Educators tend to listen to other educators. It is not that we are not open to listening to people outside of the education realm, but being a part of a school and understanding the intricacies of what teachers deal with is important for perspective.
I have heard before, during, and after talks educators not to excited about a message from a “non-educator” because of those important details that they tend to miss. Learning is one aspect of our job, but if you are working with so many students that each are so unique in their own way. a lot of ideas shared are not as simple as they may seem to someone who has never taught a classroom full of children. Although we should always be open to different perspectives, I think it is fair that we tend to connect more with someone who has done the work.
So when so many people are giving young people suggestions on how they use technology, the “do’s and don’ts” (they are more often don’ts from what I have seen), and ideas on social media without ever using it, I wonder if kids see us with the same lens of “credibility” that we tend to use with others outside the field.
I remember this older post by Will Richardson on “Balance” and how we often tell kids that they are out of balance because they use too much technology when they might see adults as out of balance because they do not use it enough.
I just wonder if the same credibility from experience that so many people value (in all professions, not just education) is something that young people consider as well?
If you have no idea what SnapChat is or how to use it, do you think a kid really cares when we say that they shouldn’t use it?
