imaginative teaching and learning

Social Media will be a hot topic in education this year. There is no escaping the ubiquitous use of Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and every other electronic link students can find. What will schools do with this?

Teachers are making great headway in connecting formerly disengaged students to classroom topics through social media. This area needs to be developed with all classrooms in middle and high school. Teachers need to model, and students need to participate in positive educational application of social media.

On the negative side, some teachers are abusing the practice and making sexual advances on students. State legislatures and school boards react by trying to shut down all social media. We revert to punishing the whole class with silent lunch because two people interrupted a lesson with their chatter.

This NY Times article cites some of the current issues:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/business/media/rules-to-limit-how-teachers-and-students-interact-online.html?_r=2

Courtesy of Google Images

It seems to me that all teachers need to be aware of two important distinctions. One is the line between public and private information and contacts. Overall, student-teacher connections should be public. The few private connections should be professional in nature. The second distinction is adult vs. child. All students through high school graduation are children in relation to their teachers. It is our mission to nurture and encourage them as learners. We fail them when we cease to see them as children needing our protection and care.

What do you think?