This is a guest post by Jan Stewart and Karen Scibinico.

With the school year just beginning, how confident are you that your teen has the organizational skills necessary to manage his/her workload and belongings successfully?
Is your teen :
• Able to find things when needed?
• Get school assignments completed ahead of time?
• Tote the necessary things to school so you don’t receive calls requesting a drop off of forgotten items?

If you answered yes, to these questions, congratulations! Your teen is positioned for success. However, most teens need a little encouragement to start practicing habits that will help them better manage life’s day- to -day tasks now and in the future.

The best way that a parent can help is to model desired behavior. If you want your child to be on time, make sure you are on time, especially for activities that involve your teen. If you want your teen to have an orderly room, make sure that you create order in the rest of the home. If you want your teen to plan schoolwork assignments to avoid a last minute crunch, make sure you do the same. How many of us are scurrying around in April to get our tax returns complete before the April 15th deadline?

Find a calm moment to talk with your teen about getting more organized. Remember to have realistic expectations. While you may be a “neatnik” or the consummate organizer and planner, your teen may not feel comfortable trying to emulate your style and may not need to become a perfectionist in order to be more productive. Help your teen develop an organizational process that matches his/her personality and style. Begin with small steps.

The beginning of the school year is a great time to start the process. Work together with your teen to sort through your teen’s belongings and make sure that needed items are in good shape. Discard outgrown, worn out or duplicate articles and clothing. Create spaces for your teen’s belongings. Make or purchase containers and put like items together. It’s a lot easier to put things away when they have a designated home. Otherwise, closets, space under beds and drawers can become a scary mix of unrelated unknowns.

Does your teen have all the recommended school supplies? One of the most valuable tools is an assignment notebook. In addition to homework, your teen can make notations about things to remember or items needed. Create a location where all school-related supplies are kept. Every night, make sure that backpacks and school work are ready to go for the morning. Have your teen check the assignment notebook to make sure he or she is ready for the next day.

Encourage your teen by noticing progress and giving a word of praise. Provide an occasional reward for a job well done. Once your teen has become more organized, confidence will grow, stress will be reduced, and productivity will increase. The time saved can be spent on other activities, including relaxing and having fun.

For more information on this topic, Julie Morgenstern and her daughter, Jessi Morgenstern-Colon, have written a great book “Organizing from the Inside Out for Teenagers: The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Room, Your Time, Your Life”.

Jan Stewart and Karen Scibinico are partners in a company called, Emerge – Opt to Succeed. They teach a seminar entitled “Increase Your Productivity, Improve Your Organizational Skills” and work with teens to help them discover ways to better manage their time. Consult their web site www.emergewithcoaching.com for more information.

Feelings matter. They matter in school, at work and at home. At some level, we all know this, but when money gets tight and/or there is pressure to meet concrete objectives, many people have a tendency to discount the importance of emotions and feelings, and just focus on getting the job done. But there is data that shows this approach is counter-productive. Let’s take a quick look again at the importance of “emotional intelligence” and Social Emotional Learning and why this should stay on your radar screen… this is as relevant and applicable within the walls of your home as it is in your teen’s school.

What is “emotional intelligence?” It is one’s ability to communicate well, to delay gratification, to tune in to another’s feelings and point of view,  to think before speaking, to consider your response before expressing it, and to solve problems. Although everyone can benefit from some instruction in this area, this kind of “intelligence” comes more naturally for some people than others.

Why is this kind of intelligence important? There is much research and data that demonstrates that emotional intelligence (“EQ”) is a better predictor than IQ for both professional and personal success. We now know that emotional intelligence is linked to:

• improved academic performance
• avoiding risk behaviors
• stronger friendships
• decrease in violent behavior
• staying in school… higher graduation rates
• less disruptive behavior; fewer discipline problems
• improving health, happiness and life success

Let’s examine the relevance of these points to both the school and home environments.

