay off. And I have to tell you, that feels pretty good.

Exhibit A: At least two campuses last year kicked off school-wide digital citizenship initiatives (here is a presentation about one school’s year-long plan). And we had a strong emphasis on digital citizenship at this year’s ETSI (our district’s Ed Tech Success Initiative), so I know many other teachers and campuses have a greater awareness about digital citizenship and have created personal and school-wide goals that focus on growing digital citizens.

Exhibit B: A couple of weeks ago, I heard from a teacher in my district who had attended the keynote session I presented at the back-to-school professional development for secondary teachers. In his email he wrote, “I really loved your speech at inservice and I think teaching the kids #digcit is very important!” And as if that one line weren’t enough to fill my bucket for a year or two, he sent me a link to a rap that he and one of his co-workers created:

I have watched it about a gazillion times already, and it still makes me smile every time! (Shoutout to @rareorionscienc – seriously, how fun is that video?!) I am hoping that other schools will be challenged to create something similar and will also get their students involved in creating, too!

Exhibit C. On Friday I heard from another teacher in my district. Kim Durall teaches 7th grade ELA and has been a great proponent of the #digcit cause for quite a while now. She had first connected with an author online:

And then she sent me a DM with some additional info:

“DigCit is a state of mind and not a lesson” is a message I’ve been trying to convey for several years now. I often recommend using “#digcit teachable moments” and “#digcit life lessons” – as opposed to a stand-alone lesson or curriculum – as the best way to teach and model what digital citizenship looks like in real life, so I was especially pleased to see that Kim took advantage of that teachable moment to point out how important “tone and relevance” are in digital spaces.

It’s so exciting to me to see these pockets of digital citizenship education continuing to grow and develop! What about YOU? How are your efforts in #DigCit coming along? I’d love to know about what’s working for you; feel free to comment here or reach out to me on Twitter (@nancywtech). Have a great week, everyone!

Fondly,

Nancy

Dear Teachers,

Do you remember being asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Although I vaguely remember that question when I was a kid, I’m honestly not sure whether people in my family ever asked me that. It was a given that I would go to college; that was What We Did. But as I try to remember a time when I was encouraged to “be something,” the only memory I have is of my mother and stepfather discouraging me from being  a French major in school. In my mother’s small world, she could never imagine that I would travel, and they both assured me that “people who only speak two languages couldn’t be an interpreter at the United Nations.” As though that would be the only benefit in knowing a second language! (And I’m sure they didn’t see the slightest irony in the fact that they each spoke only one language.)

Anyway. Although I did start out as a French major, I kept coming back to the feeling I had when my kindergarten teacher let me stay at the table finishing up the drawing of my lion, even though it was time to go to circle time. So I decided to be an Early Childhood teacher. So many of us became teachers because of some influential teacher in our lives. How I loved being a preschool teacher! And how exhausting a room full of four-year-olds seems now!

I also wanted to be a mom, so I had a couple of kids and believed that all my preschool background and experiences would provide me with the knowledge and skills I needed to be a Great Mom. (Talk about irony.) How I loved being able to stay home with my kids! But for lots of reasons, it became clear that I wouldn’t stay home with them forever, and I started thinking about going back to work. When Kid #1 went to kindergarten, he had the most awesome librarian ever. I decided maybe that was what I wanted to be, so I went to library school. And I could never have predicted the career path I have had since I took my first job as a middle school librarian.

How I loved being a librarian! I got to know almost every kid in the school, worked with fabulous teachers, and read astonishingly great Young Adult literature. I like to think I was a solid instructional partner, and I clumsily tried to be a technology leader. I am still fairly astounded at how my (then extremely limited) understanding of the power of technology in education led me to my current position as a Digital Learning Specialist. I mean, come on – FOUR positions with this job title in the whole school district, and I managed to snag one of them? What are the odds? I am humbled every day by my great good fortune to have this career in a fabulous school district.

And how I love THIS job! I have learned so much in the past decade-plus – much of which  is about what I wish I’d done differently in the classroom or library. The past few years especially, when I finished up my second Master’s, became a leader in the Digital Citizenship conversation, and was invited to write curriculum for ISTE, have grown me as a professional and as a person more than I would ever have imagined. Most recently, being one of the writers and trainers for the ISTE Certified Educator program has made me reflect even more deeply about what it is I want to be.

One of my smart co-workers describes the ISTE Standards for Educators as “not things to do, but ways to be.” Now when I think about what I want to be, the choice is less about having a particular position or job title, but about how I can apply these standards in what I’m doing in my work with other educators. Because how I love being all the things! As an Empowered Professional, I want to be a Learner, a Leader, and a Citizen. As a Learning Catalyst, I also aspire to be a Collaborator, a Designer, a Facilitator, and an Analyst.  And I want to inspire my students, who are mostly other educators, to Be All the Things as well! So this week, consider how you might:

• improve your practice by learning from and with others and exploring proven and promising practices that leverage technology to improve student learning; be a Learner
• seek out opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning; be a Leader
• inspire students to positively contribute to and responsibly participate in the digital world; be a Citizen
• dedicate time to collaborate with both colleagues and students to improve practice, discover and share resources and ideas, and solve problems; be a Collaborator
• design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability; be a Designer
• facilitate learning with technology to support student achievement of the ISTE Standards for Students; be a Facilitator
• understand and use data to drive your instruction and support students in achieving their learning goals; be an Analyst

These things to be are not things that are once-and-done; we never check them off the list and call it complete. Maybe you’ll choose to focus on just one or two standards; maybe you’ll want to do bits and pieces of all of them. However you decide to approach the ISTE Standards, I hope they will help to grow your thinking a bit on what you want to be.

