This afternoon we reviewed the standards for writing and one standard that we discussed at length was about the production and publishing of student writing through technology.
5.W.6 With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.
I thought the discussion was very good and particularly relevant for today's politics. Now, I am going to set my personal political beliefs of the content of the subject matter today aside as I'm not here to debate the merits of the content. Rather, I implore educators in America to take the actions by the United States House of Representatives today more seriously than ever when looking at what we do in our classrooms. The aforementioned standard is not just the publishing of writing (or reading spoken word through a presentation) for an audience that is closed to just the teacher and the student. As all my edtech friends know. there are applications such as this very blog that allow us all to express our opinions and gain a potentially large audience that our students could use to publish their writing (Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, Voxer, Wordpress, etc.).
It is my understanding via CNN, that House Speaker Paul Ryan left the chamber and there was no proper way for a vote to take place on two pieces of gun legislation, as well as some legislation on funding a combat plan for the Zika virus. So, to really jump ahead in the process here, as I was working on standards review, not watching C-SPAN to catch this firsthand, the House Speaker tried to get votes on legislation on topics other than gun control, the Democrats protested. The House Speaker ended session and left the floor leaving nobody to run the session. And, (this is the part where educators should listen up) to quote CNN, that's when the C-SPAN television coverage was stopped. Why do you ask? Well...
"That's because the cameras are operated and controlled by the government -- specifically, the Republican leaders of the House and the recording studio that works for them. When the act of congressional disobedience began, House Speaker Paul Ryan said the House was in recess, and the TV cameras were turned off accordingly." --CNN, by Brian Stelter +Brian StelterAt this time, many digital immigrants that currently serve in the U.S. Congress turned to their mobile devices to broadcast their actions using an app I find many teachers currently use, Periscope. The livestream by Congressman Eric Swalwell of California was the first of many social media videos and posts to come from the House chamber today. Going on something like 11 hours now, House members, joined by like-minded Senators, are protesting the taking of the traditional Fourth of July Holiday Break of Congress. Their hashtag #NoBillNoBreak is being chanted outside the U.S. Capitol itself in support (I know this because I saw pictures on Twitter) and trending on Twitter.
Regardless of where you stand on this issue, you have to look at the implications of the fact that #SocialMedia is changing the story today. And, Hearst is probably looking from above right now agonizing over what he could have done with this media! Could you imagine the age of yellow journalism with social media? I see one awesome high school English lesson there. No longer do social movements need to wait until letters are composed, pamphlets distributed, reporters woo-ed to an event, or waiting for an editor to review. Could you imagine the Twitter feed from the Montgomery Bus Boycott or from Seneca Falls? History/ ELA lesson plan collaboration all over the place here...
The Congressional members participating in this #NoBillNoBreak did not have a media plan. They did not have interns writing or rewriting press releases for distribution on the morning news. No, they turned to free social media platforms (Twitter, Periscope, Facebook) to express their opinions and start a trending topic on all the major social media platforms. That is what digital immigrants did to circumvent being shut out of the traditional media outlet on the House floor. I would definitely say that in my standards tracking document, I can check off that they have "met" the standard of publishing their grade-level writing for sure and hit a pretty high DOK in problem solving. What should this look like in the classroom? What would our digital native students think about this?
We can write our own story and publish it for the world. #SocialMedia will fundamentally change the story when used properly. So, I ask you, are we as educators teaching our students to use the most powerful tool in the distribution of the human word since Gutenberg's Printing Press in the 15th century or are we waiting for them to just figure it out themselves? I would assume that in 1995 educators had the same debate over the internet in the school, but I was still just a student then myself, so I wasn't privy to those conversations. Eventually, though, internet and 1:1 computers became commonplace in K-12 schools. Will #SocialMedia be commonplace in our schools in the next decade? I think so, but I want to hear from you.
Do you want your students to have the tools to start a #Movement? If so, what would your lesson plan look like? And, as an administrator, what can I do to support your teaching? Can we live in a world where we block everything anymore and still give our students a relevant, real world education on the English Language Arts my colleagues and I are busily reviewing this summer? What do you think?
