Do you Believe in Me?

This week I would like to specifically speak on the youtube video that we were supposed to watched entitled "Do You Believe in Me?" Those that attendeed Whatever conference this was that this young student spoke to 20,000 or so people, must have been impressed with the audacity of this particular student. This student didn't look to be more than 10 years old.
I chose to particularly write about this movie because I feel that Believing in our students is one of the greatest ways that we can help our students achieve the greatest success. There are two challenges to this idea of Believing in our students in order to help them succeed. The first challenge would be how do we let our students know that we believe in them. To some students this may come by just telling them we believe in them, while to others us being there for them to support them, or being at their side to help them whenever they need help achieving is another way. These are just two of the many ways that students can perceive our faith in them.
Another challenge comes with helping students believe in themselves. It seems that all us believing in them does is help them to believe in themselves. Although this is an important and necessary way to help students have faith in themselves, it is also sometimes difficult especially if they don't get the same type of treatment at home like this young student mentioned. If we give them all sort of encouragement, support, and resources to help them achieve, and then they get home and are mistreated, neglected, and often times abused, then every day of the week, we will have to build their confidence back up again.
It seems that the best way to help children is by helping them to believe in themselves enough to develop confidence and a sense of resiliency when they are in situations that may be trying and difficult for them to overcome.
How does all of this apply to technology? Well, one word that this young student mentioned in his talk was "create". This word has stuck out to me all semester as we have learned more about technology and have had our own opportunity to create websites, webquests, digital stories, and etc. It has also stuck out as we have watched different videos for weekly reflections. We have learned that Technology is a good opportunity for students to exercise their own creativity. Some of the greatest creative people have achieved much success at applying their creativity to the domain of technology. If we have faith in our students, then we will be able to help them "create" and feel good about their own accomplishments, which in turn will breed more success.