[etni] Re: The Facebook thread leads to a general question
- From: קובי <kobilavy@xxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:00:40 +0300
I don't know why people mark facebook as a "bad" site. As if the students
who wanted to surf to other "bad" sites couldn’'t do it without facebook
(come on guys we all know they were there before facebook and will be long
after facebook).
I think we need to take our English teaching one step further and use the
tools that are already available.
Taking the students out of the platform and using any other software,
program, google docs or whatever will be completely missing the points.
What my students love is that fact that I extend their learning experience
and bring it to the place where they practically live! Guys, kids today do
nothing on the computer besides listen to music (or watch downloaded movies)
and BE ON FACEBOOK. So if once in a while a message comes up from their
English teacher and they know they have to reply to it in English I don't
see any bad in that.
As far as privacy is concerned - true there are issues here to look at but
you know what kids are exposed to so many things on the Internet (not only
on Facebook) so what are we worried about? That the kids in or school see
the pictures from our last holiday? That they see the messages I post on my
wall to my sister or the my old high school buddy?
I know there are more issues to be concerned about but we have to look at
the bigger picture.
I think that the educators make use of Facebook as a positive enriching
tool, the more students understand that there's much more to do there.
By the way, on a page of one of my classes they already send general
messages to each other (such as things their home room teacher wants to tell
them) because they know the whole class will see it and what's the beauty of
it?? They do it in English :)
Hag Sameach
Kobi
-----Original Message-----
From: etni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:etni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of naomi epstein
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 3:41 PM
To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [etni] The Facebook thread leads to a general question
A big thank you to all of you who are patiently explaining and suggesting
such useful information!
Before I make a few comments on the recent info, I have a general question:
Is there such a thing as a counselor for assisting integrating technology
into English lessons? Thanks to ETNI and other teachers I correspond with
abroad, I'm discussing,exploring and experimenting with technology in the
classroom. Yet I wonder if there is some counselor whom a teacher can turn
to discuss specific needs (in my class I have a computer with no Internet
access, students with a hearing problem, etc.?)
Anyway, there have been a number of suggestions such as using a Moodle, a
jing, which can do more than Facebook. However, what really draws me to the
Facebook option at the moment is that the students are ALREADY ON it. I was
surprised at the number of students who had basic problems with my very
simple wiki class site or using email - beyond Facebook they don't do much
on the computer at all (some, of course, are whizzes with the computer).
Joel's letter raised one thing to worry about. My thought was that if the
students have Facebook accounts anyway they will use the class page
dedicated for them and that's that. I wouldn't have to worry about complex
security settings because I want the material I post to be available even to
pupils / teachers from other schools.
But could parents complain that the school is promoting use of Facebook by
having a teacher use it as a class site?
I have never asked for permission to use tech with my students and I believe
that it is good for them. No one has minded. But has Facebook become such a
contested issue that I should check with my principal first?
Thanks again all!
Naomi Epstein
--
Naomi Epstein
"Shema" Counselor for Teaching English
to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students
http://shemaenglish.posterous.com/ (Hebrew Counseling Blog)
http://visualisingideas.edublogs.org/ (Professional Blog - English)
http://englishcenterlakash.wikispaces.com/ (Exercises for Students)
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