My thoughts on Chapter 9 of "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts"

This new reading has not impacted me in a profound way. I already have a Facebook account that I use for personal use and I have heard a lot of controversy about using Facebook in the classroom. Personally, I would not ever use Facebook in my classroom, especially because I plan to teach in an elementary classroom. I personally feel it would be encouraging Facebook to students who are entirely too young to be using it. I also think that Facebook can be very addicting for a lot of people and I would not want to encourage that in my classroom. I can’t tell you how many times I thought about deleting my Facebook entirely, but haven’t because it is the only way I keep in touch with some of my distant friends and relatives; this is the one and only reason I still have a Facebook. I also feel that Facebook is the cause for a lot of cyber bullying within our society and I wouldn’t want to encourage that to my students. On the other hand, I did enjoy hearing about “Ning.com” This is something that could be beneficial to a classroom, as long as it does not turn into something too similar to Facebook. I think it could be beneficial, but I personally don’t see myself using it in the future.

I don’t think I will do anything differently as a direct result of this reading. I have already heard a lot about the controversy of Facebook in the classroom and I have always had the same view: it does not belong. When I graduate college I plan on deleting my Facebook because I have heard of some many stories about how Facebook has been harmful to elementary teachers across the world. I don’t want to set an example for my students that I don’t believe in. If I don’t think my students should have a Facebook that I don’t plan to have one either. I think there are a lot of great technological tools that can be beneficial and fun in a classroom, but I personally feel that using Facebook with our students is going too far. “Ning.com” has a possibility of being educationally beneficial in the future, but having it presented alongside Facebook makes its appeal decrease. Although I do not plan to use social networking sites in my classroom, it was interesting to hear about the various ways other teachers have used them.