If, for many reasons, you view the Internet in a guarded manner and hold some negativity towards the advent of social media, you might feel anxiety surrounding these thoughts.
Many face-to-face discussions that I have been involved in recently, suggests just this. Some colleagues and friends frown upon my idea of having a class in school surrounding the teaching of social media. Please read Nicholas Bramble’s article entitled Fifth Period is Facebook These same friends and colleagues seem to think that I have my head in the sand or maybe the clouds - and yet…
I have developed a close relationship with a network of people residing around the globe and view the evolution of Social Media as a tool that assists me in engaging with these people, strengthening my beliefs, broadening my perspective and intensifying my commitment to personal and professional growth and I choose to use it as such, in what I see as a positive endeavour. Because of this, I would like to find out from youth, how they are using social media and encourage and teach them how to continue to use it in a beneficial manner…
Being that I have taught for the better part of the last twenty-three years, I believe that education is the key to learning about… changing, and/or strengthening our views and our actions. If the powers that be who make the decisions in education, would “stop thinking about how to repress the huge amounts of intellectual and social energy kids devote to social media and start thinking about how to channel that energy away from causing trouble and toward getting more out of their classes” (Bramble, 2009), then we may just create the opportunity to break down that wall that stands between many educators and students and see the Internet for what it truly is…
…Ellyn
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