FACEBOOK

I joined the Facebook community while I was in college right after was first introduced.  I remember my peers talking about how this online community connected students.  I found it fascinating, for I began to use my facebook account to touch base with my friends I had met in class.  If for some reason I was unable to get to class, I could connect to my fellow classmates on Facebook to quickly see what I missed.  I found that this online community for people in the same college was a great idea.  It provided several networking opportunities.

I had the opportunity to use Facebook as a student in college for networking, but I do think there are several opportunities for me to use Facebook with my students to promote teaching and learning within a classroom.  I am a firm believer that as a middle school educator, I must meet middle school students where they are.  I know my students love the technology of Facebook, so I am looking forward to using this tool in my classroom.

One of the ways that I believe I can use Facebook is while teaching a novel in my Language Arts class.  I was talking about using this tool with one of my teacher colleagues, and  it was suggested to me to have my students create a Facebook account from the perspective of the characters.  For example, if I am reading a novel about the story of Anne Frank with my students, I can have students work in groups to create this character:  this character's likes and dislikes, favorite activities, favorite books, quotes, etc.  This activity would allow me to:

• Connect a technology that the students love to the classroom
• Create a meaningful and engaging lesson that students can relate to
• Allows students to visually see the story they are reading in class from the perspective of the character they are researching
• Gives an opportunity for the students to experiment with technology while meeting the needs of various types of learners

I also like the idea mentioned on our website about students using Facebook to provide feedback through polls.  I believe students would like to use a technology resource they are familiar with to relate to what they are learning in the classroom.  Through Facebook, I have seen questionnaires or polls from friends of mine on Facebook.  Although they are not normally about an educational topic, I believe that as a teacher, I can use this tool to ask questions about what we are studying in class.  I could take the topic of Anne Frank and ask my students questions regarding the story and the reading elements discussed in class.  Not only could I use this from a reading perspective, but I also could use this method for spelling words (for example:  choose which word is spelled incorrectly, etc).

I have enjoyed the social network Facebook has provided, but I definitely think that I can take this a step further and use this tool within my classroom.  It is my goal to create meaningful and engaging lessons that my students can relate to.  Using Facebook -- a tool most of my students I am sure are familiar with and currently using -- is a great way to provide hands-on interaction with my lesson plans while implementing technology.