And also remember that wonderful sign I’ve seen in so many schools lately, “In a world where you can be anything, be KIND.” Have a great week!

Fondly,

Nancy

P.S. Intrigued about the ISTE Standards and how they might impact your learners? Contact me or your favorite Digital Learning Specialist! We’ll talk your ear off about them!

Dear Teachers,

It’s back to school time, and I was THRILLED to have an opportunity this past Monday to address our secondary teachers on my favorite topic. Back in December, I had been asked to put the event on my calendar, and I had assumed it would be the usual “three rotations, expect 25ish people at each session” kind of thing – and I was pretty excited about sharing my #DigCit message with as many as 75 educators in one day.

But a couple of weeks before the event, I was asked how I’d feel about doing more of a keynote-type presentation. Twice. With about 850 educators at each sitting. Ummm – impressing upon almost 1700 teachers in one day the importance of including digital citizenship in their daily routines? Hello – yes, please! Sign me up for my dream come true, and do it fast before you change your mind!

So I walked into this room Monday morning and thought: Gulp. Well. Ok then.

I got there plenty early and had all kinds of tech problems. (You know what I always say about tech: It’s *supposed* to work.) Our wonderful tech crew worked diligently to switch out devices and test the sound and get the wifi working, and at 8:27 I was ready for my 8:30 start.

And of course there were tech glitches, but I had a very benevolent audience and I managed to laugh my way through the parts that were completely uncooperative. If you were in the audience in the morning, I thank you for your good will. And I’m so gratified that my message seems to have been well-received! Many of our teachers made a #digcitcommit pledge on Twitter or on this Mentimeter, and I’m excited to see where our district goes this year as a result of getting people talking about digital citizenship.

At the end of my first talk, one of the staff members from the event center approached me and said, “That was interesting. Where do trolls fit in to all of that?” That was a question I had never gotten before and certainly not one I had been expecting. So I stammered around a bit and said something like, “Well, you know how I talked about establishing a culture of positive norms – what I’d like to see is that it becomes socially unacceptable to be a troll. Oh, and don’t feed them.” His sidekick eagerly jumped in with, “Yeah, don’t feed the trolls!” The first guy continued and said, “Yeah, but what if they’re just being funny? And what about the 1st Amendment?”

So then it dawned on me: Ok, so HE is probably a troll. <insert eye roll emoji here>

In my talks I mentioned, as I often do, that cultural norms often change over time; where we once had a nation of smokers, it’s now hard to find a restaurant that isn’t smoke-free, and where we once had a nation of litterers, we now mostly all throw our trash in the trash cans where it belongs. Thinking on my feet, I said to the Presumed Troll, “The 1st Amendment prevents you from the government throwing you in jail for saying something it doesn’t like. It doesn’t protect you from the consequences of what you might say. Freedom of speech is not a license to be a jerk.” Or words to that effect. In my rosy-eyed view of the world, I like to think that we can create an online culture where it just isn’t acceptable to troll people, for fun or otherwise.

The very next day on my way to work, I heard this NPR story about how Alex Jones is crying censorship over tech companies booting him off their platforms. Twitter does seem to be rather capricious in what it deems offensive content, but it has got me thinking about what censorship really is, and what role censorship might play – or SHOULD play? – in cleaning up the often messy, insulting, and even dangerous arena of online forums and commenting.

Tim Wu, in his New York Times Op-Ed from last November “How Twitter Killed the First Amendment,” writes that in today’s world, we should be less concerned with censorship as governmental suppression of speech, and VERY attuned to the fact that “the world’s most sophisticated censors, including Russia and China, have spent a decade pioneering tools and techniques that are better suited to the internet age.” Obfuscation, disinformation, and dissembling are far more effective forms of controlling a populace. If that doesn’t reinforce to everyone the absolute necessity of media literacy and critical thinking, I don’t know what will. I strongly encourage you to check out the websites of media literacy experts like Julie N. Smith, Renee Hobbs, and Michelle Ciulla Lipkin for some excellent resources. Media Literacy Week is November 5-9, 2018 – but I would implore you, as I do with digital citizenship, to make media literacy a part of ALL of your teaching.

Age-old adages are repeated because they have a lot of truth in them: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Just because you CAN say or do something, doesn’t mean you SHOULD. You catch more flies with honey. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. I like to think that those messages alone would be enough to teach our kids about how to behave online. But while those age-old words might still be true, they won’t be enough. We must be diligent and persistent in getting our students to fact-check, to look at all sides of an argument or debate, and to recognize propaganda and manipulation tools for what they are.

I know what you’re like, dear teachers, and I know that if anyone can do it, you can. I cling to the belief that  love and goodness – and a lot of fact-checking – will always have the last word. Have a great year!

Fondly,

Nancy