Journal+for+Week+2


 * This week we saw one video and read one article. The video "Impact of Social Media" was great. Currently, I do not participate in a social media because it has been recommendded by our union to use great caution when using social media. Yet, I do agree this is how our students socialize today. They create personal pages that have their favorite photos, songs, videos, and celebraties. They communicate with their peers and make new friends from around the world. They play games on them and study on them, yet at school they are not allowed to access them and teachers aren't allowed to use them. Interesting?

I beleive that Social Media is the great generation gap. Teachers have been told time and time again not to get involved with My Space and Facebook yet this is where my own children and students spend time daily. The good things are that they are incorporating a variety of data, sharing their photos, ideas, songs, opinions, plans with their friends. One of the fall backs is that kids have trouble talking to each other, taking time to listen to one anothers opinion and are very anzy without beable to constantly text or respond on their my space. I see kids at social functions texting each other instead of talking to each other.**


 * The article "The 21st Century Learner" was also a great resource. It was written by** **Marc Prensky** **and brought up many good points. Number one - the gray hair teaches are not using the right strategies to entice our students in the classroom. How do we go about doing this? He suggest that we ask our students, get a panel together ask them "Why is school boring?" He suggest that these students would give us some great ideas on how to use technology in our classroom.

In conclusion, both articles made me rethink my opinions about Social Media. I think I may create a facebook and mark it as private and see if I encounter any problems I have read online and in the newspaper that sometimes pictures of people have showed up from their past (such as college days) and this is where there is a conflict between what is being posted and what is appropriate. I also thought it was funny when the students said that teachers who use a power point think that they are all that and it is so simple compared to what they could teach us. I am excited to poll my students this week in class and hope that they will give me some good ideas to make my classroom more technological and engaging.**