Facebook in the Classroom??

When I think of Facebook a couple things come to mind; staying connected, rekindling old friendships, sharing photos, and a great way to procrastinate and waste time. The thought of ever using Facebook in a classroom seems almost absurd! That is, until I read the article, “First-graders use Facebook as a learning tool,” by Dennis Friend.

I found this article extremely interesting. In a first grade classroom, Facebook was being used as a teaching tool to recap lessons and synthesize concepts to their parents and administrators. Students would use the status update feature to let their “friends” know what they learned in class. This allows parents to receive updates and a daily glimpse of what their child is learning. It also allows parents to communicate and offer feedback. District guidelines are used to help protect privacy and guard against misuse. Students also seem to love the idea.

I think this is great idea to use if you can make it work in your classroom. It definitely opens my eyes to the impact technology can have and how you can apply it in the classroom. It gives the students an opportunity to communicate with their parents and allows them to digest and summarize what it is that they have just learned.

Friend, D. (2010, November 7). First-graders use facebook as a learning tool. NONPAREILonline. Retrieved from:  http://www.southwestiowanews.com/articles/2010/11/07/council_bluffs/doc4cd61de0eceb2779388716.txt

Digital Readers

I really liked this week’s article on digital readers. Although I have seen them, heard about them, and even played with one at the bookstore, it never even occurred to me that they could be used in a classroom setting. Allowing students to adjust the font size, accessing a built-in dictionary and having a text-to-speech feature are great and really beneficial for all readers. Another great tool is allowing students to make annotations as they read. This will not only allow students to jot down any ideas or questions they have but it also helps the teacher understand what the students are thinking and if there is any confusion.

I also like how they broke down the annotations into five categories: understanding the story, personal meaning, questioning, answering, and text features. The results of the study didn’t really surprise me. I think kids today are fascinated with technology and would love using digital readers in the classroom instead of traditional books. Although digital readers could never replace traditional books in the classroom it is a great way to get kids excited about reading.

           I definitely think this can be applicable whether or not you have digital readers available to you in your classroom. Although it would be nice for all classrooms to have them I think it’s important to note how the use of technology can affect a child’s enthusiasm and reading behavior.