Facebook for Teachers

Wendy Turner, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Bluegrass Writing Project

Quick Write
Do you have a Facebook account for personal use? If so, think about why you created it. If not, why? (dont have time, etc.)

Rationale
One of the guiding missions of my school is to create student-teacher relationships that foster morale, create a positive learning community, and engage students. Did you know that students spend 3-4 hours PER DAY on Facebook? The bottom line is that we must begin to meet students where they are!

Common Core Standards

www.corestandards.org
Anchor Standard 6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

Common Core Standards

Using Facebook as a platform meets the new state standards:
With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

Common Core Standards

Comprehension and Collaboration
1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. 2. Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. 3. Evaluate a speakers point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 5. Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations. 6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

The Project
Show it: www.facebook.com I created a teacher account with the user name MrsTurnerPLD. Lets take a look. *I do have a personal account, but I have a strict policy of NOT allowing any students to friend me on that account.

Its YOUR turn

Try it (as adults who will be helping students learn to use the technology AND complete the work) First, create an account if you havent done so already. Once we create the account, we can begin to schoolify it (yes, I made up that word).

Lesson Plan

Tips / Avoiding Glitches

1) Always hide students! They wont trust you otherwise. I even pull up my facebook page on my projector when were discussing a topic, so that they can see I have nothing in my news feed. I tell them, I dont want to know your personal business! (and I really dont!)

Tips / Avoiding Glitches

2) Dont post anything that identifies particular students UNLESS you get their permission. For example, you might ask Susie if you can use her paper as an exemplary for an assignment. Wow! That was well done! May I post it in our group for others to see?

Tips / Avoiding Glitches

3) Send home a letter to parents explaining what you are doing and why. In my experience, most parents have Facebook accounts, so they are familiar. Parents know that their kids are on Facebook all the time, so they have been supportive of me using that platform. Note: I have not created a group for parents in the past, but Im toying with the idea. What are your thoughts?

Tips / Avoiding Glitches

4) Have a very clear talk with students about the PURPOSE of your group, and make sure to address any student (in person, not online) who begins to cross the line. If your expectations are clear, you will minimize these problems. Remember, students are used to dealing with one another onlinea situation that is far more informal (to say the least!)

Adaptations
-- How would we move this up/down to other grade levels? Ideas? --How can you use Facebook as a platform to share WebCam, iPod, FlipCam projects. Ideas?