Watch What you Post Week 5 Choice Blog

I am currently teaching a section of English Composition at Plymouth State. This course is required of all students and is typically taken in the first semester of their first year. We have talked about what is writing and have collectively decided that even their status updates to Facebook, Twitter and texting are examples of their writing. When I stumble/find information regarding these sites and their use that might challenge the students preconceived notions, I bring in copies and we discuss briefly.

"How Facebook Ruins Friendships," and "Facebook Exodus" are two articles that I have brought to the class (both from NYTimes). At this time, I mentioned that in my previous life when I was an Assistant Program Director for an Early Intervention Program in New Hampshire and I had to hire and fire employees I Googles all potential interviewees. The students thought that this was nuts and some weren't sure it was even legal. I then explained that what is placed online is there, potentially, forever for anyone to view. After a brief discussion, I got the feeling that most of my twenty students thought I was nuts.

Not the next day on my Google Reader I found the article titled, "Obama School Speech Addresses Facebook for 'Glass House' Generation." This article so beautifully backed up everything I said and we talked about and was timely. Plus, it had the added bonus of coming from the current President. This article really cemented in the students minds that while social is quite cool and for all its worth, students really do need to pay attention to what they post. This article listed the results from a study done by CareerBuilder that interviewed companies on thier use of researching prospective employees and whether or not what they found inhibited their offering an interview with that person.

This study is really quite revealing and a way to keep students grounded in what they are posting on the web.

Using Tech to Create Knowledge--Constructivism and Connectivism

The question from this weeks outline, "How can we use these tools, connect with others to "create" knowledge?" completely sums up my ambivalence regarding the use of technology and at what level of intensity. Websites like Moodle, Glogster, Wordle, Diigo, PBWiki, Lulu and Classchatter are just a few possible tech tools to utilize.

To begin to answer my own hesitations and questions I have regarding technology in the classroom I am going to start small, using a few things I have already picked up from this class. I would never have found out about these on my own without working together to "uncover, discover, communicate and find information."

I am currently enrolled in a graduate course titled "Teaching Secondary Literature." One of our larger projects is to create a unit using Young Adult Literature. The unit needs to be 15 lessons long in total over any length of time. Having checked out other student blogs and exploring some of their links I'm excited by what I've discovered and the ease of which I might be able to incorporate some of these tools into my classroom.

While I don't know really what I will be doing for my unit yet (detail-wise) I could easily see how for the text "The Great Gatsby" I might have students work in groups of two and adopt a character. For a culminating project, they would need to utilize Glogster to create a poster on their character to present to the class. This activity would also provide a focus for the students as they read a text that is typically seen as 'not interesting, relate able, and boring.'

This type of activity utilizes both constructivism ideals (students constructing their own knowledge) and connectivism (students using technology to construct their own knowledge). In this sense (and I might say limited) then I could possible see how bringing technology into the classroom effectively and, more importantly, powerfully.