Where would you be now if ...

... social media existed when you were in high school? I, for one, may well be sleeping on a Salvation Army cot.

A sobering incident involving a racist social media posting at our high school this weekend had me asking that question again. While I believe this particular student's act is a good example of Hanlon's razor (never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity) in action, it none-the-less, I'm sure, caused distress among many of students and their families. 

Those of us who grew up in the pre-Internet era, certainly had plenty of ways to do injury to ourselves and to others. Beer, gossip, sex, guns, knives, jumping off high places, and reckless driving all existed, my children, even in those medieval times of the 1960s and 1970s in rural Iowa. Our adolescent brains were no more adept at making good judgements that those young cortexes of today.

What we did not have was a means of making our idiocies immediately known to the rest of the world. With any luck, we kept our foolhardy stunts to ourselves and our hurtful comments were not recorded for later review.

Thank heavens. Our footprints were left in mud and snow and air, not digits.

If anything good can come of an incident like the one linked above, it is that it may prove to be a "teachable moment" for our students and our community: this "digital footprint thing" that teachers and librarians and parents harp on isn't just an abstraction, but reality. And once we know that our online activities can have negative consequences that will stay with us forever, perhaps we can then turn our focus on how to build online reputations that are positive and helpful to our careers and community.

BFTP: The library's first contact with parents

This question was recently posted to LM_Net:

Do any of you send a letter home with students at the beginning of the year that explains library rules, routines, info, etc..?  If so, could you please share so I could generate some ideas. Thanks in advance.

Ah, the first thing our parents hear from us are our RULES! 

Why not hit them with our SERVICES in that first communication instead?

Rather than...

Dear Parents,

Please be aware of the library's rules:

• Your child is allowed to check out two books each week.
• Books must be checked out and returned on the specified library days.
• If a book is not returned, no additional books can be checked out.
• Fines will accrue for late books.
• Lost books must be paid for by parents before report cards are issued.

Your librarian

send

Dear Parents,

The library program has some exciting opportunities in store for your child this year:

• Our curriculum will be promoting the very best of children's literature to your child with activities designed to help student's enjoy the stories even more.
• We be doing our very best to get (or keep) your children "hooked on reading" by recommending specific reading materials to each individual.
• At each grade level, students will be learning research and computer skills specifically suited to their developmental needs. 
• The new iPads in the library will be available for reading e-books this year!
• We have a lot of special events being planned, including author visits, a book fair, and reading contests.
• If you would like to volunteer to help in the library, please let me know. We'd love to have you.

Your librarian

Parents can and should be our greatest advocates, but this will only happen if we communicate the positive. Sure, it's OK to communicate library "rules." But what priority should this communication be given? Think about it.

See also

• Signs of a welcoming library
• Top ten things baby teachers should know about school libraries
• Starting off on the right foot 

Original post August 10, 2102

Whip me, beat me, make me change my password

 

It's a little embarrassing, but it's taken three years to change our system to allow our students to change their own passwords. Until this fall, students used their student ID numbers as their passwords - number strings that were all too discoverable by fellow students and others.

We will be undertaking a proactive educational program for all kids this fall teaching them both the how and why of good password security. We will reach, I believe, the vast majority of kids with this training, investing in them not just a skill, but an understanding of why that skill is important. At least until biometric access becomes the norm.

The question I have been struggling with is if we should also enforce a mandatory password change.  Many security gurus in the business world recommend forced, regular password changes by all employees/application users with long strings of required password "strengths" including not being able to reuse a password. I use a number of applications that require this. Joy, joy.

My biggest concern of the forced password change is that dilutes the personal responsibility we are trying to invest in our kids. "Real world ready" graduates, I believe, would see all forms of digital safety and responsibility as something that cannot be left to others to manage. It is your job to lock the door of your house, not that of a security officer or neighborhood watch.

Is my idealism putting student privacy at risk? What is your district's policy? 

See also: Strong passwords, weak security