MQTT mission is to teach the value of being accountable and responsibility using digital platforms and tools.
KIDSCAMP MIAMI 2020
Science Technology Reading Engineering
Arts Math
Embracing and inspiring the use of STREAM
to encourage collaboration, cooperation,
building professional and personal
learning networks and digital communities.
During COVID19 Words of Advice to HBCU Graduates Entering Educational Careers
William Jackson, M.Ed.
Educational Professional for 32 years
Teacher for WordCamp and KidsCamp Conferences
United States, Canada, Central America, Africa
WordPress TV https://wordpress.tv/?s=william+jackson
As an educational professional of 32 years and a graduate
of South Carolina State University. My parents were
both graduates of HBCUs. Mother (Delaware State College),
father (Delaware State College) and grandparents
were dedicated educators.
They always encouraged giving back in the form of wisdom,
prayers, encouragement and helping of educators establish
foundations for their careers as educators. Not just as a teacher,
but they emphasized because of our influence in our communities
and across generations we have a responsibility to teach no
matter the situations and circumstances.
COVID19 is just such a situation that educators are thrust
into to apply educational creativity, innovation and plain old
common sense when teaching in uncharted waters of digital
integration.
There are always opportunities for teaching no matter what
situation teachers are in. Teachers are taught to look for
learning opportunities all around them to share with students
and engage them in seeing how powerful all learning is.
How knowledge can build on itself and allow students to
grow to embrace knowledge to inspire passions for continued
learning.
Every child has the right to receive an education that prepares
them to be the future leaders, creatives, innovators, dreamers
and thought leaders the world will need. HBCU institutions still
apply an old school mentality that every child can learn when
treated with respect, dignity, love and the family is included in
the learning process.
As can be seen with COVID19 medical professionals, medical
educators, and technology innovators are needed to save lives.
Educators have transitioned to online and discovering the
opportunities to embrace and integrate learning
on multiple digital platforms.
Using educational content to fit on digital devices from phones,
to tablets, to laptops, to desktops to even watches educators
can guide students to new career options never thought of before.
This is another reason why HBCU students need to attend tech
conferences like WordCamp, Florida Blogging and Technology
Conference, Bar Camp and EdCamp conferences.
Teachers are putting learning content on Slack, TEAMS, YouTube,
Zoom and other software because students learn
differently and speak their language of learning. HBCU institutions
are changing the way they teach so their graduates are prepared
when they enter into their careers to teach in the communities
they will be in.
As a proud HBCU graduate and a HBCU instructor at the historic
HBCU Edward Waters College where I taught for NASA in teacher
preparation in the 90’s and joined the faculty from 2004 to 2017
teaching Educational Technology, Social Media, STEAM and
Blogging.
I applied what my HBCU instilled in me to be a global thinker, a
digital innovator and how my skills and abilities can help my
community and the youth, teens and young adult in
Jacksonville, Florida.
I was taught that all students are intelligent, smart, creative and
innovative, they have the great potential to be influencers,
business owners, entrepreneurs, the smart creatives and
innovators that their communities will need in the future.
HBCU students in education departments are still being
taught these ideas by their instructors.
Online learning was coming!! COVID19 created a thrust
that shows HBCU institutions are still viable, influential
and needed. The works of HBCU teachers
is important because their energies and knowledge are
important to keep up with new ways of teaching and how
to apply ways students are learning and
using technology.
HBCU institutions have phenomenal knowledge from their
instructors that are teaching traditional ways and with
digital tools and platforms that match the learning styles
of their students.
HBCU teachers are a foundation of knowledge that
can help students see and apply growth. The growth
to the value and importance of education for the
whole family.
COVID19 has demanded that we work together to support
educational innovators that shows teachers of color and
culture, that are graduates of HBCU institutions across
the nation will be prepared for the classrooms of the
21st century and address the learning of youth, teens
and young adults in the classrooms of America.
I encourage the graduating teachers of HBCUs to grow
in your passion to make a difference in your communities,
your cities and your chosen honored careers as educators.
