Chapter 2 is about Social Media and its place in society and in the classroom.
It may be the author is from California and I'm from New England, but I disagree with some of her assumptions. The author says on page 15, "Adults and especially educators have a powerful role to play in helping to facilitate the cultural transition taking place-as the public and private aspects of our social lives converge teens enter a public culture that is networked and mediated at every level"
I disagree that our public and private lives need to converge! I really enjoy my privacy and don't want to share too much of my personal life with my school community. When Tammy told the story of a student stopping by her house unannounced for help during her family dinner time, I was outraged! Being an educator is a very demanding job as we continue to be expected to do more with less. I feel it is critical to have a SEPARATE private life to survive the demands of working in education.
As educators, we should have access to and ongoing practice using the social media our students use like Facebook, iPods and cell phones, but I strongly disagree I should be lurking on Facebook and friending my students! I feel like it's their space and I don't belong there. It would be like walking into a crowd of my students on a Friday night and saying, "Hey, what's up?" - Awkward!!! They have their social group and I have mine!
I'm also hesitant to buy into social media replacing a student's psycho-social development. Is it really true teenagers don't have any unstructured time to hang out anymore? Some of my best childhood memories are from walking a block to my school after dinner and kicking a soccer ball or shooting baskets with other kids until it got dark. It was play, it was social, it was great! I can't imagine online activity replacing that. I'm really sad, if that's the case...
I do acknowledge, as educators we need to be familiar with social networks and I agree we should continually have open conversations with our students about the benefits and drawbacks of online communication.
The escalating “potato chip” scrape between Carla and Stephanie is a big concern of mine. It’s so easy to say bad things to someone when it’s not face to face in a conflict. Thank goodness the guidance counselor was able to intervene and help each girl work though and express her feelings and resolve the conflict. Otherwise, the hurtful words may have destroyed a friendship over potato chips!
Your post reminds me of conversations I've had with teachers regarding technology integration. I try to remind teachers that technology is not meant to "replace" what they have been doing; sometimes it does end up doing so, yes. But technology integration into the classroom is meant to "enhance" the teaching and learning experience, and some of those traditional tools and ways of doing things are still just as valid and important as ever.
ReplyDeleteTo that end, I agree with you Marty that students still need to go outside and play face-to-face and not Facebook-to-Facebook. Yes, there were some great times with my friends playing Mario Kart death matches (cursed red turtle shells!). But I also remember having just as much fun playing a round of bocce ball on the lawn outside our dormitory, sometimes late at night (i.e. final exams week).
So, as long as they keep making basketballs and playgrounds, 4-square courts and sandboxes, then there is still hope.