Facebook

ST: New Literacies in Action

After reading the selection on Facebook in Kist's "The Socially Networked Classroom" (pg.97-99), Kist poses some interesting questions. Here are my responses:

1. Is Facebook mainly for fun or can it be used for educational purpose?

Facebook is mainly used for fun activities, but it can be used for educational purposes. Libraries or teachers have a Facebook page where they post information concerning what was learned in class, extra credit assignments, or summer/ holiday break practice. This allows students to communicate with other students and the teacher about what they are learning. It taps into something they are interested in (Facebook) and gets them excited about the concept they are learning. You could also use Facebook as a way of becoming a character in a book or summarizing a person's life as you create their Facebook page and think about what other characters or people of that time period might post on their wall. You could even do this with paper and pen if Facebook is blocked at your school.

2. Is it appropriate for students and teachers to "friend" each other on Facebook or Twitter? Why or why not?

This is tricky to answer. I would say that if you know the student and trust them, there is no problem. I think especially students who are in extracurricular activities with a teacher or coach may use Facebook or Twitter to communicate more often. However, the best rule of thumb is once they have graduated their class or left the school, if you really want to play it safe. I think that students like to be in touch with past teachers and occasionally leave "hello" and "miss you" on your pages which is nice.

3. Does Social Networking become "ruined" when used for homework reminders or another school based task?

I don't think so. Students are so used to cell phone and communication through those media. When a snow day canceled the Power of the Pen tournament last year, I was able to text message the team and get replies back from them quickly and then call the one or two who didn't have a cell phone. I knew they got the message, and they could write back to me about it if they had further questions. Students can ignore homework texts just as much as ones from people they don't like, so it doesn't "ruin" anything.

Discussion Response Guides for Blogs

I love these discussion response guides from Kist's "The Socially Networked Classroom" pg. 90. These help guide students who are shy or unsure of how to comment on another blog. These formats are also great to practice when writing responses to literature or other reading or knowledge in the classroom.

Inquiry

ST: New Literacies in Action

After reading the selection on Inquiry in Kist's "The Socially Networked Classroom" (pg.75-79), Kist poses some interesting questions. Here are my responses:

1. Students express discomfort with taking part in learning activities that have no clear-cut answer or solution. Why are people uncomfortable with these projects? What can teachers do to structure the activity in a way that learners are successful?

I think students are uncomfortable with this mainly because most classrooms are structured to teaching information which is learned and tested. There is a right answer for those questions. Even the high stakes OAT/ OGT are formated to make students think that life is about know the right answer to mark. However, in real life, people are constantly problem solving, no matter what the field. Sometimes, there is no wrong solution, just some that are more effective, more cost productive, more thoughtful, or more creative. I do think there are people who like things with a clear cut answer, so for some dealing with ambiguity is not comfortable. Teachers can help students be successful by breaking down the steps to the project so that they can assess if their students are progressing in a correct manner to complete the project. They can show how the project mirrors real life situations. They can share rubrics that show that the "answer" isn't what will be graded, but other aspects like the research, presentation, or collaboration.

2. How could Google Docs or blogs help with inquiry projects? What do they take away?

I haven't had an inquiry project with these platforms, but I can imagine they would help immensely. Following my classmates' blogs and commenting on them helps me stay connected to them despite us not meeting physically in class. I can see how Google Docs could allow us to edit or do separate research and then add these parts together with ease. Teachers at our school use Edmodo to share powerpoints so that students can combine slides from their partner's presentation in their own to make one show. I think the only thing they could take away in the face to face time. Knowing my classmates from a week of class helps me feel connected to them when I comment on their blog. I think they would feel more like strangers if we didn't have this connection. Or we'd have to communicate socially on Twitter or Facebook to build a bond.

When citing web links . . . .

As I was adding web links to my blog from various print sources, (NCTE and Literacy Clearing House) I had a few unexpected problems. Some of the links didn't work. In two cases it wasn't because the site no longer existed, but it was because the link text was not copied correctly. In one case it was using a _ when it was a - and in another case it was placing a / where a . went.

On the other hand, when reading an article online on the IRA site, links in the text were much easier to navigate to. Partly because I didn't have to type the address myself and also because the person typing the code for the link could check that the spelling was correct when posting the article.

So, this experience caused me to pause and think a little about web links:

1. Check your links for broken links. Sometimes sites are abandoned.

2. Check for changes in links. Sometimes sites move or are renamed.

3. Having a link online through delicious or a website is much easier for navigation than a written text version of the link.

4. When adding links into a written document, copy and paste the link directly from the 

internet. Copy and paste it back to a blank internet page to make sure the address is correct!