In light of recent event, in this weeks blog I want to talk about school violence and how it relates to technology. Currently technology is being used in a negative way that fuels violence, from social networks, messaging apps, smartphones etc. Student are using these ways of communicating to cause harm to other individuals.

I’m curious to see how school violence today compares to violence from our grandparents generation. We have old movies like Forrest Gump to make assumptions from. Can we also assume that the movies created in the 80’s and 90’s portray life as ‘accurately’ as the movies today? I don't think media depiction of social behavior in school is the best way of comparing the norms prior to social networks, and the social norms of today.

Do other countries have the same issues as we do when it comes to bullying and school violence? Can we make any connections between terrorism and our society? A society that is obsessed with social media, social networking and and gadget that connects individuals to the global world? We learn all of our behavior from the internet. We learn what to wear, what to say and what is cool from the internet. Anyone who challenges or fails to conform is cast out.

Regardless of how we compare, we are failing. This post is not about gun laws, its about behavior. Violent behavior is learned, and the triggers for this behavior are coming from social media. So what can we as educators of the next generation do to break this spiral? Technology has created this problem, but the solution must also come from technology, because I don’t see our society moving backwards.

Can We auto-correct Humanity?

^Ironically this video came to me in my Facebook feed.

Parents can either be a great asset for students or they can be the biggest distraction. In the ideal world parents would want to be involved in their childrens education and support the teachers in helping them reach their full potential. Unfortunately, we have all encountered situations where parents are less than supportive, and/or home issues distract our students.

Difficult parents can be good or bad. The best case, parents are really championing for their student and sometimes the school does have it wrong, and parents are truly advocating for what they believe is in the best interest of the child. The worst case parents are absent from the childs life. They may be physically present but fail to nurture the student, and genuinely not care about what's in the best of their child. But this is a whole different discussion.

Getting back to the main question, of keeping parents involved. I think forming relationships and keeping an open communication is key. Parent teacher conferences are great, but take a lot of time. I think technology can really help. I think emails are the easiest and most convenient way of communicating. Having an online portfolio would be great. Ask that parents check this regularly.  Something similar to blackboard that has the assignments, rubrics and syllabi for parents to know exactly the targets of instruction. Then posting the completed assignments would allow the parents to see their child's progress, and if they are meeting the unit goals. Transparency is key, because when a student brings home a less than average grade, parents could feel blindsided and then turn angry on the teacher. By having everything online and easily accessible the responsibility is on the parent.