Thing #18

You can find my facebook profile at www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000654342650. My daughter, Kate, has been wanting me to have a fb page for a while and made me one without any individualized information. I did not consider the number of friends that I would be in contact with! So, I got on facebook and filled in more information, and it is so nice to see how all of my friends are, to be able to keep up with all those people that I thought I couldn't keep up with anymore. I have a good time using facebook.

It is important for educators to know what their students are doing, not all the time, but generally. I have had several students contact me since I have been using it, so I know we could use it if necessary. I like the social aspects of facebook. I could see my class using it to discuss books and could draw in other thoughts on those books from people not enrolled in the class. It would definitely give my students a popular, more adult approach. Also, it is an excellent way to get to know students better.

I do not like the negative aspects of things I hear about MySpace. I would not allow my daughter a MySpace because of some of the "friends" that she may come in contact with. This may sound like I'm close-minded; that's okay; we'll both get over it. Her father (we are divorced) set a fb up for her though she is 11 and not 13. I don't mind this as much because Kate does not feel the need to keep secrets from me yet. As soon as she is ready to do that, we'll see what happens with her account.

As far as my class is concerned, we would probably use a blog more often than fb.