CLASSROOM BLOG

Social Media in the Classroom (Twitter& Facebook)

All social media have positive and negative sides for students and teachers in the classroom. Of course using social media in the classroom can catch students’ attention to learn something new. One positive point for using social media in the classroom is building a relationship between the whole class. Students in secondary school do not spend the whole day with the same peers. Therefore, if they start to talk to each other through Facebook or Twitter, they will know each other more. According to the article “Pros and cons of using Facebook in pediatric Oncology”, it states, “Facebook makes it easier for such adolescents to make friends with other patients and to stay in touch with people.” That indicates that not only students build relationship with each another, but also the teachers with the students. Another advantage of using social media in the classroom is that students will start to understand the world through the news. Many students and adolescents use Twitter to get the news from it. If the heading is interesting for them, they keep reading it. Using social media in the classroom can build a good relationship and help the students start to read the news. On the other hand, social media has also negative impacts in the classroom. Social media waste plenty of time because students and teachers want to check their statuses every single minute. The article “Top 10 Reasons Why Social Networking is a Waste of Time states” “Many do not realize when they have become addicted to social networking.” That means if you are addicted to the social medial, it is hard for the person to leave it easily, so the time will fly very fast without paying attention. They want to see if someone has posted something or liked their picture. Therefore, their main concern will be on checking their personal stuff and not reading the news only or learning about communicating with their friends. Another disadvantage in using social media in the classroom is that students will not focus with what the teacher is explaining. Even though the teacher announced that the device should be put away, it will take the students time to leave it and pay attention to the teacher. In my opinion, Facebook and Twitter are useful in our daily life, but students and teacher can get rid of it while they are in front of the students or at school. If a teachers accept for themselves to use the social media in the classroom, then they should not blame the students if they are checking or using it.  

Skyping in the classroom

Skyping in general is for talking to other people that are in different countries. Many people use skype to communicate to their families that are overseas because it is cheaper and the connection is better. However, skyping has some advantages and disadvantages in the classroom. Students might use the skype to communicate with other students in a different classes. For instance, students in sixth grade can make an interview with a seven grader though skype because it save time to go from one school to another. The interview might be at the end of the year asking some questions about the challenges that the seventh graders have faced when the switched schools and levels. Also they may ask about the core curriculum. On the contrary, skype has negative effects on children. Since young students, age from 6 to 10, do not have much information about what security means, they can accept any person on skype and start chatting with him/her without knowing him/her. The students can easily tell the other person all the information that he/she is asking for. Also, young children need to see the person that they are going to interact with in order to feel comfortable to talk with. Therefore, skyping for young children might be dangerous because it is not secure.

My point of view, is that I might use skype in the classroom with only the sixth grader and eighth grader since these years are the transition years from elementary school to secondary and from secondary school to high school. Skyping might be effective to know other students’ experience before a life changing transition.

IPads in the classroom:

As any other device, iPad has some positive and negative points in the classroom. One positive point for using iPad in the classroom is that it saves paper for the teacher to print. Also, if the teacher forgets to print a worksheet, he/she can post it on the school web, so the students can open their portal and work on the worksheet without wasting time. Another advantage for using the iPad in the classroom is communicating. Many students are afraid or shy to ask questions to the teacher in front of the class. Therefore, they can use their iPad to post some question to the teacher’s portal, so the teacher will try to answer it without mentioning the student’s name. According to the article “Pros and Cons of using iPads in the classroom”, it mentions “You can use them as a polling tool or let students ask questions or make comments during lectures and address them either as they come or after the lecture.” Teachers can read the questions that the students post and see if he/she can answer them while explaining the topic or wait to end of the class and start reading the questions aloud without mentioning the names and answering the question. In contrast, iPad in the classroom might not be useful because students will always want to work on the iPad. They will be addicted to it. Therefore, when they go home, they will also want to work on the iPad. IPads are expensive and that is why the school has to buy it for the students.

In my opinion, teachers have to use the iPad in the classroom because this is the electronic device that most of the students are using outside the school. The school should provide the materials that the students like to use outside of school to learn. Young students should not spend much time on the iPad because they have to learn how to write on paper and use pencils.

Google Apps for Education in the Classroom

Google is now one of the most popular websites that every person is talking about. Most of the people use google apps to help them search for anything they are searching for. Google has many features that help people to find the information that they are look for very easy. If people are searching for a location they can open google maps to search for it, or if they want to create an email account, they use Gmail. Gmail has other uses than just checking the emails. It has google docs where you can communicate with other group of friends when you have a project or you can share information that you save on the drive. Another point is that the google apps are easy to use. Therefore, if a second grade teacher wants to introduce any features about the google apps, the students will understand the process very easy. However, the google documents are all in a single location. You cannot make folder and name them, so the documents will not be well organized. Teachers that are teaching young students have to show the students how to be organized, so they will not lose important materials.

After listen the pros and cons for using google app in the classroom, I agree with using google apps in the classroom. Even though the documents might be messy, I will make a clear title for the document for the students to search for it. Most of the information that the teachers use are from google.

Daily Technology Integration in the Classroom

Young students grew up using technology every day. Therefore, it is hard to not integrate technology in the classroom. One important factor for using technology in the classroom is that it will make the students happy to learn something new. Students like hands-on activities, so they understand a concept in math. For example, they can go on a math game website to explore what he/she had learn. On the other hand, too much technology every day in the classroom, might lead the students to be addicted to the technology games and, it will be hard for them to go back to the learning environment. 

In my future classroom, I will you use the technology maximum fifteen minutes in each subject to explore what they have learned. Students need to be familiar with some websites or apps that they can use at home that are academic based. Students at a young age need some guidance while using the technology. Therefore, I will provide that these guide lines to my students. 

Works Cited

Clerici, C. A., Massimino, M., Veneroni, L., & Ferrari, A. (2015). Pros and cons of using

Facebook in pediatric oncology. Journal Of Cancer Research & Therapeutics, 11(4),         1042. doi:10.4103/0973-1482.146141

Preeti Mishra. Top Yaps. Top 10 Reasons Why Social Networking is a Waste of Time. Retrieved  from http://topyaps.com/top-10-reasons-why-social-networking-is-a-waste-of-time

Kefa Olang. Disadvantage of Using Skype. Tech in our Everyday Life. Retrieved from            http://techin.oureverydaylife.com/disadvantages-using-skype-1231.html

Ashley Wainwright. Secure Edge Networks. Retrieved from            http://www.securedgenetworks.com/blog/17-Pros-and-Cons-of-Using-iPads-in-the            -Classroom