Ch. 9, Blogs..........

In this chapter, social networks were discussed.  When I think of social networks, I instantly think of Facebook and pretty much nothing else.  For me and for almost every other college student, Facebook is primarly used to talk to friends, post whats on your mind, and pretty much "stalk" anyone and everyone while learning more about them.  In the chapter though, social networks were discussed including Facebook and Ming.  I will discuss Facebook primarly since that is the hottest and most relevant one right now.  With Facebook, teachers and schools run into many problems.  Students may be sharing too much with everyone and it eliminates any area of privacy.  Also, this tool opens up avenues for bullying and too much "gossip".  Truly, Facebook is used in a non-school and social role.  Yet, students use it in school to stay away from school.  This is a large problem in schools and it is mostly prohibited in most schools.  But what if we could use Facebook to our advantage?  I like the idea of creating a private Facebook "site" or page for your classroom.  As discussed, almost all students have an account and what is a better way to get them better in-tune with school than to take over their main social outlet?  With this, you can probe their thinking outside of class, keep them involved in what is going on in school, and you can even lead discussions online.  A great advantage of this is that kids that usually are shy, can becoem out-spoken and open us on an online discussion.  This allows the sharing of ideas with everyone and really helps focus them back onto school instead of "who friended me".  I love the idea of using their main social outlet as a schooling device.  I look to teach 7th grade and I for sure will make a page for my classroom.  This way, I can post discussion topics, challenge their thinking outside of school, and keep them up to date on what is going on or whats due (they can't tell you they didn't know since all they do is sit on Facebook!).  I will use Facebook for sure.  Also, I will never befriend a student because that is extremely wrong.