Emotional Intelligence and Social Emotional Learning at School

In a  school environment, SEL (Social  Emotional Learning) programs impact four aspects of the school climate and culture:  Empathy (feeling cared for), Accountability (sense of follow-through), Respect (considerate behavior) and Trust (belief in the people and institution.)  A positive school culture may be the most important determinant for a school’s overall success on all fronts….especially academic success.

The excellent video below describes Alaska’s approach in SEL programming and it does a great job in demonstrating why and how this positively impacts teenagers. (Trust me; it’s worth your viewing time.)  In it they report that Alaska has the highest levels of domestic violence and child abuse in the nation, per capita.  Many kids come to high school from situations at home that directly undermine their ability to focus on learning, so educators in this school have become aggressive in their approach to addressing kids’ emotional needs first, having learned that once they create an environment where the emotions are addressed, they can move on to the learning.  If you think the Alaska scenario doesn’t feel relevant to your teen’s situation, think again. Bullying and judgmental behavior occurs at most middle and high schools.  Your teens are likely to experience this too. Addressing the emotions kids feel and bringing feelings into the discussions in the classroom connects kids, deepens the learning and teaches them vital life skills.

Emotional Intelligence at Home:

How might we apply these concepts at home? Consider the four elements of a school-based SEL program and consider how you apply these in your home:

• Empathy: How is your teen feeling about your empathy for his feelings? Are you tuned in to what is going on in his life? Do you have a sense of what he is feeling? While you may feel that your teen is pushing you away, he also needs to know how much you care.  Find a new way to open up conversations, if necessary.  This may take creativity and perseverance on your part.
• Accountability: Do you hold her accountable to do her chores, come home on time, participate in your family’s day-to-day life? Allowing her to get away with selfish behavior  is doing her no favors in the long run, even though it may feel like you are giving her what she demands.  Teaching your teens emotionally intelligent behavior requires you to think long term and not take the easy way out.
• Respect: Does he feel that you treat him with respect? When was the last time you heard him out rather than imposed your point of view on him?
• Trust: Do you trust her? If you cannot trust her consider the first three bullets in this list. Then you’ll  need to exercise some emotional intelligence yourself as you communicate, tune into feelings, listen carefully and problem-solve together.

Both at home and at school, it’s essential that teens know that feelings matter. When they learn to integrate their feelings with their brains they can concentrate, think and express themselves better. As one program director put it,  “We’re talking about a whole new vision of education that says educating the heart is as important as educating the mind.”

Sounds about right to me.

Jeff Bennett is a respected leader in the internet world,  Founder and COO of NameMedia, Inc.,  and a caring Dad. After several interesting discussions about the important role of digital media in children’s education today, I asked him if he would write a guest post which he kindly provided below. Thanks, Jeff.

We live in an era of rapid technological advancement for computing power, storage capacity, application development, proliferation of wireless networking, digitizing and indexing of what appears to be all information, and so much more.  All of these developments are bringing the cost of computing down.  These developments are enabling the advancement of complex research never possible before.  These developments are altering how we consume and process information for our work, education and entertainment.  These developments are also providing the largest interconnection of the human race since civilization began.  Pretty interesting times we are living in.

There is much to contemplate on how these developments will change society.  I think that the outcome to this question will be dependent on how we as a people “deploy” and “leverage” these advancements.   You can not turn back the hands of time and not accept that all of this is going on.  We must take an activist approach to understanding what is happening and how can we utilize these advancements in our lives.  We must manage this process or it will overwhelm us.

An area that I believe stands to be a huge beneficiary of these advancements is education.  I believe in a traditional curriculum that provides focus on the mastery of reading, writing and ‘rithmatic.  I also believe that these basics must be augmented with exposure and participation in the arts, sciences and athletics to build “well rounded” people.  This has always been the case but I feel it is even more important today.  We are citizens of an interdependent country and world.  This is where I believe technology can really play an important role in education.