Embrace your diversity because you do make a difference in each
of your students lives. When students of color and culture see you,
many times they see themselves in successful professional careers.
Your presence, your actions, your words, your passion and dedication
are shared over the generations of
your future students.
The presence of COVID19 should not stop you from
being the best teacher you can be either online or
in the traditional classroom setting. Historically
HBCU students are faced with challenges that
strengthen their resolve to be the best they can
be with modern tools or old. As I have heard from
several instructors, “teach teacher teach, to
empower our children to be successful and
influential in the world.”
William Jackson is a graduate of
South Carolina State University.
He was also a student – athlete
that participated in track and field.
William ran the open 400m, 400m
intermediate hurdles where he was
ranked nationally and held several
MEAC Championships.
He also ran several relay races.
William has taught for 32 years in
elementary and higher education.
He has spoken at local educational
conferences and has broadened his
platform to speak nationally and
internationally in Canada, Central America
and across the United States.
Elementary Physical and Health Education Teacher
William is also a speaker at KidsCamp
Conferences across the United States,
Canada and Central America
Speaker, Teacher, Organizer
COVID19 Changing the Look of Diversity in Technology and Education
William Jackson, M.Ed. #MyQuestToTeach
The image of speakers is sometimes displayed in traditional
media outlets as white men or women who are classified as
experts in their respective fields. They are highlighted by
their choice of clothing, distinguishing smiles, posing and
their proximity of the audiences. Each element is strategic
and in place for a visual element.
Many times people of color and culture are in the background
of photos, videos or information displays with complying smiles
and engaged viewing. They are in the backgrounds sometimes
as blurred images that are strategically placed to show that
there are people of color, but they are not the central point
and not in positions of leadership, engagement and value.
The term “representation matters” is a valuable view point
because youth, teens and young adults need to see people
that look like them or similar to them in order to place future
careers in their minds. Seeing a person of color in power
is not the same as seeing a person of color in the background.
Youth, teens and young adults of color need to see that their
communities are empowering each other, they are the ones
engaged and sharing valuable information. The decline of
Black male teachers has a profound mental effect on youth,
teens and young adults. Because they do not see them also
means there is less value for men because they are not
influential in their abilities to educate, mentor and be
effective role models.
This is not to say whites are not effective in the educational
process, but to say as a teacher of 32 years primarily
teaching in elementary education, young people do not
see a representation of themselves. The value they place
on applying education is diminished. The education in
the classroom should be applied to the students life to
show that education can elevate them past where they
are without the constant barrage of telling them because
they are poor, challenged and “at risk,” education is a
luxury that can only be provided by whites to help them
rise above human challenges.
Youth of color and culture should be taught that education
is empowering and they can achieve much in life and that
others of color are successful. Being a person of color is
not a bad thing because they too can be successful.
That the learning they receive can take them far because
they have awesome dreams that can be accomplished and
more can be gained and earned.
Parents of color need to take their children of color and
culture to Technology and STREAM events and activities
to exposure their children to future careers as COVID19
shows how valuable STREAM learning is.
There are a growing number of technology conferences
that are engaging youth, teens and young adults so they
are not only getting hands on training, but having seeds
planted in their minds about future opportunities in
Technology and STEAM.
KidsCamp conferences that are associated with
WordCamp conferences are unique learning adventures.
Integrating the elements of STEAM so that critical and higher
order thinking can be applied to enhance the learning of Web
Development that can be shared in other careers.
An example Aida Correa (Afro-Latina) and William Jackson
(African American), will be speakers on the upcoming
WordCamp Santa Clarita conference that will be online.
https://santaclarita.wordcamp.org/
They have spoken at multiple WordCamp technology
conferences and teaching at KidsCamp conferences
with a focus on STEAM, Web Development, integration
of Design Theory and building future digital leaders
youth, teens and young adults in the United States,
Canada and Central America.
