Walk, Talk, Digitally Create?

This week’s content had me thinking a lot about the world we live in and the developmental milestones we seek for our kids. As a teacher and the mom of a 5 year old (who would like to be referred to as “French” for the purpose of this post), this contradicts most of my education about early childhood and the Essential Learning Experiences Saskatchewan PreK Curriculum. Kelsey asserted this week that media literacy is as fundamental as reading or math with some compelling arguments. This was echoed by Wes Fryer who emphasized the digital skills we equip our children with to be successful in the 21st Century. He talked about children’s thoughtful, appropriate and intentional exposure to technology and left us with a powerful statement:

“I absolutely believe everybody needs to understand how to use data, work with data, how data is used to tell a story, how often data is used to manipulate an audience, and it can be used in propaganda, and not only for commercial advertising purposes, but also for political purposes.”

I have never allowed French to use an iPad, but he has grown up watching Lego YouTube tutorials and kids cartoons. Reflecting on his experience with technology, it has been very passive, but we have had some good conversations about what is real and not real, and how stories in cartoons make us feel.

This week’s learning really prompted thought about where I would even begin with some intentional, active learning. Referencing Hobbs work (thanks for sharing Kathleen!), I decided to nervously dip my toes in the water of access and creation with French.

Wes highlighted ScratchJr as a possible place to start, so French and I jumped right in. We watched a few tutorial videos together, and then we co-created the following video. It was hard for me, and hard for him, but he is very proud of the finished creation which took us about 20 minutes to make. (for real). I have his assent to share this experience and the final product with you, but only under his pen name. The title is also his pen name. 🙃

French. (2024). French. Created with ScratchJr App.

Overall, the experience was ok, there was no spontaneous combustion, and I am not going to lose sleep about him becoming addicted to the iPad after using this app. As an educator, he used a lot of trial and error, problem solving and creativity to make his project. We also had to communicate a lot about what he wanted to accomplish.

Transcript assistance: At the end, he yells, “Thanks Dork”. Dork is an imaginary giant chicken that has been part of our family for a little over a year, so I was not surprised that he made the cut in French’s first digital story. We live in rural Saskatchewan, so it was also interesting to see how the setting he chose reflected his life. I really enjoyed seeing what is important to him come to life.

How old were your kids when they started creating with technology? Did this week’s content change your perspective on the learning experiences we provide for our kids/students?