There are three distinct areas that I belive technology can really advance education:

1.  Research and access to information. This is the core of all education.  I remember all those long days/nights at libraries searching for information for projects.  I remember my first view into Microsoft’s Encarta that brought the encyclopedia to the desktop with all sorts of graphics, video and links.  Look at what we have today with Google, YouTube, Wikipedia and the millions of web sites that publish and share content.  Sitting down at a computer connected to the web today gives the student access to some of the deepest libraries known to man.  It can be overwhelming…but rather than be overcome by this we need to embrace the tools that will help us manage the access to all of this information.  Can we turn our children loose on this?  No we need to teach what sites to go to, impose controls on the computer and get involved in this process.  The opportunity is limitless though.

2. Use of interactive tools to broaden learning. All of this information gives the teacher an opportunity to broaden the content used in the classroom.  The advancement of technology also offers many new tools for delivering the information and allowing the students to connect/touch/interact with the information.  This comes in many forms like smart boards, multimedia lectures/lessons, video demonstrations and so much more.  This past school year was challenging in the Northeast due to weather then the flu.  In my sons school he had teachers that were using their Macs to create video lessons/demos that the students could then access via the Internet/email.  There is so much opportunity for the use of interactive tools to broaden learning.

3. Connecting to the broader community through collaboration. My generation and my elders have broadly adopted email.  The generations that follow have adopted instant messaging and text messaging widely.  Most of these tools enable one-to-one communication for the most part.  Now we have Twitter which takes the simple 140-character messaging and allows the user to broadcast to their community of friends.   There have also been collaboration tools like Lotus Notes, Intranets and now “Wikis” that allow broad collaboration and communication for communities.  This is another key area for the advancement of education – to enable connection and collaboration with teachers, fellow classmates, researchers and students around the world.  I witnessed the power of a class using Twitter this past school year – it was a glimpse of the power of this kind of communication for learning.  Some of my parent colleagues were upset at the use of this technology.  We celebrate the innovation, creativity and groundbreaking work that these teachers demonstrated.  I hope to see more and more of this in the school year ahead.

These technology advancements are happening.  The tools are available.  Children are coming online in droves through Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Text messaging.  The younger generations are more open to sharing information about themselves and open communication.  This can be good…but only if there is an awareness of “what” to share, “how” to share, and “how” to leverage the massive opportunities available.  Should we as parents embrace this or put our heads in the sand thinking that this will stop?  It can be stressful to work to get involved and then keep up.  Turning your head to avoid the stress is no solution.  I believe it is best to embrace these opportunities.  Work and interact with our children to understand what is available.  We will all learn ourselves.  I commend the teachers that are leveraging technology to advance education…and teaching children the right ways to establish their profiles and communicate.

It was 2003 when I watched Joey Lawton walk up to the podium at the Acton-Boxborough Regional High School graduation. As I remember it he was barefoot, and his shorts and Hawaiian shirt were visible when his blue gown blew in the breeze. I confess to skepticism as he approached the mic, a fact I’m not particularly proud of, but it highlights the significance of the fact that I am about to share his entire speech with you – again. I’ve shared this before; and will continue to share it with parents of teenagers, even if some of the details are beginning to look dated. Parents are always moved. And parents still talk about this speech….six years later.

The insight Joey shares about teens’ social world is profound and will give you a view inside those school walls that will enlighten you.

Thanks Joey.

A Rope of Sand by Joey Lawton

I can remember way back when in junior high, I was a freak and proud of it. I wore all black. I painted my fingernails. I didn’t skateboard, but all of my friends did. We listened to KoRn and Limp Biskit and could hide small armies in our pant legs they were so wide. We were self-designed outsiders and proud of it. If you wore Abercrombie and Fitch or played sports or cared about school, we didn’t even want to look at you.