They are Organizers for the KidsCamp with WordCamp
Jacksonville, Florida, teachers in KidsCamp Miami,
Florida and volunteering from Canada, and
Central America.
Aida Correa (Afro-Latina) represents mothers,
grandmothers, she is an author, Artist, blogger,
business owner (LoveBuilt Life, LLC), florist and true
21st century Renaissance woman. She participates in
sharing the love of learning and living life more
creatively.
Aida can be found at LoveBuilt Life, LLC.
https://lovebuiltlife.com/
Her passion for the “open source” community and participating
in WordCamp and KidsCamp conferences locally (Jacksonville,
Florida), nationally and internationally shows as she teaches
youth, teens and young adults across genders, generation
and culture. Her diversity speaks volumes for girls and
women of Latina heritage how technology can help share
success and career choices.
Mary Job (Nigerian) is another example of an innovative and
progressive women that is a business owner and mentor to
men and women being engaged in tech. She manages on
Slack WP Nigeria to engage, empower and advocate for
Nigerians to grow in the WP or WordPress community.
Mary can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/maryojob
No matter what community youth are from they need to see
that people that look like them are making decisions in
leadership, creativity and innovation. They already see people
like them in sports and entertainment, they need to see people
that are creative, smart, intelligent and innovative.
Digital engagement is being made at technology conferences,
workshops, seminars to bring to light that people of color and
culture are smart, they are in leadership and they are influencers.
As more and more people of color are YouTubers, Instagrammers,
Twitter Leaders, PodCasters, etc the value is that new areas
of learning can open new careers of learning, innovation and
creativity.
COVID19 is showing that communities of color and culture need
to have access to people of color that are doctors, researchers,
dentists, attorneys, eye doctors, internists, pediatricians and
other related medical and STREAM innovators.
See the changing look of diversity can be found at many
campuses of HBCU – Historically Black Colleges and Universities
that are in many ways leaders in STEM, STEAM, STREAM
and CSTREAM fields.
During Corona Parents Stay Engaged with Your Kids On Social Media
William Jackson, M.Ed.
My Quest to Teach #MyQuestToTeach
This blog can be read by Alexa and Google
service provided by Create My Voice
https://createmyvoice.com/
The closing of schools, social distancing and even
cities closing stores and social gathering places
are ravaging the social engagement of adults.
Just think of the impact on youth, teens and
young adults that thrive on social contact and
building relationships. Parent have already
complained about their kids on social media
too much before the Corona Virus, now it will
explode into social isolation and the explosion
of digital engagement multiplied by the number
of days in isolation and the only outlets will be
digital.
There are jokes now about how many babies will
be born in nine months, the additional concern
will be how many youth, teens and young adults
will be social media and digitally tethered to their
phones. Tech is a youths connection for social and
even mental health stability.
There will be new issues with the engagement of
kids being social after the Corona Virus isolation.
What parents may not realize are the affects now
what their kids may be going through mentally
and the content they are creating and sharing.
The access to social media should be a tool for
parents to have additional access to their children.
Digital tools and platforms enable parents to
connect to their children when they are away from
home and out of sight. Now that they are at home
and in sight how can digital tools bring about positive
engagement and interaction?
Parents should establish a common understanding
with their kids that they are both accountable for
communicating with each other and encourage the
sharing of content that builds stronger relationships
not digital distractions and further separation.
Taking virtual field trips together to zoos, museums,
libraries and even VR experiences that everyone can
enjoy and be engaged with. Applying social digital
travels around the world and connecting with digital
Art museums, Cultural museums, STEAM events that
are engaged and active.
There are too many stories where kids try to connect
with their parents using digital tools and kids cannot
“find” their parents. When parents try to connect with
their children there develops the same situation. Parents
are ultimately the social media role models and should
set the model for online behaviors and adventures that
can be fun and a digital journey for the family.
Children as young as 3 years old are developing skills
not heard of 5 years ago with technology. Many toddlers
have the fine motor skills of adults when they can Text,
Tweet, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp even before
they have formalized verbal communication.
