43. Links
• My blog posts evaluating • Writing in the 21st
different social Century
networking sites
• Blog self evaluation
• Grouply
• danika.barker1@tvdsb.on.ca
• Grou.ps
• My action research paper
• Ning
• How to get Pearson to
sponsor your Ning
Editor's Notes
Hand out cards and invite teachers to go to the link and follow along on the slides so that they can access any of the links that pop up. Hi my name is Danika Barker and I’m a teacher at Central Elgin Collegiate Institute in St.Thomas.
Home of the Titans
and Rachel McAdams
Today I’d like to share with you some of the examples of how I’ve used one particular social networking site with my students and hopefully help answer some questions you might have about setting up your own social networking site. But before we get started, it would be helpful for me to get a sense of you comfort and knowledge level when it comes to this topic. Show thumbs up=limited knowledge, some knowledge, lots of knowledge
How many people have facebook accounts, have kids who have facebook accounts.
There are lots of different types of social networking sites; facebook is just one example
Common Craft video. Great source for all kinds of videos explaining things like blogging, Twitter, even zombies in a very clear way.
So you might be wondering though why you might consider using social networking in the classroom, and I’d like to share with you my rationale for using social networking sites in the classroom.
I started to develop an interest in technology when I worked as a literacy learning coordinator for TVDSB and I was interested in the connections between technology and literacy. This led me to an article by Kathleen Blake Yancey on the changing attitudes toward writing over the past 100 years. Historically, while reading was often linked to leisure and pleasure, writing was often linked to labour, testing, conveying bad news. Now with web 2.0 technology there are so many different platforms for writers: chat, email, text messages, social networks, blogging, even news sites.
Yancey concludes that the way we teach writing needs to be more authentic. Students need to have a real audience for their writing, not just teachers. They have all kinds of authentic writing experiences outside the classroom, but when they know they can write a comment on youtube that the whole world can see, writing something that only the teacher sees seems inauthentic. It’s playing the game of school, rather than writing for a real purpose.
In Disrupting Class, Clayton M. Christensen and Michael B. Horn ask us to think of students as consumers. How do we get them to buy what we’re selling. Well what if we look at the things they buy and why they seem to like them
Yancey doesn’t specifically discuss this aspect of writing but in terms of authentic writing experiences, students are used to being able to customize and personalize their communication experiences on the web. Social networking sites allow them to do this
We are becoming more and more used to being able to access information anytime anywhere. You can do your banking any time of day, you can PVR your favourite TV shows. Thanks not only to the internet but to mobile devices such as cell phones, and iPod touches we can interact and communicate anywhere any time. Why can’t school be like that? Students are learning all the time. If we want them to buy our product, we need to make it accessible for them. Some of my at risk students are not exactly model students when it comes to punctuality and attendance. Jessica’s story
Collaboration can be a really effective way to allow students to practice skills with more capable peers so that they will experience more success individually. This is the idea of the gradual release of responsibility. Web 2.0 technology provides lots of opportunities to students to collaborate on tasks. Google docs and wikis allow students to collaborate on written tasks and social networking sites allows students share and comment on each other’s ideas. I’ve found that while they expect to get feedback from the teacher, they place a lot more value on the feedback the get from their peers which can be really powerful. Perhaps more importantly, while can’t fully imagine the kind of future we’re preparing our students for, one of the 21st century skills that most people agree they’ll need is the ability to collaborate effectively.
When students have an authentic audience for communication, they’re able to personalize their experience, they’re able to collaborate with peers, and they can access their learning anywhere any time, they are more engaged. That’s how we can get them to buy in. We don’t just want them to be entertained so we don’t have classroom management issues, we want them to engaged in something that is meaningful.
So I was looking for some sort of web 2.0 application to increase student motivation and improve literacy skills, when I heard about a colleague who was using Facebook with a group of his at risk students who were reading “Of Mice and Men.”... Students were really motivated and engaged but I couldn’t see myself encouraging other teachers to the same thing for a number of reasons. First of all Facebook is blocked by a lot of school internet filters.
Then of course we’ve all heard horror stories of young people (and heck even teachers) posting inappropriate content on Facebook. but I would argue that rather than ban facebook, we need to be teaching students how to behave appropriately online. But I was also concerned about creating fake identities on a public site and what that might be teaching about your digital footprint.
That led me to Ning,
One way we can model and practise responsible use of social networking sites is by creating an online environment that mimics facebook but gives us more control. Think of it as training wheels for Facebook. There are lots of options for this. I’m going to talk about the one I’m most familiar with using, but I’ll also talk about some other options
My first site on Ning created to have students role play characters from the GG. Given the option.
Lesson to be learned is to make their first experience with this low risk. They need to get comfortable with any new learning tool. When I think back to trying concept maps with students for the first time, I’d get the same reaction. So it’s important to not get discouraged if students don’t latch on to something new right away.
This was great, and a lot of fun, but when I asked myself how sophisticated the task was in terms of thinking skills, it ranked fairly low. Mostly knowledge and comprehension, some application. But after playing with the site a bit I wondered if I could get students to the synthesis and evaluation levels through the blogging feature of the ning.
So I decided to have students blog. Go to Hamlet blog and show blogging criteria and then show how comments demonstrate that students and building on ideas. It’s a living piece.
Cyberbullying is a very big concern among parents and teachers. Students don’t bully each other because of technology. If we take the technology away, it won’t stop the behaviour. Instead we should educate students about why bullying is harmful and how to respond to online and face to face bullies.
Also the partial anonymity of a site like Ning where students use their real names can lead to really positive and supportive interaction. Students feel freer to take positive risks like supporting a student they might not normally engage with.
Providing really clear instructions helps keep students on task. Monitors off. Using netsupport.
Discuss importance of audience and purpose. You’re not going to see perfect grammar and spelling on my sites. While I do deduct marks for improper spelling and grammar, this is informal writing so I don’t them to get so hung up on it that they don’t write. They know who they’re writing for and why.
Shyness.
Privacy settings
Boundaries. Many teachers are concerned about engaging with students in online environment. Guidelines: keep interaction professional. CC messages to dept head or principal, tell students what you will and will not use email for and stick to it.OSSTF advises members to maintain exemplary professional conduct, keep copies of email. Maintain a professional tone. Use your work email, not personal email.
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Join a ning. Start small. Decide to try it for one project and make it low risk.
