Journal #3

Kessler, S. (2010, September 29). The Case For Social Media in Schools. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/

In this article, "The Case For Social Media in Schools", Sarah Kessler gave the readers 6 reasons why social media should be in our schools.  In a brief paraphrased manner they are, social media is here to stay, it can be engaging, there are safe tools available, promotes social education, used for collaboration and use it to help you.  This article promotes what I believe to be common sense, incorporate what students already know ingot he classroom.  Students already know how to use computers and waste time on social media, so why not show them how to use it productively and trick them into doing classwork and learning.  If you tell a student "DON'T or NO" they are only going to hear  "DO and YES". Instead of resisting and trying to stop the use of computers and social media in school we should be providing constructive sites like edmodo.  I found this year that my district found some of this to be true for teachers. Last year sites like Pinterest and Teachers pay Teachers was blocked, but they found that teachers are using these sites to be productive and more creative in their teaching so they were unblocked this year.  

Q1:Could telling students they can use social media be beneficial?
I think that showing students the safe and proper way to use it is better than prohibiting something and them figuring out how to do it on their own with no guidance.  It is just like everything else with kids, if you make something taboo they are only going to want it more.  But those who are given some freedom but shown how do it safely will be more likely to be successful.  

Q2:  Are teacher equipped to handle this new way of teaching?
In my experience, most teachers are too behind the times to even know how to work a powerpoint.  There is a huge gap between the new and the old teachers.  I think once the older teacher are gone, it will be easier for such schools to exist like the one mentioned in the article.  As of now, teachers are just complaining about having to integrate new tablets or laptops and refuse to do new trainings on sites such as edmodo.