John Adsit on Alan November at NSBA

In his closing address to the National School Board Association's Technology + Instruction Conference in Denver last Saturday, Alan November made some interesting comments about filtering.  He said (tongue firmly in cheek) that if you want to use a filter, you need to use a very effective one, and the only really effective one is one that filters everything out.  The alternative to stopping children from using the Internet through your 100% filtering system is to use an alternative strategy: teach them how to use it--all of it.

His address then went from the general philosophical level to the very specific; he gave us all a lesson on what we can be teaching children so they can act as their own filters. As much as I have advocated the same position and tried to do the same thing, he was still able, in an address to a varied audience, to give me some tips I didn't know.

In a presentation of my own a few weeks ago, I referred to much of what we are supposed to filter out of the web as the web's "Fortunate Fault."  It is a fault because it presents children with easy access to material we wish did not exist.  It is fortunate because that easy access pushes us to teach them thinking lessons that we should have been teaching all along.  It presents us with the urgent need to teach critical thinking skills that they need to become their own filters.

Now, I know many people in this audience have created "how to use the web responsibly" lessons, and I have seen and recommended more than a few. Since we already have that base, perhaps what we can do is what Alan November did in his speech Saturday.  When we respond to cries for filtering by saying that we should instead teach children how to react
responsibly to the reality of the web, let's have good examples immediately on hand. Let's show how not filtering can be a much more positive experience for education than filtering.

Could someone with more time than I amass a collection of effective web-judging lesson plans keyed to appropriate developmental levels so that someone could go right to it and download an effective lesson immediately?  Has it been done already?

For some of what Alan did in his speech, go to the ideas section of his web site or go directly to Teaching Zack to Think.

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John Adsit
Instructional Services
Jefferson County Schools
Golden, Colorado
jadsit@jeffco.k12.co.us

Answer John's Challenge

Well, I hardly have more time than John, but since I do work related to his challenge, I'll make the time to compile and post the information to the WiredKids web site, but I need your help.  If you are willing to help out, drop me a line at awolinsky@oii.org .  I'll create a  mailing list to a plan format that folks can use to submit resources they find.  I know your time is as short and as valuable as mine, so I promise I won't flood you with messages.  Let's quickly create the format and spread the word to get folks to submit sites.

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