My Learning Curve

You might think that I'm doing most of the teaching in the classroom due to my title as "teacher", but it's not really the case all of the time.  In fact, throughout our Argument Writing Unit, I have learned a few things about technology and the students!

If you were to ask me before this school year if all of my students thought that virtual socializing was an important part of their lives, I would have undoubtedly said, "Yes!", but now that we are developing our arguments on the basis that we think virtual socializing benefits or hurts friendships, I'm finding that my original assumptions were starkly invalid!

As it turns out, some of our sixth grade friends don't feel that virtual socializing is important and is actually detrimental to friendships.  Cyber bullying has come up often in their evidence and I can see their point, that it's just another way to hurt someone.

When I was growing up, bullying was tangible where one kid could verbally or physically harm another, usually in person or over the phone.  Email didn't exist, the internet didn't exist, so fights were handled face-to-face.  Now many students are dealing with a whole other element to bullying, and many are finding that the internet provides easier access to this side of growing up.

However, many of our students love technology, and I have found it to be rather handy this year using the blog to communicate with students, especially after school hours.  It has been a great addition to our learning and the kids enjoy expressing themselves electronically.

Despite my efforts to put together this blog for our literacy community, my biggest learning curve is with the plethora of websites out there in cyberland that are strictly for virtual socializing!

Here are just a few that I've recently discovered, thanks to my knowledgable students:
1. www.oovoo.com - a video and instant messaging chat site
2. www.panfu.com - a great site for kids to learn languages and play games
3. www.fantage.com - another kid site where they can create avatars, play games and chat with friends

I'm sure the list could go on, and on, and on, but the truth is that I don't think there is enough time in the day to keep up with all of the virtual socializing out there!

Whether we believe that virtual socializing is for better or for worse, I know that I have a lot to learn about where my students are "hanging out" online.