Social media and technology have become an important and controversial part of the education world. Students today come into the classroom with more knowledge of technology as well as more physical technology than at any time before. Some in the world of education are completely against the use of technology and/or social media. Others have no problem with it whatsoever.
In my school, almost all of the students have a smart phone, a Facebook account, a twitter account and/or an Instagram account. They Snapchat and they text. They text A LOT. Their knowledge of technology at 15 years old is double that of mine at 37.
I firmly believe technology should be used in the classroom. It will be a vital part of our students lives for years to come and we need to embrace it as well teach them how to use it properly. The same goes for social media. It's not going anywhere and our students must learn to be respectful of their peers. They must learn to think before they hit that post button. It is an essential skill to think before we speak, or in this case, post. They need to learn to re-read and edit before they send an email. Students need to have an appreciation of how their words will affect the recipient of those words. It is our job as educators to teach these skills.
I'm amazed how much technology the kids today have. I feel old at 39 with a 17 year old son. He is more advanced in his learning then I was at his age. I can remember back in 1983 when my school had the first apple.
ReplyDeleteToday we need to teach our students the proper way to talk and email. Words can hurt each other even if that is not what we intended. The receiver is the one who reads it and takes the way they feel. I think social media can be good for everyone but let's make it fun.