This self-imposed segregation wasn’t confined to my circle of friends, of course. Everyone did it. Athletes with athletes. Straight-A minded students only with other straight-A minded students. The cliques went on and on. Just a look into the cafeteria on any given day would show you just how strong the social walls were. However, a scandal arose one day.

It was nothing to begin with, I think I loaned him a calculator in math once, but I, Joey Lawton, Marilyn Manson worshipping hooligan, became friendly with one of those things, one of those sports-loving preppy kids, one of those – those – those jocks named Barry xxxxx. I tried to hide it, but it could only stay hidden for so long. Then it happened. We said “Hey” to one another in the hallways one day. We both quickly looked away, but I knew that my friends had seen it. “Joey, who was that?” one asked, peeking out from beneath her trench coat. “Oh, um, just a friend from math class,” I said. “You’re friends with a jock?” Oh no, I thought, Here it comes. “Joey’s friends with a jock!” they all jeered. It was humiliating. I tried making excuses, but the damage had been done. They all knew.

Over the next few days, the episode was forgotten, and my friends and I moved on. We didn’t speak of the incident though. But during the next few months, things began to happen. For instance I learned that my friend Dave xxxx, a skateboarder by day, at night attended Boy Scout meetings. And all through the school, the once rigidly constructed social borders began breaking down. My casual friendship with someone outside of my own circle was by no means the breaking point for all of this inter-clique mingling to occur, but to me it meant something.

The social boundaries that I used to treasure so dearly as my shortcut to thinking were beginning to disappear. I was learning that I could no longer look at someone and assume that I knew who he or she was.

Fast forward a few years to high school. The embarrassments that were those two years of Junior High have long since passed, and we’ve all somehow found the strength to move on with our lives. We all still pass a shudder, though, thinking back to Mrs. McClure’s gym class or to those long hours spent in Mr. Hughes’ office for stealing ice cream in the cafeteria. And those walls that I spoke of, too, are remembered with no small wince of embarrassment. Because you remember Dave that I mentioned earlier, the skateboarding boy scout? Well, just a few short months ago he went on a road trip with not one, but several members of the football team. It wasn’t an isolated occurrence either. Perhaps you know of the legendary Daniel Lxxx? The boy who carries around no fewer than two calculators in his fanny pack along with an entire desk set’s worth of pens, pencils, and highlighters? It turns out he’s got a creative side.

In fact, he was in my creative writing class last year with Mr. Young. And you know what? He’s really good.

The list goes on and on. There is no order anymore: skateboarders listening to rap, AcaDec kids hanging out with the Academic Support Center kids, Danielle xxxx going out of her way to give me a ride home from work once last summer. I’ve traded in my Marilyn Manson and KoRn for The Grateful Dean and Belle and Sebastian. The pant legs have narrowed and the social borders have widened until they’re almost a non-presence.

I remember being 12 or 13 and getting angry seeing high school seniors spray painting their graduation year all over town. I just couldn’t figure it out. How could they care so much? Are they so proud to be a member of their class that they’re willing to follow through with this seemingly hollow act just to show it off? Why does it matter so much? At the time I couldn’t imagine caring about a classmate outside of my own little clique. It was preposterous.

But now that we’re done, now that I know I’ll never get to fill out crossword puzzles with Sparsh in Murphy’s English class anymore, or trade gossip at the bakery with Laura xxx, or get a high five from Mike xxxx in the hallways, or apologize to Anne xxx for missing the Spectrum deadline again, or just hang out with Spencer Sxxxx listening to The Clash in his basement freezing ourselves half to death, I can understand the desire to go out and illegally deface the town with the numbers 03.

It’s pride. Pride to be a member of this class. A class that, for all of its shortcomings, is a group of simply wonderful people: Steve xxx and his Machiavelli reading list, Jake xxxx and his eerily positive attitude towards almost everything, Meghan xxxx and her, well, dramatic style of sneezing, Max xxxx and his complete and utter shamelessness. I feel that we’ve grown so tight as a class, as much as I want to get as far away from this town as possible, there are going to be 350 people that I’m going to miss tremendously.

