By
Bennett Calogero
There
is so much for our students to learn, why keep their knowledge locked up in a
classroom? Why not allow our students to spread their knowledge across the
world, teaching and learning from other students of their age? If you were
posed this question 15 years ago, the only way you might think of doing this
would be to find your students pen pals from another country. Now that
technology is so readily available in our schools, we don’t need to think twice
when it comes to communicating and learning from others all over the world!
Some
teachers have begun using social media to bring their students closer to
learning on a global level, and creating a culturally aware environment in
school. A kindergarten teacher in Vermont decided to take on the challenge of
introducing her students to using twitter as a platform to share their ideas
and have conversations with other students their age that live in a different
country. Not only is this am amazing use of technology to enhance global
awareness, it is also working to teach students the responsible way to use the
internet at such a young age.
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| Social media can help teach diversity |
As
a young student it is important to take ownership of their ideas, feel
important, and find connections in the world around them. Sometimes finding
those connections can be hard because of the lack of budgets limiting field
trips and not being able to travel. Using social media, like twitter, gives
students the opportunity to share their ideas with the world and get responses
from others. They are also able to follow other classrooms around the world on
twitter and respond to them. Using twitter allows them to post pictures and
videos, and receive feedback from other students. We may see one thing a
certain way here in the United States, but students in Japan may see something
completely different. Technology can truly give students multiple perspectives
and points of view on something that they may have never even considered.
Using
social media in the classroom can be challenging, so it is important to
establish rules with your students and model how to use it correctly. If done
correctly, this type of technology can prove to create a bridge between our
classrooms and classrooms all over the world.
For
more on this topic, check out this other blog post:
I think this is a great idea. Exposing our students to other cultures helps them to appreciate the many cultures that make up our classrooms.
ReplyDeleteBennett,
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of pen pals is still great. Students need to know how to write letters. I know in my elementary school we started a new pen pal program that reminds of this idea. We had pen pals but we made videos and sent them to our pen pals along with writing to them. It was not Skype but it was the closest we could get to it. It was really neat being able to see the other students who we were working with.
I love the idea of working with other children and classrooms around the world. There are programs and sites that offer that. I know in Prof. Nappos class one of the sites I was researching that he gave to us offered a program to work with and connect to other classrooms around the world. I personally would not use Social Media in my classroom. I am extremely against it. I think there is a line that should be drawn in these type of situations. It wouldn't be appropriate in certain circumstances in the work force unless you are a celebrity to use Social Media (even they abuse and post ridiculous things). I think as educators we can discuss the issues and educate them on how to use Social Media properly but I do not think we should use it in the classroom. In an ideal world it would be perfect but with all that is going on in the world I do not think it would be the best thing to do. Again there are programs and sites that foster the idea of connecting with other students around the world.
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DeleteFrancesca, I had the same thoughts as you, so when I read your post I was glad I wasn't the only "old fashioned" one here! I agree completely about the value of writing letters. When my middle kid was in college, I once had to instruct him how to address an envelope! When I was in high school, I had a pen-pal in Haifa; when I went to Israel after high school, I got to meet her and it was amazing. Your thoughts on adding videos is also a very important component that we now have the ability to do. Especially for those students who respond best to visual material, making videos for pen pals is a wonderful idea.
DeleteI agree with you about the use of traditional social media, but there are some that are designed to be school-friendly, like Edmodo. Another useful communication tool is to have a class website or class blog, such as we are doing now!
We made not realize how much of a role cultural awareness plays in our daily lives but our world as we know it has become a "small" melting pot and that is not going to change so people need to change their way of thinking. I believe that cultural awareness we are able to teach tolerance and make others aware that our 'norms' are so sometimes similar and sometimes different but we must consciously make a decision to be accepting. I would love to have my students see the world through a different set of eyes and realize that people are different and alike in many places. A penpal writing club would be ideal and beneficial to students in many ways. It would help them with their writing skills and teach the essence of communication not via technology but through the art of writing. I remember doing this when I went to primary (elementary) schools in the island. This opened my eyes to many things because I remember as a child try to figure out how people kept warm when they lived in such a cold country, how could they sleep in a cold house, how did they travel? All these questions were answered by letter writing. The use of Skype has been done in some classrooms where classes checked in on each other at a specific time and date. How is this possible when many schools do not have the resources? Are some students been left behind? I myself like Francesca do not like the idea of Social Media in a classroom, for the simple fact that of the bad things that can arise out of the misuse. There must be other applications that make this possible, we just have to find the ones that truly work.
ReplyDeleteBennett,
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with your modern take on the "pen pal" system. I can see Twitter being used very nicely in this capacity. After reading your response, I am really more aware of how limited our students cultural interaction can be. Most certainty our students have a variety of friends and classmates from other cultures, but most have adopted an Americanized version of their culture. By exposing students to a global classroom, they can really get to the root of the issue by seeings students in another country.