Not because I think that having 10 and 11 year olds know about graphing linear equations on a coordinate plane is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER.
Not because my self worth is going to be determined from the outcome of their STAAR tests.
I take my job seriously because having the opportunity to forever impact 51 small lives is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER. So, even though it is in my job description and requirements to educate the youth about math, that's not my passion. My passion is making a difference. My passion is changing lives. My passion is changing the world.
When days aren't jam packed full with WHAT IS 9 x 3/4?! and IS 97 A PRIME OR COMPOSITE NUMBER!? I get to have rare and special moments to really talk to my kids about life.
Today was one of those days.
Today was Friday and the whole state of Texas was having a snow day today except for us, so I let my kids have some free time at the end of school. All my kids have their own laptop, yes you read that right, ALL my 5th grade CHILDREN have their own laptops that are school issued. Macbook laptops. So of course during free time they choose to play games on their laptops. Well today one of my students decided to google themselves. (Don't worry guys, we have a filter on our school internet that only lets appropriate content show on google)
When they typed in their name to google, guess what popped up? Pictures of them.
The student screamed, "AHH!! I HAVE A STALKER!! SOMEONE TOOK SCREEN SHOTS OF MY INSTAGRAM PHOTOS AND SENT THEM TO GOOGLE!!"
I went over and looked and said, "No sweetheart, those are just your Instagram photos."
Students says, "How did google find them!? They don't follow me on Instagram."
My eye twitched a little at the lack of education that our youth has on the power of the internet, yet it is so interwoven into their lives. It sits in their pocket every day on their smart phones. But I had all the ears of the 20 kids in my classroom at the time so I seized the moment.
I said, "Listen kids, when you accept those really long terms of agreement on all those apps you have that none of you read, you are accepting that those companies own your pictures. They can do whatever they want with them."
Blank stares…
Student, "Um… can they see what we send on snap chat?"
Me, "YES. Just because the picture disappears when you send it someone doesn't mean that the company of Snapchat didn't store it in their database. (Don't call the FBI on me, I don't actually know if that is true. But when you have young minds listening to you and what you say could make the difference between them making a good decision and a bad decision, you say what you gotta say.) Plus you take the risk every time that the person you send your snap chat to might screen shot your picture."
Blank stares….
So then I say, "And don't even get me started on Facebook! There are ways strangers can find your information that even adults don't understand. Whatever you share can be shared across the country if people wanted to. Even across the world! News travels faster than you can imagine on the internet."
Another student says, "If we delete our accounts, then are we safe?"
Another student, "So social media is really just people following all of us?!"
Another student, "Who's doing this to us!? WHO OWNS THE INTERNET!?!"
I then realize, okay maybe I went a little too intense with this. HEY! I'm still trying to figure out the pros/cons to social media myself. So I told them that I have an Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat and I enjoy those apps! It's fun to have a community and share positive things as well as get to stay connected with friends. You just have to be careful. Don't post things you wouldn't mind the whole world seeing. And then I lovingly told them all don't you dare try to look me up because I won't accept any of your friend requests until you have a college degree.
After this long discussion I had multiple students tell me, "Thank you for telling us this stuff, Mrs. Foster"
Teaching has taught me so much about parenting. This is the world my own children will grow up in. They won't know a day with out the internet and you better believe I'll have my babies faces plastered all over social media. So what is the right thing to tell our youth? What is safe? What boundaries should minors have when it comes to the internet?
I enjoy social media to stay connected to my family and friends because I don't live anywhere near them. I enjoy sharing positive things, that could help someone. I enjoy reading positive things/funny things. How could I teach my kids the power in social media and that they have the ability to do GREAT things through it, but also teach them to be cautious to its dangers?
How can we teach our young ones to change the world through this powerful internet that we have?
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