Journal #1

Journal #1
“Social Networking for the K-12 Set”
By Jim Klein

This article is about social networking for students and teachers in the school districts. The social networking site serves as a great place for teachers, students, and parents to communicate. It also gives students a chance to use technology on a daily basis. In many schools today, technology is not being used by teachers because it is expensive and complex. The only teachers that really use it well in the classroom are your tech “junkies”. As a result, the SUSD Teacher and Student Community Site serves as an easy to access social networking site for students and teachers in the Saugus school district. Furthermore, the site allows for workgroups, opportunities to discuss social and legal issues, and an effective learning environment. Also, it allows for students to view work of their peers. It can even let them view the work of peers from the same school district, but different school. This can show if students are on the same district path. Members can also put their content on their ipods. The site is also regulated by teachers and the district. Thus, the site can be regulated for viewing by the general public, site members only, small groups, or even just themselves. The site promotes communication between students and teachers. It also allows students to work on group projects or even go over lesson reviews. Students are working with technology while studying for their classes. It is a nice way to incorporate technology into education without making technology a separate lesson.

What about low income students who do not have computers?

I believe that social networking is a great idea and can serve to be very helpful for students. However, in order for it to be completely effective, I feel that every students must have a computer with internet access at their home. However, this is not to say that students cannot benefit from the program. They can log onto any computer that has internet access. This can range anywhere from the school classroom, library, or computer lab. The main thing is for school districts to make computers easily accessible for their students.

How can I use this technology tool as a way for to get students serious about their education?

As a future science teacher, I would like for students to research information off of the computer. The internet serves as an encyclopledia. I would set up internet links to science web sites. I will also post articles that relate to what we are discussing in class. This will show students that the issues discussed in class, also are real life topics in the world today.