One thing this week’s topic has had me reflecting upon is empowering my students to make their own wise choices regarding their selection of “fun” technology. I’ve used and been thankful for Common Sense Media and Common Sense Education for a few years. It has been a resource I’ve shared with several parents and fellow teachers. Usually the reaction people have to it is amazement that they have never heard of it before hand and then more positive feedback as they actually start to use the information. I’ll admit, I haven’t always agreed with all the review ratings or articles, but I think this website does an excellent job of starting a conversation and having people consider things not previously considered.
I enjoyed spending time recently to re-familiarize myself with the Common Sense Media website. I realized that even though I use the website, I hadn’t spent time just surfing around the website to see what changes have been made. I typically go to the website for what I need and then keep moving on to the work that brought me to the website in the first place.
The challenge provided to me was how can I use this resource to better myself or others within my current role as an educator? I pondered this and after more time than I want to admit, I realized I’ve never shared this website with my students. I’ve never directly told students the website name and let them spend some time reviewing the website. As a high school teacher, many of my students are at an age where they are gaining independence and starting to make their own choices about what media to expose themselves to reading/watching.
Why not give this resource to my students and let them use it to make more educated decisions? Plus, I can challenge my students to read through some reviews of things they have read or seen to see if they agree with the reviews. Not only does this engage critical thinking skills, it also might make some aware of how others may perceive a media. I’m betting several of my students have no clue that some of the video games they play are not smiled upon by the entire adult community. This all being said, I think it would be fun to challenge my students to write reviews on things they have watched/read. Their perspective would be most welcome in a community that is probably mostly coming from the parental perspective. This would be an environment where a kid’s (or young adult’s) perspective would be most welcome.
Moving forward, I’m going to introduce this website to my students and see their reaction. I’m curious to see what they will say.
I enjoyed spending time recently to re-familiarize myself with the Common Sense Media website. I realized that even though I use the website, I hadn’t spent time just surfing around the website to see what changes have been made. I typically go to the website for what I need and then keep moving on to the work that brought me to the website in the first place.
The challenge provided to me was how can I use this resource to better myself or others within my current role as an educator? I pondered this and after more time than I want to admit, I realized I’ve never shared this website with my students. I’ve never directly told students the website name and let them spend some time reviewing the website. As a high school teacher, many of my students are at an age where they are gaining independence and starting to make their own choices about what media to expose themselves to reading/watching.
Why not give this resource to my students and let them use it to make more educated decisions? Plus, I can challenge my students to read through some reviews of things they have read or seen to see if they agree with the reviews. Not only does this engage critical thinking skills, it also might make some aware of how others may perceive a media. I’m betting several of my students have no clue that some of the video games they play are not smiled upon by the entire adult community. This all being said, I think it would be fun to challenge my students to write reviews on things they have watched/read. Their perspective would be most welcome in a community that is probably mostly coming from the parental perspective. This would be an environment where a kid’s (or young adult’s) perspective would be most welcome.
Moving forward, I’m going to introduce this website to my students and see their reaction. I’m curious to see what they will say.