Journal #1

Social Networking for the K-12 Set by Jim Klein


This article was a very informative article about how to implement a social networking system that will work for everybody. Jim Klein discuses, how in his school district of Saugus they have been using a Teacher and Student Community site to provide the tools and resources for their students and teachers to better “communicate, collaborate, learn, share, and grow to become a better community” (Klein,1).Some of the goals for his project include the following: an approachable and user friendly technology for students to share work with, open communication between staff and students, open discussion for everybody ( including parents), and a new kind of effective learning environment. I love this idea and think this is a wonderful way for students to network openly with teachers, faculty, and fellow students. While also giving students another way of getting an education, I feel that this is a great way to encourage use of technology for everybody- parents, students, and faculty. For example, there are those parents that don’t know how to use a computer which will them introduce them to how to use computers and what our students are learning. This system also enables children to share their work with other students in their district, their parents, and the community. I feel that this is a beneficial thing for students because it allows them to take pride in their work and have the drive to do an outstanding job on school assignments. Although, some may fear that stuff may get on the site that is not appropriate, all of the work that is submitted has to be approved by a teacher or faculty member so that there won’t be a problem. Another plus to this system is that it enables teachers to communicate with parents about their children and take the place of weekly newsletters without using so much paper and also expecting the student to give to the parents.
This system is something that I hope the district that I will be teaching in will consider using. I think that this is wonderful idea that has many benefits for everybody! Our world is depending more and more on technology and I feel that it is extremely important for schools to incorporate more technology in our curriculum; social networking is a great way to get started!
Question 1:
What happens if this system is incorporated in your school district, but the student is not fortunate enough to have a computer at home?

If the student does not have a computer at home then they will utilize and take advantage of the computer time at school. If I were the teacher that had this issue I would make sure to let the students know that any time they want to use the computer (not during school time) to let me know and I will let them use our class computers. For the communication with parents, I would still send home newsletters and other informative papers to give them what they need.

Question 2:
Is Social Networking something that you would like to use when you become a teacher?

I think that Social Networking is a great thing to have in the classroom. Technology is such a big deal now and I feel that it is very important for students to learn how to not only use the computer, but how to communicate on it as well!