High School Student Workshops
The digital age has had a far-reaching impact on every aspect of teenage development: How students study, how they communicate, how they access information, and even the way they sleep. Schools are increasingly being called upon to take a role in supporting students around the issues of health, safety, and well being in today's screen-filled world. The student workshops I have developed for the 2010-11 school year address the most current issues presented by parents, students and schools about the digital lives of young people. The workshops tap into the enthusiasm that teens feel about growing up digital and also help them appreciate and understand limits. They are designed to help students successfully navigate the high school years and prepare them for a future that will require knowing how to create balance between online and offline activities. Each workshop provides students with facts about digital life, practical ways to maximize the good and limit the problematic in this new domain, along with hands-on skills designed to be practiced at home. In addition, students will have the opportunity to voice and exchange their ideas and concerns.
1. Nasty, Snarky, Two-faced and Rude: Alternatives to Meanness on the Social Web To live digitally with a sense of safety, we need guidelines that help us understand how to treat each other in these new digital spaces. This workshop will present students with ways to avoid cyberbullying and online harassment while promoting a sense of community and positive self-expression.
2. The Teen Brain and New Technologies: Overloaded, Smarter, Overloaded, Or Both? The teen brain is rapidly developing, and, in the digital era, it is also rapidly uploading and downloading. In this workshop, students will learn about how the brain works and gain a better understanding of how new technologies might be enhancing or derailing healthy development.
3. From Screened Up to Sacked Out: Getting to Sleep in the Digital Age It’s a 24/7, 365 digital world, but teen bodies still need 8 or 9 hours of sleep. This workshop will help teens to understand the far-reaching importance of sleep and provide practical strategies for disconnecting and getting to bed.
4. Analog Bodies in the Digital Age: What is the Impact of Screen Time on our Bodies? Evolution has us going from walking on all fours to standing upright with opposable thumbs. We are increasingly inching toward a next evolutionary step that will have us hunched over a screen and using our clumsy thumbs to tap out text messages. Furthermore, agile teenage bodies often do not sense the signal to take a break from repetitive screen activities. This workshop provides teens with awareness and strategies for good physical health in the digital age.
5. Staying in Sync: Working It Out With Adults Never before have teens and adults had more opportunities for communication and miscommunication. This workshop will help students to better understand adults born in the analog age and learn practical ways to build more positive relationship with teachers and parents.
Other topics available for high school workshops:
- You Got Pwned : The Impact of Violent Video Games
- “I’m totally addicted to...”: Is Technology Addiction Real?
- Sexting and Online Pornography: The Sex Talk Goes Digital
- Staying in Control : The New Definitions of Privacy
- How Much Time is the Right Amount of Time?: Teens and the Digital Clock
- iCheat: Borrowing and Creating in the Age of Digital Information