"Most middle and high school girls need their parents to limit social media use," writes Rachel Simmons, author of the new, revised Odd Girl Out. "They are not able to do it on their own. Many girls are addicted to social media because, simply put, they are addicted to their relationships." I'm not sure I agree with her second sentence, stated so categorically (because we know from social media … [Read more...] about Rachel Simmons’s house rules for social tech
Archives for September 2011
A student’s view of informal learning’s value
"My passion lies where I can be creative and have fun and be around people that can support me," says Dallas high school student Blake Copeland in a video interview at eSchoolNews.com. And Blake has definitely found people's support – or the supporters found him. In his spare time, he learned the programming language for iPhones, Objective-C, and developed an iPhone app called DateFinder that … [Read more...] about A student’s view of informal learning’s value
Practical steps on the way to a school culture of respect
We hear a lot about the need to change school culture in order to defeat bullying and cyberbullying. But how? PBIS does not cut it for middle school teacher Daniel Witz. In a commentary in the Washington Post, Witz critiques the well-known Oregon-based anti-bullying program PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports) as practiced at his school, then offers an alternative: "10 steps to … [Read more...] about Practical steps on the way to a school culture of respect
Help for parents of kids dealing with bullying
"When a child mentions schoolyard dialog that sounds almost surreal, or reveals an eyebrow raising text message and asks, 'ok, so what would you say to THIS?' I want to be able to apply calm, social emotional learning rather than have analysis paralysis with stunned, kneejerk reactions to blunt, crude one-liners, thinking 'wth? did they really just say that? Yougawdabekiddinme' More often than not … [Read more...] about Help for parents of kids dealing with bullying
Key phishing-avoidance trick
Share this easy phishing-avoidance tactic with Facebook users in your family. ZDNET writer Ed Bott provides screenshots of four Facebook email notifications he has received, two of them definitely not from Facebook. He illustrates how hard it is to tell fake Facebook emails from real ones, but here's a great trick that will help you and your kids: Instead of just clicking, hover your cursor or … [Read more...] about Key phishing-avoidance trick