Friends, colleagues - in the past few days, I have really ramped up my technological presence. I got a twitter account and this blog for class, and also satisfied my curiosity by joining Google +. I have to say, being so online makes me a little nervous. Will future employers be looking at everything I say? Will they disapprove of that picture because I look like I am smiling too much? Will random people start creeping on me? But then I remind myself that it will probably all be okay, that there are so many people in the world that I can't possibly be interesting enough to stalk out of the blue, and that I can always change my privacy settings if I need.
On this twitter business, I have to admit that I never intended to get an account. I never saw the point. Reading the articles for class and thinking about how it could be used in a classroom, I am still skeptical. Mainly, I am worried that involving twitter in homework privileges students who have computer access at home and / or on their phones, and I don't want to forget that not all students do. Using twitter in class instead of speaking seems like it would take time away from actually doing activities, and would mask students who were texting friends or otherwise distracting themselves with their phones or computers.
However, I do see that twitter could probably be a useful tool for collaborating with others in a PLN (personal learning network). I intend to find some neat educators and scientists to follow, and maybe even to share some of my own experiences. I wonder if tweeting can help educators sift through the massive amount of resources online to find (and re-tweet) the good stuff.
And really, I wish Ms. Frizzle had a twitter account. I would totally follow her.
Should I know who Mrs. Frizzle is? Did you feel like you learned more about the PLN after our guest speaker in class?
ReplyDeleteIn regards to "Creeps and Tweets", one of my good friends works in the auto industry, and she loves utilizing all of the social networks. She is newly single, and one of her coworkers was being creepy and checking out everything she was doing. He would walk by her at work and drop some type of an indirect comment that eluded to him reading what she was posting. They did not have any prior communication at work, that was the lead in of them interacting. Not in a good way.
Be careful! Make sure what you put out there, you don't mind people seeing. There are creepy people out there, and this is another way for them to gain access to your personal life. I think the majority of the people are not creepy, so it would be useful not to focus on the creepers, but having awareness that they are out there is good for personal safety.
You should definitely know Ms. Frizzle! Ever watch the magic school bus? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_School_Bus_(TV_series)
ReplyDeleteThat guy sounds like a creepy bloke. *shudder*
I feel ya on this B! I have also been happy to keep a low online profile because I'm quite concerned about privacy and thought that especially as a teacher it can be dangerous putting myself out there too much (not that I have anything especially juicy to hide!).
ReplyDeleteBut the way Antonia talked about her online identity (or one of her online identities) as an extension of her professional self really resonated with me. I had this notion that teachers should never ever befriend their students on FB or make themselves accessible on Twitter, etc. But what if you use those things as an extension of your professional self? Might it be a way to increase communication between students and teachers (and even parents?)?
But I admit that I'm still a little freaked out by it. Like, I uploaded a picture onto Twitter of a painting that I love by this Japanese artist that I like of a little girl smoking a cigarette and I thought, HELLO! That's not exactly the message that I want to send as a future teacher! So I find I'm being really cautious about things.
Breanna, that would be awesome if Mrs. Frizzle had a Twitter account. Mo Willems' pigeon does! (@The_Pigeon)
ReplyDeleteThe Boxcar Children tweeted for a while. It was awesome because their editor was Skyping into our class, and the "Boxcar Children" had clearly researched our school, because they were tweeting about stuff on our web site. It was pretty cool.
I had some of the same reservations concerning twitter and establishing more of an online presence. I was very hesitant to join twitter, but realize now that there is a lot of use concerning the collaboration that can take place between fellow teachers. After hearing Antonia talk about all that she learned from others on Twitter, and how much time their help was able to save her, I started to come around to realizing it actually could serve a useful purpose.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that Ms. Frizzle should get an account on Twitter. Maybe she'd share her secret for how to shrink herself and get inside various objects. Now THAT could be a useful learning device.