It’s been a while since I’ve said much to Barry xxxx, but I want to tell him and everyone else in the Acton-Boxborough Regional High School graduating class of 2003 that we’ve had a great run, and I’ll miss them and our time together always.

Thank you.

In our ongoing examination of teenagers’ use of new media, we’ve had several articles* looking at the relevancy of these tools in the classroom. Parents may wonder about teachers who employ the use of Facebook or Twitter, encouraging their students to do the same. I have heard about highly charged discussions that have ensued at schools as parents and educators try to sort through the issues involved here. For most educators and parents there is a learning curve… we are all experimenting with new technologies, trying to see their applications, their benefits and their value. For some people the benefits are more obvious than others; and if it makes you feel any better, many of us are trying hard not to feel overwhelmed as the speed of technology advances turn our recently-gained skills obsolescent.

But progress we must. The world isn’t going to wait for us; neither are our teenagers.

*This Train Has Left the Station; For Your Teen’s Sake Get On Board
Schools and Facebook; Moving Too Fast or Not Fast Enough?

Educators who respond to teens’ natural areas of interest and enthusiasm are doing your kids a favor. If a teacher can more deeply engage your teen while helping her acquire contemporary skills that will enable her to function more fully in the world…well what can be wrong with that?!

Teacher, Revised, is a blog written by teachers for teachers. In it, one teacher confesses that a year ago he was dead-set against blogging. But now, he not only has his own (very dynamic!) blog, he is encouraging his students to blog. He recommends the blog as an instructional tool. Why does he view it as such? He says:

…students like it. Simple as that. They like it. As much as I may try to come up with fun/creative/relevant activities, it’s a rare assignment that transcends the damning ‘schoolwork’ label. Miraculously, blogs approach those rarefied heights.

Is this succumbing to popular pressure? Is it going with the flow? Or is it keeping education relevant? Perhaps a blend of all three.

Our teacher continues:

Which brings me to my most compelling argument for blogging as an instructional tool. Once students get their first taste of the ‘power’ of publishing, this magical thing starts to happen. They blog on their own. By contrast, after five years of requiring my English students to keep journals, I can count the number of unassigned entries I’ve received on one hand. With blogs, it’s the norm—even with my most struggling writers.

I don’t think most parents want to hold your kids back from receiving relevant education. So again, I encourage you to be informed, expand your skills on the web and with new media to make sure you are able to provide some guidance for your teen. It is entirely likely that s/he will be engaged in online activities that are new and contemporary and require YOU to stretch and learn.

Note from Sue Blaney: This guest post is contributed by Matt Levinson, head of an independent middle school in California. His thought provoking and example-filled essay may help parents consider the benefits to an educational approach that embraces current tools such as Facebook.

Last year, when I purchased my iPhone, I braced myself for the 4-hour online tutorial to learn how to navigate the device. However, just as I was sitting down to begin the tutorial, my 8 year-old son told me not to waste my time. He could teach me in 20 minutes, he stated boldly. All he needed was a little time to “play” with the phone. Sure enough, he proved to be a better and more entertaining teacher than the online tutorial and I fast learned the basics of iPhone use. He continues to be my iPhone navigator, updating the phone, looking for “cool” apps to add and explaining the phone to me in clear, easy to understand language. Technology has flipped our roles. It used to be that parents and teachers taught children. Now, the reverse is true and the quicker we can grasp this concept, the better equipped we will all be to live in the 21st century. President Obama knows this. He has retooled government’s approach to communication. Each week, he uploads his weekly address to YouTube, the White House web site invites viewer interaction and he even found a way to hold onto his BlackBerry. And, the President has enlisted a chief technology officer to rewire the government’s whole technology apparatus.

