Many educators are faced with such intense scrutiny from their administration: does the classroom have the essential question, do the students know the standards, are the student scores acceptable, is there a word wall, is the teacher calling parents on a daily basis, etc...
With all of the pressures a classroom teacher faces one could easily say that a well organized social networking program could certainly make things easier for the teacher; however, the problem is that administrators have difficulty monitoring what is going on in the classroom if the teacher is utilizing technology. Our classrooms are not really for the students..they tend to be "set up" for the adults who have to determine if classroom teachers are doing their job.
I whole heartily believe in social networking as a learning tool and the kids who have the opportunity to use it mostly do well with it, but the work is not blazoned in the classroom for administrators to see. Now,this situation could be an opportunity for the media specialist to help administrators know what to look for when visting the teacher web pages, wikis, blackboard systems, etc...It seems to me that like most veteran teachers, most administrators fear change as well.
Perks of social networking in the classroom:
* It allows students to submit online, especially if they have jobs and such
* It allows parents to have a online connection to the teacher, which enables them to communicate other than by phone; this is most helpful since most teachers cannot access a phone during the day but can e-mail or blog and such (same for working parents)
* It opens the door for more group work opportunity
* It helps teachers and students with organization of units: standards can be posted so that students and teachers can access them at any time, and units and lessons can be accesssed for those who may need to review or look ahead.
* Parents can see what is going on in the classroom and possibly what their child has contributed or not.
Overall, social networking does not have to dominate the classroom but can be a resource that would make learning fun, let parents in on the action, and help the teachers and students by saving time in the actual classroom to learn and practice th skills that might be needed to acomplish the standards.
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oh I totally agree!!! Teachers cannot even teach due to the requirements they have to meet and most spend 12 hour days because anyone who wants to be a teacher simply does so because their desire is for kids to learn! If it were only that simple!!! I agree that online activities inspire kids to learn and it was interesting to me that part of that concern was that administrators cannot monitor activities that way! My 6th grader is one of the lucky ones who is in a "21st century school" and I can tell you that even his summer homework was not as bad for him because he got to do it online...like playing a video game for him! His school uses Blackboard and he checks assignments and submits work there. I also agree that group work and online communication would be much easier for both parent and teacher. Your post presents the most controlled environment for learning I have read. I am typically hesitant to want schools to dive into social networking because I have seen first hand the devastation unmonitored use can cause, but the type use and learning you present reminded me of the middle school my child attends and the benefits I see there. The problem (being the pessimist that I am) I see there would be access to a computer. For example, my computer got a virus and crashed this week...my son was afraid to tell me he had online homework and PPT's to create this week... Now what does a student (or parent) do???
ReplyDeleteWhat you said is so true; often, teachers are unable to focus on creating the most meaningful and engaging means of instruction possible for their students because they are so busy fulfilling requirements set by administrators, the school district, and the state. Social networking tools can actually make this accountability easier in some ways; instead of having to keep up with paper copies of newsletters (which we had to do when I taught pre-K, as a requirement for our annual evaluation by the state), teachers can post classroom news on a blog, and could use a wiki as a sign-up sheet for parent conference times or classroom volunteer opportunities. This would enable the 'higher-ups' to simply access these tools in order to see exactly what kind of information parents were getting. The same goes for media specialists, who can post policies, activities, and information about their media centers, so that parents, administrators, and others can get a clearer picture of what is actually happening there. It is one thing for a student to tell a parent that they're a member of a Harry Potter book club, but much more eye-opening if the parent can go to the media center's webpage and read discussions to which their child contributed or the questions that he or she should think of when reading the next section (pseudonyms or just first names would probably be used in discussions, to protect students' privacy). It's unfortunate, though, that so many times, the powers that be are the last ones to get on board with tools that can be such a great asset to both students and teachers.
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