1. Social Networking in the Classroom Could this newly popular social technology enhance classroom learning? By Jessica Murphy 1 Click for Table of Contents! 

2. Social Networking Goes to School (Slides 3-5) Article Summary (Slide 3) Personal Reflection/Favorite Quote (Slide 4) My Aha! Moment #1 (Slide 5) Teacher’s Network Launches Social Networking Site: www.effectiveteachers.org (Slides 6-8) Article Summary (Slide 6) Personal Reflection/Favorite Quote (Slide 7) My Aha! Moment #2 (Slide 8) Districts Change Policies, Embrace Twitter, Youtube for Educational Purposes (Slides 9-11) Article Summary (Slide 9) Personal Reflection/Favorite Quote (Slide 10) My Aha! Moment #3 (Slide 11) Conclusion (Slide 12) Tables of Contents 2  Click to get started!

3. “Social Networking Goes to School” Davis, Michelle R. (2010, November). Social Networking Goes to School. The Education Digest, 76(3), 14-19. Retrieved December 11, 2010, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 21841109). In this article, author Michelle Davis argues that the trend of using social networking in school is truly growing. She provides examples, such as a teacher in Florida that has used the educational social networking site, Ning, to contact teachers/classes from other parts of the world the learn about other countries. The classes would interact via Skype. Each student would have a job while the “meet and greet” occurs, such as some students would be updating their classroom’s Twitter page with live-action tweets about what country they are chatting with, etc. She also provides examples of how Twitter can be used to alert parents about what is going on in the classroom each day, and how Twitter can also be used to educational chats amongst teachers from across the globe, where they can provide and receive advice and ideas from each other. 3  Click here!

4. This articles really was the one that got me interested in the idea of using social networking inside the classroom. I wasn’t quite sure of how it could be done, but this one really went over the vast array of options that are available when incorporating sites such as Twitter, Skype, and Ning. My favorite quote: In regards to social networking, the author believes that “It's a world that students feel at home in and is unlikely to disappear.” This quote caught my eye because of the veracity of the statement. Why not incorporate something that students use all the time for pleasure into something educational? What a great way to make the students feel comfortable in the classroom! Personal Reflection 4  Click here!

5. My Aha! Moment #1 I was just excited while reading this article because of all the ideas that it gave me! My Aha! Moment was when I read that a huge problem in the U.S. school system is that most school districts block these social networking sites. I also read that a teacher had to explain in detail exactly what he would be using these sites for to the school’s technical director in order to get them unblocked. It just made me realize that this is something that I might have to do in my own future classroom, if this social networking trend (in the educational world) doesn’t pick up as quickly as I hope! 5  Click here!

6. “Teacher’s Network Launches Social Networking Site: www.effectiveteachers.org” Teachers Network; Teachers Network Launches Social Networking Site: www.effectiveteachers.org. (2010, April). Education Business Weekly. Retrieved December 11, 2010, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1998342631). This article explains the uses and purposes of the new social networking site for teachers, www.effective teachers.org. This site provides a medium for teachers to post and interact about lesson plan ideas, etc. with teachers all over the globe. The idea is to enhance learning for ALL students, to ensure that every student is getting the same wonderful education anywhere they go. They place emphasis on bettering public education, and also encourage the collaboration of teachers. 6  Click here!

7. Personal Reflection/ Favorite Quote This website could really be helpful for any teacher, and I really do think I will join it and use it as I finish my degree and especially once I have my own students to teach. As a human and as a teacher, we should always be learning and bettering ourselves, and I believe that this site would be a great way to do this: to keep up with the educational news, to continue to learn about new ideas to use in the classroom and fun, inventive new ways to learn different subjects. My favorite quote: “Through collaboration of educators, policy-makers, and virtually all public stateholders, the aim is to improve teacher effectiveness and retention in all schools so that every student has the very best possible opportunity to achieve .” I feel that this perfectly sums up what this website is all about: to enhance learning for everyone across the globe, and to make use of this new trend of social networking for educational purposes. 7  Click here!

8. My Aha! Moment #2 My Aha! moment with this article was when I realized that this might be helpful in a lot of ways, but it would be great to have a place where teachers could learn about new educational policies at both the national and local levels. As I continued reading, I found out that they DO have this, and they also provide videos and audio material to go along with it. They even have discussion forums about new policies where you can have debates, etc. 8  Click here!

9. Districts Change Policies, Embrace Twitter, Youtube for Educational Purposes The Associated Press. (2010, March). Districts Change Policies, Embrace Twitter, YouTube for Educational Purposes. Education Week, 29(25), 10. Retrieved December 11, 2010, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1996374091). This article spotlights a school district in Kentucky that has allowed school access to sites like Twitter and Youtube, which are blocked at virtually every school district. Their reasoning is that there are so many educational benefits to these sites. Youtube has a plethora of videos that can be used to enhance the students learning experience. The surprise is that Twitter (a site for microblogging) has also been educational. A 2nd grade classroom uses their classroom Twitter page to update it and say what they have learned in class that day. In this way, parents are more aware of what is going on at school each day. It is also helpful to alert parents of school cancellations or delays due to inclement weather, or about upcoming events like field trips or conferences. The 2nd grade classroom also follows people like famous astronauts that are in space on their Twitter. 9  Click here!

10. Personal Reflection/Favorite Quote This article again makes me excited for my own classroom. Using a Twitter account for the classroom is way easier to contact parents all at once instead of calling them each separately to alert them about different things at school. It’s different than e-mail because the status update can be sent to ANYONE who wants to follow our classroom, and plus the students can become directly involved by helping update the status about what we learned in class that day. My favorite quote: “District officials say the educational benefits--such as better communication and improved instruction--are proving social media to be more than just a distraction.” This quote stuck out to me because the district officials are the ones that believe this to be true. I feel that typically TEACHERS are the ones that would argue that social networking sites could be educational, but the fact that the OFFICIALS of the district believe so as well just proves how quickly this is spreading. It’s exciting to think that by the time I have my own classroom, I might not even have to ask for these sites to be unblocked—who knows! 10  Click here!

11. My Aha! Moment #3 My Aha! Moment for this article was a quote from the superintendent of this school district that said that social networking is clearly a big deal to the entire nation, so why not use it to their advantage? It makes perfect sense to take advantage of something that a lot of students, parents, and teachers use everyday anyway—why not incorporate it into the classroom? 11  Click here!

12. Conclusion All three of these articles point to the fact that Social Networking has become quite popular, and keeping it away from the school is silly. By incorporating social networking both into the classroom and into the teacher’s preparatory work for the classroom, we can truly enhance and enrich the students’ educational experience. In this way, we are constantly improving and educating ourselves by staying in contact with other teachers, and also with parents and students who might want to constantly stay aware of what is going on in the classroom. 12  Click to exit!