By William Kist, Professor Emeritus at Kent State University
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Today’s technology can be scary. From inappropriate content to cyberbullying to exposure to online predators, 21st century technology has introduced 21st century risks to our classrooms and homes.
Parents and educators clearly need to be vigilant. Having been an educator for over 30 years and now a parent of young children, I definitely know the pitfalls. But I also believe smartphones and other devices can provide unique opportunities to improve rapport between students and staff as well as to teach healthy ways to use 21st century technology. The challenge is using these tools for the benefits they offer students while also mitigating the risks of a connected, digital world.
Pedagogy in a 21st century classroom
“More than ever before, we have the opportunity to set up our kids with a process for documenting—and creating—their paths as lifelong learners.” Dr. William Kist, Professor Emeritus, Kent State University
Building relationships is an intrinsic part of being an educator. The rapport school personnel establish with students sets the tone for each class and the success of the school year. This rapport can also create opportunities for students to feel connected to school personnel—critical to building the trust needed for improving threat reporting and student outreach for mental health and other wellbeing struggles.
Over the past few years, I’ve developed an approach centered around the idea of digital curation to harness the potential of new media and make these new tools work for good. Not only does the strategy help teach students healthy, creative ways to use technology, but it can also provide new outlets for students to connect with others in a meaningful way.
Let’s look at how we can help students navigate 21st century technology—and the strategies school personnel can use to protect and support students while they learn.
What is curation?
Like a museum curator, we take part in the act of curation when we meticulously sort and organize our collections—or even when we are just “putting some stuff online.”
By intentionally taking advantage of the curation abilities of smartphones, the resulting student-curated digital collections could become the hub for classroom and family conversations as well as for generating ideas for future adventures.
More than that, this process can provide a creative way for students to share insights that they may not feel comfortable sharing in conversation. The work students do via curation might help us to identify sooner when a student is facing a crisis—and intervene sooner.
“I well remember my student who made some veiled suicidal references in class. I asked to speak with her after class and I ultimately referred her to our guidance counselor. That student wrote me a note years later, thanking me for saving her life. Be sensitive to some of the phrases and imagery that kids use that are troubling. They’re cues to when a student needs help.” Dr. William Kist, Professor Emeritus, Kent State University
How does curation fit into 21st century schools?
In addition to teaching students to become adept at finding and collecting texts or images no matter the surroundings or circumstances, this process can encourage a sense of conscientiousness when it comes to social media. This awareness can have a positive impact not only on what students share about their lives online, but also how they navigate relationships online—including with regards to over sharing or cyberbullying.
Note: These steps are not prescriptive and do not need to be followed in a strict linear fashion. One of the benefits of the curation process is its recursiveness!
- Collecting. Help students become expert collectors by first teaching them to be purposeful in their collecting. One of the most important things an educator or parent can encourage is the act of noticing. Have conversations with kids about what is worth collecting and how we make those decisions.
- Organizing. Once we establish that life experiences are worth noticing and collecting, how do we help young people organize their collections? Some like to organize their photos and texts chronologically, setting up folders by week or month. Others like to organize their collections thematically. Don’t spend a lot of time overthinking this step. The important thing is that you process your collection in some fashion on a regular basis.
- Repurposing. At some point, there should be some kind of exhibition of what has been collected. This could be as simple as just having each young person talk about what he or she has collected and what this collection means. One of my favorite repurposing activities is to have kids create a Multimodal Memoir. This assignment shows that the teacher or parent acknowledges that students’ interests are important and should be seen as the precursors to genuine, authentic inquiry.
These exhibits provide a crucial opportunity for students to share more of themselves with their peers as well as the adults that support them. Including school personnel outside of the classroom—such as the SRO, lunch staff, and counselors—opens opportunities for your students to engage with other trusted adults.
- Reflecting. The final step in the curation process is to stop and reflect. Help students think about how they’ve grown during their curation and where they want to go next with their learning and creating.
Embracing the 21st century—safely
Each member of a school’s staff plays an important role in creating the school culture, and the technology we have today provides both academic and relationship-building opportunities. In a safety-aware classroom, harnessing student passions can help kids begin a path of lifelong interdisciplinary learning as well as find healthy ways to communicate and forge new connections.
Need a better way for your school personnel—including non-instructional staff—to communicate concerns about student welfare?
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Dr. William Kist
William Kist is Professor Emeritus at Kent State University as well as a former high school English teacher and curriculum supervisor. He has written five books, including the recently published Curating a Literacy Life, and co-edited Bringing Critical Media Literacy into ELA Classrooms, which has just won The 2024 Divergent Publication Award for Excellence from The Initiative for Literacy in a Digital Age. As an instructional coach and consultant, Bill has worked for schools and districts across the United States and Canada. He can be followed on YouTube (williamkistmedia) and Twitter (williamkist).
Related Resources
Guide to K-12 Student Wellbeing
Strategies to Recognize, Document, and Support Students in Distress
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