The comprehension levels of children are more advanced
because of the digital engagements with devices, but the
knowledge to apply these skills is still lost in how to
effectively grow beyond the inability to empower and
educate. There needs to be a balance of engagement,
exploration, interaction and entertainment. Parents
need to research and explore before they feel frustrated,
stressed and even defeated because they cannot
“connect” with their kids. Engagement is vitally important
and doing things together.
Children, their thinking is years in advanced
even though emotionally they may not be able to process
the images, language and situations they witness in
online environments. When unsupervised kids get the
wrong messages about relationships.
Parents need to understand social media because it
is a representation of our society, both good and bad.
Parents cannot leave their children online without
supervision and monitoring. The social dynamics of online
lives are setting the foundation for youth, teens and
young adults in their behaviors with each other, their
families and this is embedded in their social
engagements with school and society.
The violent reactions by youth and young adults even
from the mention of taking phones away is disturbing.
Phones that they did not even purchase nor do they
make monthly payment. Parents sacrifice each
month in some cases to buy their kids the best phones
with the fastest connection, HD cameras and stereo
sound capability, but these same parents are scared
of their children and the children know this.
Parents must not only make high expectation with
digital behaviors and when they are ready take the
devices to “check” behaviors and be proactive to
potential situations.
The social dynamics of human interaction shows
that they are social creatures. They can be involved in
multiple levels of exchanging information using
language either verbal or body language. Digital
devices can expand this engagement either in good
ways or bad. Corona is spread by social engagement
and now social distancing is the safe way to be.
People communicate with voice and volume, physical
touching, facial expressions, body gestures, voice
inflections and even the movement in standing.
The social side of social engagement is based on
social interaction as humans.
The media aspects are based on dynamic media
platforms, digital sites that provide digital and even
clinical sites that have no physical nor emotional
connections. Kids are losing their emotional
foundations of reasoning, patience and in some
cases humanity. Parents have to mix social in
home and digital in virtual exchanges.
Children are growing more in love with their
digital devices and access to social sites than
they are to their humanity. More and more
children are manipulating their parents so they
(children) can get their digital “fix” either from
Twitter, Instagram, or Gaming.
Parents are finding that their little boys and girls
are being lost to a Matrix of useless information
that only encourages disconnection from family
and friends in the real situations of social
engagement.
Before parents start to see changes in the
emotional status of their children, there should
be a plan to keep those human connections active
and engaged. This time of Corona is not just the
ravages of a virus, but the change in mentality
and means of digital social engagement. There
should be play time, social time, family time,
daddy time, mommy time with the kids.
Parents are digital role models, re-engage with
their children to learn about them before they
are lost and have no desire to connect,
communicate or socialize with parents.
Parents get involved with your children before
the challenges are beyond Corona, but building
and keeping a relationship with your children.
One aspect is the disconnect from digital devices
to share real human time with family and friends
and even share digital engagements to build
stronger relationships.
During Corona Parents Stay Engaged with Your Kids On Social Media
William Jackson, M.Ed.
My Quest to Teach #MyQuestToTeach
This blog can be read by Alex and Google
“Alexa, run my quest to teach”
The closing of schools, social distancing and even
cities closing stores and social gathering places
are ravaging the social engagement of adults.
Just think of the impact on youth, teens and
young adults that thrive on social contact and
building relationships. Parent have already
complained about their kids on social media
too much before the Corona Virus, now it will
explode into social isolation and the explosion
of digital engagement multiplied by the number
of days in isolation and the only outlets will be
digital.
There are jokes now about how many babies will
be born in nine months, the additional concern
will be how many youth, teens and young adults
will be social media and digitally tethered to their
phones. Tech is a youths connection for social and
even mental health stability.
There will be new issues with the engagement of
kids being social after the Corona Virus isolation.
What parents may not realize are the affects now
what their kids may be going through mentally
and the content they are creating and sharing.
