Social Media

This past week of school we were able to work on our classroom websites. I enjoyed working on it with the help of our instructor, Mike. My website is almost completed in which I am very excited about. I believe by having a classroom website in my future will help myself, the students and as well as their parents to be constantly aware of what is going on in our room. As a future educator I plan on having my classroom website fully running and updated on a weekly basis. I also like having the idea of having extra links or videos for students and parents to checkout!

I recently started using google docs prior to this course. I had actually started using it while student teaching because the school divisions has hotmail blocked. I don't use it very much but I think it's a very neat tool for sending things over the web. Particularly for older students this tool could come in handy when sending papers or presentations quickly and efficiently. In class we did our presentation about social media. Although there were many pros and cons of using social media our group was for it. My biggest concern for social media is cyberbullying. We had watched many videos about bullying over the Internet last term. One girl committed suicide because she was being bullied so bad. I believe that there are many cyberbullying incidents that we do not even hear about. My first priority in my class when integrating technology will be to have a bully proof classroom. Kids are so much or think they are so much more powerful over the Internet which can be very scary!! The biggest positive about social media in my mind is the communication between people all over the world. I believe that I will try and use as much social media in my classroom, but at the same time I am very concerned about the negative affects it can cause. 

What do you guys think about social media in the classroom!?