Well, my wife and daughter went to see Grandma and Grandpa. I have had a chance to do some catching up. It is amazing that working full time, taking a class, and most importantly being a new Dad…I barely have time to check facebook!
Enough of my complaining….my little girl is precious and 4 weeks old today!
I found a book in our library the other day, Go Tweet Yourself. I picked it up and skimmed it a little. It is a funny parody of social media. You can find more information at http://www.gotweetyourselfbook.com/. It is worth a little laugh.
I do find some truth in the humor. I sometimes think sometimes we get caught up in sharing every little detail about our lives. I am pretty sure no one really cares what I had for breakfast this morning, but I posted something about it a couple of weeks ago (mostly because my wife lost the bet about the gender of our child, and now she makes me breakfast every Saturday!). It makes me do a little thinking as I am developing my personal learning network (PLN).
As educators, we need to be cautious about our postings: potential employers, parents, students, and colleagues are looking. However, that doesn’t mean we cannot get on social media. We can use it to our advantage. I used to be one of those educators who was caught up in all the bad of social media, and felt educators should never friend students. But I came across this blog post on http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/, and it hit me. We need to be able to friend students, but make sure there are some boundaries. http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2012/09/an-interesting-solution-to-the-friending-students-on-facebook-dilemma.html#comments.
I wonder what my colleagues think…enjoy the day!
New Dad at 40 
Joel,
I am glad that you had a little change of heart about social media in education. I think that with the 21st century learners (and standards), it is important to be able to connect with your students, and social media is a great way to do that! I am currently friends on FB with many of my pervious K-12 teachers, and even some of my UNI professors. I think that working with elementary students, friending them on FB is definitely not okay, but using Twitter or a blog in the classroom would be acceptable to me as an elementary teacher. The blog posting you shared is very thought provoking and interesting to think about. Great resources! Enjoy the time to yourself, but I’m sure you are ready to see your wife and daughter again! Have a great week!
Hey Joel,
Loved here your interpretation on social media. It’s really great to have the perspective of a principal because it gives us prospective teachers insight into what it will be like when we become teachers. Principals are the head of the school and it’s nice to see that some of them don’t fear social media. As long as you use it in the proper way it can be a great tool to have in the classroom. Students are so involved with things like Facebook that it only seems natural to try to include it into their school life as well instead of trying to ban it from the premesis. Student motivation is an important factore in teaching and I think that with the inclusion of social media student motivation would be hightened.
Megan
Joel,
I still make it a policy to not friend students on Facebook. (after they graduate, I would consider it) Maybe I would if I had a school friendly Facebook and a personal one. Not that I ever post anything that would be inappropriate but I just like the disconnect of my personal life and my school life. I don’t even friend my co-workers. I do see potential in using blogs and twitter, but I am not totally sold on using Facebook. There are other options that can do the same or more , but I am open to the possibility. Show me the benefits over other options, I am open minded.
Sandra