"Should You "Friend" Your Students?"

In this article, Marsha Redd and Jeannine Ortiz argue if they, as educators, should accept the friend requests of their students on Facebook. Redd believes that if her students attempt to add her on Facebook, why shouldn't she accept? Redd goes on about how she is very friendly with her students at school and in the classroom and she doesn't see how it would be any different outside of school and online. Redd states that "It's perfectly acceptable to carry on a pleasant, "friendly" conversation outside the boundaries of the school building. I don't view the digital environment of Facebook as all that different from other public spaces." (11) On the other hand, Ortiz believes "we have to draw the line somewhere." (10) Ortiz sees that if a student becomes her "friend" on Facebook, then the teacher-student relationship can pretty much be kissed goodbye. She also feel that the personal lives of teachers shouldn't be something that their students need to know about because of the possibility of a bombardment of questions, the jeopardizing of their reputation among other things that professionals should be aware of. She suggests that there be some other educational based blog or website that can be used not only as an educational tool, but can always be a way to communicate with other students and teachers. I, personally, believe that "friending" a student on Facebook is only acceptable if they are a former student and if they are an adult or an "appropriate" age.

This article is great for those teachers who have a strong connection with their students and are not quite sure about the whole Facebook friend dilemma. When I was in high school, I was never friends with any of my professors, but in the past five years since I've graduated high school, I now have about five of my old teachers as my friends on Facebook. While it is a great way to keep in touch, instead of communicating with your students through Facebook, just keep that connection building in the classroom and at school. Face-to-face communication is always such a great way to build connections and relationships.

The ITSE NETS standard that I feel would fit the best for this article is standard five: Digital Citizenship. Students must learn what information is important to share over the internet and who it is safe to share it with. This is not saying that your teachers are not safe people to share information with, but if they have their teacher as a friend on Facebook, they (as well as the teachers) must be aware of what they are sharing with their friends and the rest of the world.

Ortiz, J. & Redd, M. (2009) Should You "Friend" Your Students? Learning & Leading with Technology, 37(1). 10-11. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200908#pg12.

"Wallwisher: A Geeky Teacher's Dream Tool"

Keith Ferrell writes an article about his favorite tool: Wallwisher. Wallwisher is a web based bulletin board that allows students to add their own text notes, pictures, ideas, videos, etc. This is a great way for students to collaborate and work together without necessarily being in the classroom and without it having to be through social media sites or plain emails. Ferrell explains some of the projects that he used Wallwisher for in his classroom which include collaboration of facts on a specific topic that each child can contribute to or a board where students can add tips to help other students in certain topic areas and add new vocabulary words and their definitions that may be helpful for their classmates. I feel that this is a great way to really engage kids in helping other students learn while learning themselves. As pictured above, this would probably work best in the classroom with the help of a smart board or even if the classroom is in a computer lab for a certain amount of time. Personally, I feel that this would work best outside of the classroom, that way students can keep coming back to the board to see if anybody has posted any new facts, topics, information, etc.

This article is great for teachers because it adds a new tool for them to get their kids learning together. I know that individual learning is what everybody is used to when growing up, but it's great for teachers to get their students to do some pieces of group work that way they are prepared for all the group projects that they will encounter in middle school and high school and college as well. Plus, teachers can keep an eye on the board to see who is participating and what is being posted so that there is no false information or inappropriate things being posted. Overall, I would definitely use this app in my classroom because I think it will end up benefiting everyone in the classroom.

The ISTE NETS standard for students I would choose that relates most to this article would be standard two: Communication and Collaboration. It says it all in the title, students would use this app to communicate and share with each other different pieces of information that other students may have not known and can benefit from, and all the students can collaborate together to build a "fact wall" or maybe a synonym chart for maybe certain vocabulary words they might be dealing with that week.

Ferrell, K. (2011) Wallwisher: A Geeky Teacher's Dream Tool. Learning & Leading with Technology, 38(7), 30-31. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/201105#pg32