Thing 5

My Dell and I are not on speaking terms tonight.  So, I'm working on a Mac.  That has me frustrated, but in spite of that, I finally got on the band wagon and joined Facebook.  People have been after me to join for a while.  Last year I signed my husband up and I played around on his profile, but for this activity, I decided it was time I joined in too.  Setting it up and using it is really easy, but it is the group discussions that I think will be really valuable.  The chatting with friends and keeping up with what's going on with everyone is fun and exciting, but I can also stay current with the newest trends in education.  All summer I keep hearing about the RTI model and that our school is not a pilot school so we won't get info on it till next year.  However, when I joined the International Reading Assoc.  group, that was the first posting on the discussion board. Cool!  

Twitter was easy to join, but I didn't get to do much with it because my Dell wouldn't let me go to the site or log in once I finally registered.  I used the Mac to see the site and I need to explore it more because I spent more time fighting with the other computer than working on the site.  I did get to see some of the recent posts from different discussion groups and we had some good laughs reading what others were talking about.  I have heard about classrooms of young children that have used Twitter to discuss different topics, talk about books, etc and I'd love to try that.  I set up a wiki last year with my class, but it didn't work for book talks. It was much better for writing than anything else.  

I would definitely use these sites as long as they can be private because my students are only 8 years old.  I know they understand these sites, but not all of my students are allowed to use the internet at home.  Many parents are wary of the internet because they don't want their children visible on the web.  I can see my class talking about what they read, send links to videos about topics we learn in class, etc.  As I sit here typing I can imagine all the possibilities and they are numerous.  I would just have to make sure they were protected first.  I think I would probably lean toward using Twitter with my class because it does not require the huge profile that Facebook does.  It's easier to set up than Facebook.  We start the year off with a study of the Earth, planets, landforms, maps, etc.  They could look for videos to share, websites, interesting facts, share books they have read about these topics, etc.  Think of the real world writing and real audience possibilities.

As far as back-channeling, I can absolutely see this happening in middle and high school.  My daughter would be so engaged in learning if she could use this type of technology.  I don't think this will work in a 3rd grade, however it would if someone was unable to be in class due to illness or some other circumstance.  Will that ever be possible?  Technologically, I know we have the capability, but realistically will teachers embrace this kind of learning so that all students are engaged?