Reading Reflection on Chapters 7 & 9

After reading chapters 7 and 9 I have once again been enlightened about even more programs that you can use in the classroom that are online and free.  Before this reading I was under the influence that Facebook should not be used in the schools in any way.  I like the idea of having a private classroom page, like the one that Jim Meredith created that was mentioned in the book.  I realize that children are going on the internet at young ages these days but I think that a Facebook page would be appropriate for grades 4^th and up.  If the Facebook page is going to be used to discuss different things then you want to make sure that the students are ready for in depth discussions and that is why it would probably be best in 4^th grade and up.  As for being a future teacher I would like to use a Facebook page or some other type of technology as a homework page where students can find out what’s due for the next day and at the same time post questions about homework on the page where I could then answer those questions then.

        Flicker was also part of the reading that I did.  Before reading this I had only heard of flicker, but never really understood what it truly was.  There are so many different things that you can have students do with flicker, the possibilities are endless.  Having students take photos is just another way to get them engaged in their school work, and it’s exciting at the same time.  One thing that I would like to do as a future teacher would be to have a flicker page to document what goes on in the classroom throughout the week and then at the end of the week post photos and call it “Week 2 Review”.  This would allow the parents to see what their son or daughter has done or learned this week.  Some weeks there may be lots of pictures if the class had taken a field trip or done an experiment in science class, while other weeks there may just be highlights of student work that was done.  This would allow parents who are busy a lot to still be involved with their child’s school life.  Taking photos over the weekend and then having students upload them before they come to school on Monday would be a great way to start a discussion of a new topic.  For instance if you were going to start a botany unit in biology, students would be assigned to take photos of different plants and flowers around their house.

        Ning was the last piece of technology that I read about.  I had never heard about Ning before reading this.  The best thing about Ning is that it’s a site that allows you to connect with others who have the same passion that you do.  This allows me as a future educator to capitalize on the subject that my students are really interested in.  Ning will also connect my class page then with professionals in that subject area who are also on Ning.  I think that would be the best thing for students to interact with a professional who is just a passionate as they are about the subject, it may even inspire some of them to choose that profession for their career some day.  I think this would be a great group activity where there would groups of three to five students who all share the same passion.   Each group could have their own Ning page and engage in discussions about their topic and complete different assignments with the use of Ning.