Schools need to do the same. Students are fast growing disenchanted with the snail’s pace of change going on in classrooms regarding teaching with technology. Thankfully, some teachers have grabbed the mantle and are taking steps to meet students where they are in the online world. One talented teacher cooked up an entire 20th century China project on Facebook. Students adopted the personalities of Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong and Chang Kai-shek and created and updated Facebook pages and profiles, replete with photos and wall postings. In the words of the teacher: “This project changed the classroom. Students were so motivated and put far more hours into their research than they would have done with a traditional project.” The best part about this project was the organic way it developed in the hands of a teacher who listens to her students. As the class brainstormed the beginning stages of the unit, one of the students simply suggested that the class create Facebook pages for the three leaders and be required to chat, post and debate online. Instead of balking at this potentially outlandish idea, this teacher jumped at the opportunity. This is exactly the kind of collaborative learning that the 21st century demands, but it does mean surrendering a bit of curricular control to the students. For many teachers, letting students “run” the show poses a challenge to the traditional “sage on the stage” model, even in the most progressive of teaching environments. The time has come to turn the reins over to the students.

What if there was a school where every teacher was required to run their courses on Facebook? Many schools have pushed teachers to have their own websites, with syllabi, unit samples and topical web links. But the missing piece with this type of design is the lack of interaction for the user. Facebook forces interaction and active learning. It has speed and multi-tasking wrapped into one page. One teacher with whom I have spoken says just this: “Students multi-task and we need to create classrooms that multi-task.” This particular teacher has given her classroom a facelift and she teaches the class essentially online. YouTube, Google images, and iTunes songs plaster her Power Point lectures and she daily posts to a class blog and includes interactive features in her homework assignments. Students love her class and they rarely get sidetracked, as they take notes on their laptops and input data during hands-on labs. This teacher’s premise is to make the classroom mirror the online lives of the students so that students will not be distracted from educational goals. She has never had a technology related discipline issue in her class. Imagine this teacher with a school sanctioned Facebook page. Her already innovative approach would increase exponentially.

Urs Gasser and John Palfrey, co-authors of Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives, ask the critical question for schools regarding multitasking:

“Should we expend all our effort in trying to prevent digital natives from multitasking? The answer is no [...] What we suggest, therefore, is engaging in a structured conversation with digital natives about multitasking as one strategy that can help them cope with the sea of information. An understanding of the way multitasking challenges learning can even help students practice intentional learning and thus improve the performance of their working memory.” (“Mastering Multitasking,” by Urs Gasser and John Palfrey in Educational Leadership, March 2009, Vol. 66 No. 6, p. 18)

The virtue of the online classroom is that it does not require classroom walls. Learning goes on 24/7 and with the right design students will want to spend their time outside of school collaborating and adding content to class Facebook pages, for example. The teacher who created the 20th century China assignment shared that her students added to their class created Facebook pages at every hour of the day and night. Motivation skyrocketed and learning grew more authentic with real time audience. click to continue article

Parents are too skeptical. In fact, you are 2 to 3 times more skeptical than teachers when it comes to seeing the value of the internet to your child’s education. Here’s new data that reflects the different perspectives teachers and parents have about what the internet teaches children.

The internet teaches children…

• How to communicate with others [teachers 69%; parents 33%]

• How to work with others [teachers 61%; parents 23%]

• Responsibility to my community [teachers 49%; parents 23%]

• How to be a good friend [teachers 45%; parents 13%

We all can become overwhelmed by the pace of change; certainly many of us feel like we are continually playing catch-up when it comes to using, or sometimes even seeing the value of new technology. I hear parents complain about the amount of time your kids are texting or on the computer, and at times there can be a tendency to see technology as the enemy. But there are more productive – and more realistic - ways of looking at this topic. And when we see data like that shared above, it’s easy to see parents are missing something here. The fact is, this train has left the station. It’s time for parents to get on board.

