Social networking
I, like Joe stated, too am - …old enough to remember the “party line” telephone It took many years for that to change, even after technology made it possible. One reason, I believe, was because people liked to listen to others’ conversations but that’s personal opinion.
I also believe that the Social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace are more suitable for socializing than for the classroom. On the other hand I feel that because they are so popular with the students, that they could be a starting point for teachers to get students interested in using other types of technology for the classroom such as blogging or IM for communicating much like we do in this class.
For instance, I have a Facebook account and only got it to find “Pablito”, my kidnapped Mexican statue, which I wrote about last semester.
http://gnewsome.wordpress.com/2007/09/23/my-advanced-tool-box/
I kept the account and even today I have current students and former students adding me to their list. I always accept but I also write a greeting to them in Spanish. This gets them to read in Spanish and most of them try to write back in Spanish. I always use the target language. I don’t accept the little games or join any clubs for which invitations are sent but I do communicate with my students. This sometimes leads to very meaningful communications such as the following example. Not long ago I received a message from one of my former students, who wrote,
“Señora, I am taking Spanish here at UK and if I had not had your class I would have been so lost! Thank you so much.”
I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to read that message, especially as a new teacher who had had some classroom management issues at the time the student was in my class, which were my first two years. My classroom management strategies have since improved with much work, patience, consistency, and trial & error.
This is also an excellent tool for locating people because there is such a large number of young people who are connected, which results in immeasurable communicative capability.
Therefore, like most, I don’t believe they serve much purpose in the classroom however, they may be used as a step into getting students to blog for class or to IM for the purpose of communicating such as we do in this class.
I’m glad to see that you have taken something like facebook and made it into a educational tool. Sending messages in Spanish is a great idea and only accepting messages in Spanish makes the students use what they’ve learned in your class. Keep up the good work!
dancingnancy533
January 21, 2008
I am in support of students having Facebook or MySpace accounts, but I had refused to get my own. Your post about communicating with students is tempting me to change my mind and create one. Thanks for changing my perspective.
Pam Callahan
January 21, 2008
I’m glad someone else remembers the party line. I don’t feel quite as old. I also don’t feel so bad about having classroom management issues. I remember when I taught in public school, there was a young man who told me that he did really well on the CATS test geometry. He said he never really understood the concept of slope before, but that I had helped him understand. It really made me feel good. The class he was in was a real classroom management issue and I was surprised anyone got anything out of that class. I think you probably are a really good teacher. I can tell you care about your students.
Joe McConda
January 21, 2008
Gracias Lee.
Gracias Pam. I think that if we use good judgement when utilizing the social networking sites by communicating with our students in educational topics or to assist them, then it is serving a good purpose. Thanks for the positive comment!
Hola Jose. It is good to hear good feedback especially from former students who came back to say nice things! Thanks for the positive comments and for sharing your story! It was also a good one! I can tell you care for your students too!
gnewsome
January 22, 2008