I love the technologies class I am in right now (EDCI 336 with Kathreen) and I'm not just saying that because I know she might read it and give out brownie points...I actually love this class. For some reason I feel like I'm learning how to be a kid in today's day and age.Before today I had absolutely no interest in Twitter, and after today I'll probably forget my password to my twitter account and be forced to redo everything...oh well...Twitter to me is simply my "Facebook Status" which is updated every five seconds. My first impressions are not good. I honestly think it's a waste of time, it's simply another way to distract me from what I'm doing. That being said, I must confess that I do have a facebook account and check it a million times a day. Sometimes I love facebook and other times I hate it! There are some days that I want to give up and de-activate my account - which is do-able - but then an hour later I feel lost and out of touch with my "friends" - it's a vicious cycle!
Despite my personal feelings, as a prospective teacher I feel like I need to disregard my feelings about facebook and twitter and focus on how the youth of today are using these technologies and social networking sites. My 17 year old sister has her phone permanently attached her hand and she locks herself in her room to "facebook" and be online ALL THE TIME! So while I may not agree with social networking and talking to friends all the time, it is a HUGE part of young people's culture and if I'm not careful, knowledgeable and engaging I might get left behind!
The classroom is going to be very different by the time we get into it and start teaching and there may not be a way around integrating popular social networking sites into the classroom. There very well could be extreme benefits to Twitter and Facebook that, because of my personal preferences, will go un-noticed, and disregarded. The film we saw in class today and the links at the bottom outline how some teachers are using Twitter in the classroom. They use it primarily to open lines of communication with students. Twitter allows many students to discuss and converse all at the same time and at their own pace.
Technology and social networking sites can not be ignored and they are a HUGE part of young people's society - I guess I need to stop fighting it and embrace it and use it to my advantage. Here's hoping.
LC
P.S. I found some great youtube videos having to deal with Twitter and Facebook, take a look, some are quite funny! All the titles below are links that will take you straight to the video - your viewing entertainment is just a "click" away!
Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids
Facebook Manners and You
Twitter Song
Facebook Song
Twitter in the Classroom
Twitter in Education
Lauren you make a really excellent point about disregarding our own feelings and focusing on what our students will respond to. I guess it is that old situation of 'if you can't beat them, join them!' In other news, I LOVE the Facebook Manners video and the Facebook Song. The Facebook Song guys have another great video called the Drive-Thru Folk Song. Check it out if you haven't seen it!
ReplyDeleteAfter all this discussion I am really not too sure what to think. I know that there is space for technology in the classroom, and that students should be shown how to use that technology to its full teaching values, however, I am just not sure that EVERYTHING has a place in the classroom. I do agree with what kim said about 'if you can't beat them, join them' but it doesn't mean you have to speak their language all the time. Otherwise, we'd be LOLing all the time when our students gave us TMI about their weekend in their reflective journal entries!!
ReplyDeleteLauren, you posted some interesting links about the use of social media in the classroom. I guess doubts linger as we struggle with finding the broad definition of literacy not just for today but also for skills we will need in the future.
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