MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE: Oh, the ills of social media. An unsuspecting school board member probably didn't expect this thoughtful response from the Dangerously Irrelevant Scott McLeod after she posted her dissenting opinion on her school district's 1:1 initiative via Facebook. The post itself is almost satirical, using a digital tool to point the finger at other digital tools when students can't "spell worlds [sic] with out spell check, make a sentence with out using grammar check an do math with [sic] a calculator." But digital illiteracy aside, it also speaks to the persistent divide between classroom practitioners and their high-level administrators-- a divide that often appears between educators and entrepreneurs. McLeod's response is respectful and well-written, but we took special notice of a comment left by Ben Rimes aka The Tech Savvy Educator:
"Don’t get me wrong, I’m a HUGE supporter of more technology in classrooms, and I’m not advocating that we kow-tow to any detractor’s messages. Just pondering how effective responses like this are to those on school boards and in our communities that come with anti-technology agendas or messages? Are we reaching out to them, or trying to shut down their arguments?"
It's a nice reminder to all teachers (and their lovable 'snark') that language is just as important as the message itself in order to build understanding among those who don't have insight to what's happening on the ground.
