What A Concept. Teaching Kids Stuff They Can Relate To...
Now, the debate over how to manage teacher-student contact on social-networking sites is expected to come before local school boards. “Any prudent board would look at crafting a policy on this,” said Sanford S. Williams, a Manassas school board member.
But advocates for stricter rules will face teachers who want to continue using social networking to help educate students.
“Part of my job is to get the students engaged,” said Ludwig. “It’s easier to do that if I can link the homework to Twitter and Facebook. The hope is that when it’s time for the AP exam, what started as a novelty will translate into a real skill.”
Some of Ludwig’s colleagues at Langley have taken a similar approach. English teachers Sandra Hamilton and Sara Vincent asked their students to create Facebook profiles for characters from “The Canterbury Tales,” Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th-century collection of stories.
“I had to write interests and status updates for the friar in the story — he was like a total frat guy,” said Cyrus Kingdom, a senior. “It’s the kind of assignment I found interesting because I could relate to it.”
This is from the Washington Post article about the recent VA State Board urging districts to adopt policies related to contacting and teaching students through social media. I just absolutely enjoy that last line. Heaven forbid we actually teach content to kids in a way they can related to...
