Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/29842
as ‘friends’ on Facebook will go away,” he believes. Laurie Scheibner, a seventh-grade sites that allow the creation and editing of any number of interlinked webpages via a Web browser],” he relates. “Sometimes stu- dents don’t want to share things out loud, but will post them online, which brings them into the classroom discussion if they are shy. It makes the class much more in- clusive. The best part is that students have 24-hour access to their grades and can contact me if they have any problems.” Eventually, says Russell, he would like to see more schools allow Facebook and Twitter, so teachers can fully incorporate social networking into curriculum, to prepare students for the world of work. “Someday the stigma of having students teacher at Alder Creek Middle School in Truckee, communicates with students on Facebook, but it’s a separate account set up just for students, since she wants to keep her personal life (and personal Facebook account) separate from her school life. (For guidelines about cyber safety with stu- dents from CTA’s Legal Department, see page 16.) The Tahoe-Truckee Education Association member decided to set up an account just for students, since they were already communicating with one another on Facebook and constantly asking her to be their “friend” online. Her student ac- count has highly restrictive settings and is used outside of school, since her district has banned Facebook on school comput- ers along with most social networking sites, although teachers can request access to YouTube for special occasions. “In middle school, it’s really important to have a personal connection with kids, so you can snag them in when they are falling behind,” says Scheibner. “Facebook allows me to have a better relationship above: Raul Lopez follows Spanish teacher Donald Lopez’s instruction. right: Middle-school student Jada shares with her class through online collaborative work. 10 Social Media ways to Incorporate in the classroom 1 Have students create a mock Facebook page for a literary character or historical figure. 2 Have them follow someone on Twitter who’s famous or a political figure and ask them to write about what they learned. 3 Ask students to tweet imaginary conversations between literary figures such as Romeo and Juliet. 4 Create a social networking site just for your class so students can collaborate on assignments, study together or edit each other’s work in a constructive manner. 5 Connect with other classrooms elsewhere in the world. Encourage students to practice a foreign language with children from a class in another country. 6 Use Skype to take “virtual” fieldtrips. 7 Create a community blog and share it on Facebook to tell what your class is learning and doing. 8 Promote community service projects through Facebook to help students get engaged in fundraising or community awareness. 9 Ask students to study social media and its impact on the world. 10 Talk to students about how to use social media sites in a responsible way. Remind them that what they put in cyberspace stays there forever. Taken from 100 Ways to Use Social Media in the classrooms, onlineuniversities.com/ blog/2010/05/100-inspiring-ways-to-use- social-media-in-the-classroom/ APRIL 2011 | www.cta.org 15