Our MySpace Presentation

We're so living "in the now" that it's easy to almost forget that we all enjoyed and appreciated an expertly orchestrated, impressively informative presentation on "MySpace-the Generation Gap" hosted by a diligent group of 8th graders. The presentation opened with an amusing depiction of "The Authoritarian Parent" by "Mother" Clara Jessup, "Daughter" Gemma O'Neil and "Narrator" Lilly Cazier. From there, "MySpace Experts" - Emma McCune, Sam Skidmore and Jackie Greer took us on an informative tour of MySpace World...harkening to two contrasting pages: the Good Sally versus the Bad Sally! We were shown how to insure privacy and safe practice on MySpace and learned about the various modes of communication within that system (comments, messages, IMs...) T-Mike and Emily moderated a thought-provoking panel discussion on the generation gap created by MySpace tensions. The panel consisted of Phil McCune (Emma's dad), Stephanie Solien (Jackie's mom), and Tracie Holiday-Robinson (T'Mike's mom) as well as students Gillian, Maya, Le'Jayah and Maddy. Provocative questions about parent/child communication, cyber-fears, psychic safety and acceptable family ground rules held the audience's attention and spawned further questions during a brief Q&A period, moderated by Anja. Interspersed throughout the program were vignettes on Cyberspace Parenting Techniques by Troupe Clara/Gemma/Lilly: "The Negligent Parent," "The Indulgent Parent" and finally, "The Authoritative Parent."

I've passed on to our students the many rave reviews I received verbally right after the event and through emails in the days that followed. Like you, Bert and I were very impressed with our students' depth and intelligence as they crafted this informative experience for the SGS adult community. One audience member suggested we take our show on the road - to other schools! Now there's a thought...!