| |
Guidance for Grown-Ups
December 2006
High-Tech Girl Talk:
What's public, what's private, what's just plain unsafe?
Caught in the Web: What You Need to Know About Online Safety
(link back to feature)
This Discussion Guide contains the following Activity Sections:
- The Answers to Your Questions
- Problem Solving: Exploring Options, Giving Advice
- Make a Historical and Global Connection: Changing Options
I. The Answers to Your Questions
The purpose of this activity is to help teens understand the differences between public and private communication.
- Either before the group meets, or with the group's help, create small slips of paper with the attached modes of communication. (Make sure to give the teens a chance to create extra slips with their own suggestions, too.) Form a circle and pass out the slips, an equal number to each teen. Place two hats (or boxes or bags) in the center of the circle, designating one as "public," and one as "private." One at a time, have the teens read their example and place their slip in the hat they think is most fitting. Invite them to give a very brief explanation for their choice. Let them know that it is natural to say, "Well that depends," for a lot of the examples, but that the goal of this activity is to articulate their own opinion and to listen to their peers describe the difference between which modes are more private and which modes are more public.
- If the teens enjoyed the previous exercise, ask if they would like to pursue it further by exploring example scenarios of teen communication. (Again, refer to the attached list, acknowledge that the boundaries are fluid–there is no "right" answer–and ask the teens to add their own scenarios to prompt more discussion.)
- With different modes of communication at the forefront of the teens' minds, ask them to elaborate in writing on the following incomplete sentences: I know what I express is private when . . . . I know what I express may be read or heard by strangers when . . . . I know communication intended just for me may be made public if I . . . .
- Ask for discussion of the activities, and invite teens to read their written responses to #3. How would the teens describe the difference between public and private communication? What can they do to safeguard information they want to keep private? If they want tips, suggest that they read Keeping Your Cyberspace Safe, the Teen Voices' interview with Marje Monroe, or Mind Your Manners: 8 Tips for Web Safety.
II. Problem Solving: Exploring Options, Giving Advice
The purpose of this activity is to think critically about to what degree gender and age influence how we determine what subjects are more appropriate for public or private communication.
- Historically, a diary is a private journal written about a person's daily life and innermost thoughts. Diary writing is also historically a woman's genre. Ask the teens to learn more about why this is and consider the pros and cons of the growing popularity of blogs, which share similarities to diaries. Can they structure an informal debate (pro, con, and rebuttal) about whether or not a teen girl should blog about her daily life on the Internet?
- Ask the teens to interview their grandmother (or someone else's grandmother!) about how she used to communicate secretly to friends or love interests when she was growing up. Did grandma save any of her notes or diaries that the teens can share with the group?
- Read the Teen Voices' News Flash. It describes several incidences of how perpetrators have taken advantage of technology to hurt teen girls. Although research is limited, evidence suggests that women and girls are the primary targets of cyberstalking or other online harassment. Can the teens find statistics on the topic?
- Another way to express your thoughts publicly but maintain your anonymity is by writing with a pseudonym. Read "Should you use a pseudonym?" to learn more about how authors decide when to use a false name. You can also read "Why use a pseudonym?" by a woman who believes that being mistaken for a male writer benefited her career. (See links below.)
Academic Reading
- Inscribing the Daily: Critical Essays on Women's Diaries,
by Suzanne L. Bunkers and Cynthia A. Huff
- Gender and the Journal: Diaries and Academic Discourse,
by Cynthia Gannett
III. Make a Historical and Global Connection: Changing Options
The purpose of this activity is to think imaginatively about how the Internet can facilitate important dialogue about girls and women throughout the world, even throughout history. How can the teens in your group join this growing community?
- Read Adanma Ude's and Tanasia White's article about creating MySpace pages for important female leaders, Creating Our Space in Herstory. Next peruse the Teen Voices' MySpace sites to learn more about Shirley Chisholm, Toni Morrison, and Zora Neale Hurston. What questions do you want to ask?
- With the group, brainstorm as many ideas as possible about how teens can use the Internet as a gateway to the world. Is it an act of guerilla art or activism? Can you create a MySpace page for a female role model like the young women at Teen Voices? Only use facts you can verify but still leave room for fun.
Resources
History Matters
- An academic look at the historical purpose and value of letters and diaries, including excerpts from a teen girl's diary as she ages through the Civil War and do-it-yourself activities to test your critical thinking skills.
www.historymatters.gmu.edu
- Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers Project 1936-1938
This archive of the Library of Congress includes interviews with former slaves, giving witness to their experience and voice.
memory.loc.gov
Have you used Guidance for Grown-ups with your class or teen group? Tell us which ones you used and what kind of success you had with it. Did you put your own spin on it? Let us know.
Become a Member Today
|
Learn more about Guidance for Grown-ups
The Publisher
Teen Voices
P.O. Box 120027
Boston, MA 02110-0027
phone: 888.882.TEEN (toll free)
fax: 617.426.5577
email: teenvoices@teenvoices.com
|
