Today we had a virtual guest speaker to teach us about the benefits of introducing students to social networking. This teacher used Ning to create a private, social networking program called Reading Revolution. Before hearing this presentation, I would have been really nervous about having student use social networking. I would be worried about not having parental support and running into problems with strangers contacting my students. However, I was surprised to find that parents were very supportive of the blogging. They had parents sign a permission slip which explains that the website is safe and private for students to use. They also had a technology night for parents to come and see what Reading Revolution is all about. Simply being honest, open, and understanding with parents seems to make them more comfortable with the idea of having their child use this social networking system. She also told us about a difficult situation she encountered on the system. Although the site was private, she made it public for a minute to add a new student and accidentaly forgot to turn it back to private. Someone got on the website and was saying really inappropriate things to students. I thought it was interesting that she used the problem as a learning opportunity to teach students about what to do when they are contacted by someone they do not know on the internet.
There are many great benefits of the Reading Revolution program, as well as other academic social networking systems. It allows you to teach about bullying, as well as social and communication skills. It is also very motivating in that it allows students to read and write in a real-world situation. Finally, I strongly believe that if students are taught how to use social networking systems appropriately, they will be able to use Facebook and My Space in a safe, appropriate way. Although I had not yet figured out how I could use this in my kindergarten classroom, if I were teaching in an upper elementary classroom, I would definitely look into setting up a system like this in my classroom. If anyone has any ideas for using social networking or blogging at the kindergarten level, I would love to hear them!
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I also worried about the parental support aspect. I student taught in a district where the parents were a big part of the school community and were always aware of what was going on in the classroom. I immediately thought of what parents would think of a social networking site such as Reading Revolution in the classroom. I really liked how Denise and the school she was working with provided many opportunities for families to learn more about them and answer any questions they may have had. Addressing their questions and concerns in an inviting forum such as this helped ease their fears and get them on board. The technology night was an excellent idea!
ReplyDeleteI understand that it is very difficult to try to incorporate this into a Kindergarten classroom. Obviously, you wouldn't send a 5-6 year old out into a virtual world--especially if you'd like to keep your job! :)
ReplyDeleteWhile social networks are inappropriate for kindergarten, I think that you could use blogging in your room--whether as writing a class blog, using it as a newsletter, or simply following a fun, child directed blog and sharing it with students. That way, they would still be exposed, and they'd be learning!
Your cautions are warranted. I think we still need to be careful with this type of technology, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't use it. We just need to make sure our bases are covered with administrators and parents. I think Denise gave us great insight and ideas for such an effort.
ReplyDeleteWhat you might consider is starting a classroom blog --- where you can blog what your students say, do etc. Parents/Grandparents would love this kind of resource. I think it can be a first step to social networking.