Thing 22

I've never been a fan of FaceBook or My Space, again, simply because of the time involved. I don't enjoy talking on the phone to friends either so I guess it's not a surprise. But, I did join. (My kids tell me they will not be my friends!) I know I have a couple of friends from high school who use it alot so they will be glad to see me join. My experiences with My Space have not been good. As a school administrator, I am legally obligated to turn kids in who have illegal accounts. I have had two very high maintenance dealings with kids who have posted distasteful comments about other students on My Space that turned into something we had to spend weeks dealing with. It may be a fine place for older kids or adults, but the things I've seen on these kids accounts that I've turned in were way inappropriate. So, it is important for us as educators to at least be familiar with these social networks. I enjoyed the report I read about student use of social networking. The attitude they take on the kids who are nonconformists was interesting and I think they have a good point. They may not be traditional learners, but my goodness they are technologically geniuses in my book! I liked the way Facebook helped me connect with people I knew from High School, College, and my job. I thought that was a good feature. I think what we are going to have to do as educators is use Social Networking in a positive way so we can model appropriate uses. I would love to see my kids facebooking with students across the country or across the world.