Week 4 Response

After thinking about the two questions and reading the attached articles I have found some great ways to implement social networking and bookmarking into my classroom. Having no smart board or access to the laptop carts makes it a little tough to put these amazing ideas into action. However, I am getting really excited to share our digital story on shapes with my class.  First, I started by just looking at what exactly does social networking mean? I can now describe social networking as a way for people to come together around an idea or a topic (Smith, 2011). Smith (2011) also provided a great website for teachers to use with students called Delicious in order to share, organize, and store links. 

Question one asked to identify at least two ways that social networking and/or social bookmarking can be used in the classroom for collaborative purposes. Below are some ideas that I collected during my research on this topic.

1. During a research paper they can bookmark different informational sites that will help their group when they start putting the project together.

2. On a much lower elementary level it can be used to model how to sort and organize information. How to create folders in favorites and how to label different websites so you know how to find them at a later date.

3. Getting kids to read. They can read and record their reading on computer and post it for other students to respond or for them to see the visual as well as hear the auditory aspect.

4. Create a sense of community in the classroom by doing some type of project before school year starts on the computer and posting it to a class blog so everyone can get to know everyone.

There was an awesome website that I came across when I was researching this question. It gave me a list of 101 ways to integrate social networking in schools.  The website is listed below:

101 ways to use social networking in a classroom

Some other ideas I obtained from this site that would be a good way to integrate social networking in an elementary classroom would be:

1. Collaborate with pen pals from anywhere in the world. Which could also expand learning opportunities.

2. Create a class website where parents can view homework assignments, students can access educational games and information and classmates can answer questions as part of a homework assignment.

3. Create book reports.

4. Track number of books read.

5. Brainstorm about projects or topics.

6.  Share book reviews.

7. Use Skype for an author visit during a unit on author studies.


This link discusses a program called Student Talk which is an educationally monitored social networking program that could be used in schools.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIcK-Ga07B4

Question two was regarding what a teacher's professional online presence should look like and how should teachers separate their online professional lives from their online personal lives?

This question is tricky to me because I am torn between teachers being allowed to have Facebook accounts and the rules and regulations that accompany having an account.  Our school has told us that it is in our best interest to delete any parent from our school that is our friend on Facebook. I agree and disagree with this. I have tried to hide my pictures so that only my friends could see, and yet a parent who I am not friends with commented on my wedding pictures. I also disagree a little with this regulation or suggestion because I was friends with someone in high school, so for the last 8-10 years I have been their friend on Facebook and now I have her son in my class and I am asked to delete her. I just think that there has to be a way to keep friends like that and coworkers who have children in our schools and still maintain a professional relationship.

I know I don't post pictures of my nights at the bar anymore and I am aware that at one point in time I did and those pictures are still on Facebook. However, I feel parents should monitor what they show their child regarding my Facebook page. Also, I feel it violates my first amendment right to be told how to manage my Facebook account. It did have a benefit too when a parent was trying to get in touch with me and I responded almost immediately to my Facebook and not as quickly to my work email. This is because my notifications pop up immediately on my iPhone.

This You Tube Video makes me wonder about personal social networks and the importance for keeping them professional.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n2MxixHOdE&feature=related

During my research I did find a great website that I have currently set up an account with that seems to be a good way for teachers to communicate and share ideas. The website is: Educators Connect. It is simply used between teacher and teacher and not meant for parent/teacher communication.

This would be a great resource tool for teachers. I also think teachers need a professional website for parents and students to access instead of Facebook. In closing,  I think that social networking needs to be looked at as a positive rather than a way to incriminate teachers.

Reference

Smith, F. (2011). How to Use School-Networking Technology for Learning. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/social-networking-how-to

Week 1 Response

New Literacy is a term that was created to explain the rapid changes that are currently being used to teach literacy in the 21st century. It usually refers to new forms of literacy that are becoming common due to digital technological developments. New literacies are made up of several categories including but not limited to: Internet, new media, digital, informational and computer literacies(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/new_literacies). Common forms of these literacies are blogs, wikis, social networking, emails, digital storytelling, and collecting & conducting online searches. New literacies give students a chance to learn and creatively express themselves in this new digitally driven era.

More information about New Literacies
 *New Literacy Site
 *New Literacy Site           .

 *New Literacy Site
 *New Literacy Site

National Education Technology Standards-Student (NETS-S) are a way to transform learning environments using technology. It's an opportunity to take students out of the classroom and take them into a world of endless possibilities. They transform how students learn. The NETS-S consist of 6 standard categories:

Here is a link to view some of these NETS-S in action:  NETS-S in action



National Education Technology Standards-Teachers (NETS-T) sets objectives for teachers and standards that they need to start implementing in their classrooms. The 5 major objectives are: facilitate & inspire student learning & creativity,  design & develop digital age learning experiences and assessments, model digital age work and learning, promote and model digital citizenship & responsibility, and engage in professional growth and leadership (http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx).

As far as how I would develop critical new literacies and NETS in my classroom would be difficult with only 1 (really slow) working student computer. I have tried over the years to get each student a chance in the morning to use the computer to explore certain literacy sites as well as math sites and it has been very difficult. I also tried 2 years ago to have my students trained on how to work the laptop carts that our school currently uses. But because we are first grade they don 't learn how to use the laptop carts. I am book buddies with Becky's class in third grade. We have been doing group lessons on her interactive smart board. I would like to have our book buddies work together to create a digital story or book report together. Then share these projects with the class on the smart board. This activity would include many of the NETS-S and NETS-T and new literacies as well!

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