Chapter 9 focused on ways to include social networks into the classroom. The chapter defined two different ways youth use social networks, friendship based use and interest based use. In the interest-based kids are using networks to find more information that they are unable to share at school, or in their local community. When using social networks for interest based activity students are engaging in “self-directed, peer-based learning” that differs from their experiences in the classroom. The author mentions that teachers should explore the potential of this interest-based learning in schools because of the numerous possibilities. When bringing up the most popular social networking site, Facebook, the author mentioned that as teachers we are responsible to investigate what all the fuss is about because it is such an integral part of our student’s lives. I think this is something all future teachers should think about. In my future teaching career there will be so many more technological advances coming out that students will be interested in. If I am able to keep up with these popular advances and integrate them into my classroom, hopefully it will be beneficial to all of my students. The book talks about teachers having a Facebook profile so we are able to “model our experiences there in appropriate ways so kids at an early age have some context for what the expectations and roles are that await them there.” A few pages later the book advises against adding students as friends on Facebook. How could we be a role model for students on the internet when they are not able to see our profile? As a current Facebook user I was unaware that a group can be monitored as far as “closed” where everything is open only to users (except cover page) or “secret” if a group does not want to have anyone see anything about their classroom. I think this is a great idea especially for high school students because the wide majority of them already have a Facebook page and are on Facebook most of the time they are not in school. I know had I had course material on Facebook it would have been easy to contribute to discussions or anything else. At the same time that I think using Facebook in the classroom is great, I think many students would start their homework on Facebook and then play around instead of doing homework not available online. From past experience I have found Facebook to be very distracting when trying to do homework.
In the chapter Ning is also brought up as an additional social website to use in classrooms. I had never heard of Ning prior to this reading and thought it sounded like a good alternative to Facebook. When visiting their website however, there is a fee of $3 per month to use the website. I did like that once you prove to Ning that your pages are used for educational purposes only, the site removes the ads seen on your site. I thought the quote by Kevin Honeycutt on page 145 was a great way to address poor behavior shown by students on the web. He says “Some people feel that even one negative event on a network is a reason to shut it down, but I would offer that when kids cross behavioral lines in schools, we don’t shut them down, we address the issue and try to learn from the experience.” I think that behavioral lines are frequently crossed in classrooms and in front of other students. When students break rules on the web they would be dealt with in the same manner. I thought this would be an explanation to give to anyone who thought a social network should not be used because of inappropriate comments made online.
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