Jesse Miller was here!

Today students and staff at South Slope/BCSD listened to some very thought provoking presentations by social media expert, Jesse Miller. He spoke to our intermediate students about how they communicate and how they share their stories. Many of our students are using social media like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and more, despite the fact you must state that you are at least 13 years of age in order to get an account.

Here are some things Jesse Miller asked us to think about:

“Social media is the deep end of the internet pool, and young kids are still learning how to swim.

Would you pay $1 a day to use social media like Instagram or Snapchat?

When you lie about your age to get an account, you are compromising your character.

Would you feel comfortable if your parents, your teachers, your principal or the police saw what you are posting?

Make sure your story online is something you’re proud of.

The digital world allows us to learn without boundaries, but we need to be thoughtful and safe. Ask for help if you need it.

Privacy setting don’t work that well. How can we make things safer?

Are you connecting to have the world at your fingertips? or

Are you connecting to have the world look at you?

Connect with those you care for and learn from respected professionals.”

In the afternoon, I spoke to one class about what they learned from the presentation and what they might do differently.  Students shared a variety of ideas including shutting down their account, changing their privacy settings or being more thoughtful about what they post.  Others wondered if anyone had been “creeping” their account and noticed that social media can be both good and bad.

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If you would like to learn more about Jesse Miller, please visit his web site: www.mediatedreality.com

 

A busy week in the library!

It has been a busy week in the library!  Here are some of the things we’ve been up to.

Divisions 5,6,7,8 and 17 are well into their Canadian Picture Book of the Year project.  We are reading all five of the books nominated for the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book award and then voting for our favourite. So far we have read How To by Julie Morstad, Fox and Squirrel Make a Friend by Ruth Ohi, and this week we read My Name is Blessing by Eric Walters and illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes.

howto fox and squir

 

 

 

My Name is Blessing is a powerful story about a boy author, Eric Walters, met while visiting Kenya.  The students were moved by this true story of an orphan with a disability, and shared that, while some parts of the story were very sad, they thought it was beautiful.

My name is

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kindergarten students have also been reading a Canadian author, Genevieve Cote.  The students have really enjoyed the characters of Pig and Bunny in one of her series.

me and you without you starring me and you

 

 

 

We have written letters to Genevieve Cote and will wait patiently and hopefully for a reply.

Finally, Divisions 5 and 6 are coming to the computer lab to learn some digital literacy skills.  They have learned how to log on, add tools to their desktop, bookmark a website and navigate some online story web sites.  They were hard at work this week listening to stories online on Tumblebooks and had fun at the same time!

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IRA Conference 2014

Hello everyone!  I am in New Orleans at the International Reading Conference.  Today I’m learning a lot about meaningfully integrating technology into teaching and learning.  There has also been a lot of information on inquiry as well.

A couple of quotes from the day:

“Collaboration leads to friendly controversy” Amber White

“What brings meaning to reading? How can technology enrich that meaning both online and off?” Larissa Pahamov

Fun new tech tools I want to try:

Vocaroo

Kaizena (Google drive add on)

Screencast-o-matic

Got caught in a rainstorm on the way back from dinner. Very funny!

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