The access to social media should be a tool for
parents to have additional access to their children.
Digital tools and platforms enable parents to
connect to their children when they are away from
home and out of sight. Now that they are at home
and in sight how can digital tools bring about positive
engagement and interaction?
Parents should establish a common understanding
with their kids that they are both accountable for
communicating with each other and encourage the
sharing of content that builds stronger relationships
not digital distractions and further separation.
Taking virtual field trips together to zoos, museums,
libraries and even VR experiences that everyone can
enjoy and be engaged with. Applying social digital
travels around the world and connecting with digital
Art museums, Cultural museums, STEAM events that
are engaged and active.
There are too many stories where kids try to connect
with their parents using digital tools and kids cannot
“find” their parents. When parents try to connect with
their children there develops the same situation. Parents
are ultimately the social media role models and should
set the model for online behaviors and adventures that
can be fun and a digital journey for the family.
Children as young as 3 years old are developing skills
not heard of 5 years ago with technology. Many toddlers
have the fine motor skills of adults when they can Text,
Tweet, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp even before
they have formalized verbal communication.
The comprehension levels of children are more advanced
because of the digital engagements with devices, but the
knowledge to apply these skills is still lost in how to
effectively grow beyond the inability to empower and
educate. There needs to be a balance of engagement,
exploration, interaction and entertainment. Parents
need to research and explore before they feel frustrated,
stressed and even defeated because they cannot
“connect” with their kids. Engagement is vitally important
and doing things together.
Children, their thinking is years in advanced
even though emotionally they may not be able to process
the images, language and situations they witness in
online environments. When unsupervised kids get the
wrong messages about relationships.
Parents need to understand social media because it
is a representation of our society, both good and bad.
Parents cannot leave their children online without
supervision and monitoring. The social dynamics of online
lives are setting the foundation for youth, teens and
young adults in their behaviors with each other, their
families and this is embedded in their social
engagements with school and society.
The violent reactions by youth and young adults even
from the mention of taking phones away is disturbing.
Phones that they did not even purchase nor do they
make monthly payment. Parents sacrifice each
month in some cases to buy their kids the best phones
with the fastest connection, HD cameras and stereo
sound capability, but these same parents are scared
of their children and the children know this.
Parents must not only make high expectation with
digital behaviors and when they are ready take the
devices to “check” behaviors and be proactive to
potential situations.
The social dynamics of human interaction shows
that they are social creatures. They can be involved in
multiple levels of exchanging information using
language either verbal or body language. Digital
devices can expand this engagement either in good
ways or bad. Corona is spread by social engagement
and now social distancing is the safe way to be.
People communicate with voice and volume, physical
touching, facial expressions, body gestures, voice
inflections and even the movement in standing.
The social side of social engagement is based on
social interaction as humans.
The media aspects are based on dynamic media
platforms, digital sites that provide digital and even
clinical sites that have no physical nor emotional
connections. Kids are losing their emotional
foundations of reasoning, patience and in some
cases humanity. Parents have to mix social in
home and digital in virtual exchanges.
Children are growing more in love with their
digital devices and access to social sites than
they are to their humanity. More and more
children are manipulating their parents so they
(children) can get their digital “fix” either from
Twitter, Instagram, or Gaming.
Parents are finding that their little boys and girls
are being lost to a Matrix of useless information
that only encourages disconnection from family
and friends in the real situations of social
engagement.
Before parents start to see changes in the
emotional status of their children, there should
be a plan to keep those human connections active
and engaged. This time of Corona is not just the
ravages of a virus, but the change in mentality
and means of digital social engagement. There
should be play time, social time, family time,
daddy time, mommy time with the kids.
Parents are digital role models, re-engage with
their children to learn about them before they
are lost and have no desire to connect,
communicate or socialize with parents.
Parents get involved with your children before
the challenges are beyond Corona, but building
and keeping a relationship with your children.
One aspect is the disconnect from digital devices
to share real human time with family and friends
and even share digital engagements to build
stronger relationships.