Reflection #2- Social Networking

Social Networking is a tool that needs to be used carefully. I believe that social networking is a great tool but it also blurs the lines between student and teacher. Privacy needs to still be upheld between teacher and student. With Facebook groups I find that they can be effective to reach out to your students  but at the same time it should be used carefully. Students are on Facebook all the time, so it would be the most effective way of communicating with them, but at the same time there is a question of ethics, should your students see your profile? Should parents be friending a teacher?

Strengths would be communication. It would be an easy way to get the information to your students in the fast form possible. But I feel that there are more weaknesses than strengths. It would allow your students to check in on you. If parents are part of the group, it would be another tech tool that is making teaching a 24 hour job. Right now parents believe that if they email you, as a teacher you need to respond within a certain amount of time. If it is an email that is heated, teachers need the time to have the best response possible before they respond. I feel that with Facebook, parents will be hounding teachers and would use it more of a sound off board than a useful tool. 

Since I am in an elementary classroom, I would not use Facebook as a tool. The students are too young to be on it, and I would just use email to communicate with the parents. The classroom I am in now has a big parent bullying problem and using Facebook would just allow for another place for these moms to duke it out.

I believe in a high school setting it can possibly be a highly effective tool, if it is used correctly. Unfortunately for elementary, I would say no.