Sometimes I start thinking of technology and all of its possibilities of making connections with students. The idea of all of these social networks that might be used, but you have to be careful with. I've heard of some teachers using twitter. I'm not a personal fan of twitter at all, but I could see how it could be a pretty helpful thing if you could quickly send out something to your classes maybe explaining something or even just posting something cool that you just saw that might relate to your curriculum. It could be a great way to get information to parents such as "please sign you child's progress report" They could maybe even tweet a response indicating that they did see the progress report.
Then there's the idea of facebook. I know some schools have their own facebook site, mainly for parents to follow. This seems like another great idea for a school, but could it also work with a classroom?
I had a student last week suggest that I just get a webcam and have it running during my classes so students that are absent can see the class and still do the work. Another interesting idea.
but where does it end? When I have homework, will I have to Post it on my website, tweet it, then post it on facebook?
Then what about texting? The kids use it all the time. Why not use that to our advantage?
I don't know, and I'm really not planning on trying any of these out right now. I don't even know if this is the point of this blog, but there's so much out there but only so much time to use it. Sometimes it's all rather overwhelming other times it's just pretty overwhelming.
Christopher, first I want to applaud you for ALWAYS using technology in your classroom. I don't think there has been a day since school has started that you haven't used it. You are my 21st century inspiration. I wouldn't give too much thought to Twitter - feel free to correct me, but isn't this just a "post forum ala Facebook" with parameters? This might be a good thing to discuss at our next class: Just because it's something our kids use - it doesn't mean it furthers learning. Learning takes time. Learning isn't just a quick quip and hit send. Keep doing what you are doing. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI love using Twitter. Both professionally and for my 5th grade class. I hope that we do have a discussion about it at some point. It'd be fun to do a fish-bowl debate with this topic. :)
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, the whole social media debate is a great conversation to be having. It will be very interesting to see where we are in just a few short years and how our ideas change over time.
So do the kids follow you on twitter? What kind of things do you tweet? Maybe I should just wait and talk to you
DeleteI am so glad to hear that you are shy of social media in the classroom, too. I am shy of social media everywhere, but especially in the classroom. I am sure there are many wonderful used for social media in the classroom (and I would like to hear what Chris has to say), but I once again think about the enhancement of learning as opposed to using technology for technology sake.
ReplyDeleteYou really are my hero when it comes to technology. I am in awe of the way you consider each piece so carefully for the pros and cons and then decide which path to take that will have the most benefit for your students. In reading other blogs, it appears that this is a common question many people are considering. What purpose... technology...?