Ms. Dunne

Social networking sites are growing in popularity among young people.  They have instant access to friends through cell phones and internet sites.  Two of the most popular social networking sites are Myspace and Facebook.  Here, students can customize their own area of the internet to reflect their personality and interests.  Through digital networking students can now interact with one and other with out face to face contact.  What effects might this have on the social development of students?

One issue that arises with the growing popularity of social networking sites is the issue of digital bullying.  Teasing exists at every school and grade level.  Social networking enables students to bully and tease from the comfort of their own home, away from staff and faculty.  At times the effects of teasing carry over into the schools.  Do administrators have the authority to monitor and take action against digital teasing in order to prevent it from interfering with students’ education?  Why or why not?

Blogging can be extremely useful in the classroom setting.  In his article, “The Prose of Blogging (and a Few Cons, Too)” Rama Ramaswami addresses the issues that surround integrating blogging into standards based curriculum.  Blogs can be used across curriculum to help students practice writing and improve their writing skills.

The key to integrating blogging in the classroom is to have a purpose behind the blog.  I could not agree more with this.  As with any assignment, the teacher must give explicit instruction in order for the students to benefit.  I remember doing endless worksheet and writing essays that seemed to have no purpose other than to keep us busy.  Technology cannot be used this way.   Blogs can used to help students practice and improve writing.  Students of today are accustomed to writing and reading information on the computer screen.  By having them blog, the teacher is taking a traditional assignment and presenting it in a way that students are familiar with and can relate to.  Blogging also allows the students to share their thoughts and ideas with the whole class rather than just the instructor.  The students can give each other feedback to help make their writing better or build on ideas.

As a math teacher, blogging would be an excellent way to integrate writing into a curriculum that lacks in that area.  If I were to set up a blog in my classroom, I would use it as a way to gauge student understanding of the topics.  Once a week I would have the students analyze their comfort with the material and their progress in the course.  I would have a different prompt each week.  Word problems are difficult for many students. I would use the blog to have the student practice writing word problems and answer other students’ problems that are posted.

The last paragraph of this article struck me.  Ramaswami writes. “It is imperative for teachers to develop their own tech skills so they can bring technology’s academic benefits into the classroom.”  This makes me think of my own limited tech skills.  Teachers today are competing with ipods and YouTube for students’ attention.  In order for the information I am presenting to be relevant for today’s students, I must step up to the technology challenge.

I used garage band to edit the voices of my classmates.  This was my first attempt at a podcast.  It was surprisingly simple!  I could see my students loving this.  I will try to incorporate podcasts at some point during the year.

Click My Song 4 to hear all about my classmates!

I don’t have brown eyes, but I still love this song!  Take a listen….James Taylor – Brown Eyed Girl

Thank you for visiting my blog! I am currently a graduate student at APU. I am the recent recipient of a single subject math credential. I will start my first teaching job at Ocean View Junior High in August. I am excited to get my own classroom! This is the one summer that I am excited for school to start!

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