Shift Happens is a popular video presentation that shares the kinds of stats that will inform this discussion. Note:

On employment:
• The top 10 jobs that will be in demand in 2010 didn’t exist in 2004
• The US Dept of Labor estimates that today’s learner will have 10 – 14 jobs by age 38

On education:
• We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t exist yet, using technologies that haven’t yet been invented in order to solve problems we don’t even know yet are problems.

On information:
• It is estimated that a week’s worth of the New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century.
• It is estimated that 1.5 exabytes (1.5 x 1018 ) of unique new information will be generated worldwide this year. That is estimated to be more than in the previous 5000 years.

On internet use:
• 1 out of every 8 couples married in the US last year met online
• In 2006 there were 106 million register users of My Space. If Myspace were a country it would be the 11th largest in the world.

You don't really want your teen to be behind the times in his/her use of technology, do you?

Our Participatory Culture
Last Saturday I attended the Project New Media Literacies conference at MIT. 150 very smart educators, national thought leaders and experts gathered to share learning around how best to educate kids around the new media skills required to engage them today and prepare them for tomorrow. Parents will be fascinated at how some educators are adopting new technologies and approaches into their curricula. There is a lot happening to change the face of education today. They shared a lot of valuable points at the conference, pointing out that the lines have blurred between formal and informal learning. A buzz-word I heard a lot on Saturday is “participatory culture.”

“Viable, self-directed, informal learning takes place when kids blog and game, create videos, and engage in social networking. Children are learning problem solving, collaboration, creativity and other critical life and learning skills. They are growing up immersed in this participatory culture, where each individual can be an expert, a creator of new knowledge, or a mentor to others….In our 24/7 digital world, learning doesn’t stop when kids leave school or finish their homework, nor is there a neat divide between formal and informal learning.” [This quote is from a full article named "Explorations"]

Today’s networked world requires skills such as teamwork, leadership, problem solving, collaboration, communication and creativity. This paradigm shift requires new methods, environments and assessment models in the classroom. In Threshold, a publication from Cable in the Classroom, Erin Reilly who headed the conference along with Henry Jenkins writes

“Formal schools have been slow to react to the emergence of the participatory culture, however, due to an exaggerated interpretation of the perils of social media and to a lack of understanding of the promises and affordances of a networked society. In their stead, after-school programs and informal learning communities are stepping in with programs and activities that demonstrate the learning potentials of participatory culture accelerated through social media.” [Full article is "What is Learning in a Participatory Culture?"]

Change is afoot. There is little you can do to hold it back. What you can do is help prepare and support your kids by spending time becoming more media literate yourself so that you can provide the guidance your kids need in this new world. You bet the rules are changing, so let’s make sure you are being smart with your skepticism, not allowing it to handicap your kids in the new digital landscape. The kids who will be most able to cope and thrive in the world that awaits them are those who acquire the skills that are required in the new world.

NOTE: I am asking educators to share interesting examples of how middle and high school students are using new media in innovative and exciting ways. I would like to showcase some of these examples here at www.PleaseStoptheRollercoaster.com to educate and inform parents. It is my thought that the more parents see the application of new media by students, the more they will embrace and support this kind of learning. Please contact me if you have something of interest to share.

Here’s a sweet movie that just came my way over the internet. I wish I had this for the workshop I ran this morning for some parents in the workplace.

Parents come armed with good questions:
“How can I infuse my son with ambition?”
“My son is way behind his older, more accomplished and talented sister. How can I give him confidence? He lets his fears get in the way.”
“Please tell me how I can get my kid to be a leader; she’s such a follower now!”

These are great questions from caring parents. And there are strategies you can employ to help your teenager strengthen her weaknesses. But consider the message in this movie; perhaps what you view as your teen’s weaknesses are actually the seeds for what will be her strengths.

Click here and when you arrive at the Raising Small Souls website, click on the purple button and you can view this lovely and thought-provoking video.

Happy Thanksgiving.