Technology and the middle school

Let's face it - our students are more likely to be more technology savy than we are. Texting, emailing, twittering, instant message, facebook, my space - they all know how to use these systems. Do I? No. My two sons do - and I occasionally check out their facebook and myspace accounts. We talk about them and how to be safe - not only with our personal being but what he send out in the written form as well. I'm thinking not a lot of parents do this - little Susy or Johnny has a computer in their room and parents do not check in. As an educator I am very aware of how technology is a must for the middle school classroom - jobs for my students probably haven't even been invented yet - and most likely will involve technology. It's how the world is growing. I know I want to prepare my students as much as I possibly can. In previous blogs I mentioned even though I thought I was doing a lot in my science class with the use of technology I realized, sadly, that I wasn't. I am trying to focus getting more technology into my classroom if it is indeed the best way (tool) for that lesson or lessons. I have an upper classman who is going to be coming into my science class to teach my students how to work iphoto, adding text, and audio as well. Now I discovered this student's talent when the student asked me to view a segment on her facebook account. The student did a great job - the problem being it had personal information not only about herself but her friends and family as well. While I told her it was great in the next breath I said what she did was pretty dangerous. I then, during my planning period, called her mother and praised her for her work but also discussed the perils of having something so personal on facebook. The mother had seen the video but admitted she never thought of the consequences. When this student comes into my classroom to demonstrate how to do this she will also be talking about safety. Sometimes a message is heard better from a peer than from an adult. My students are also learning how to blog - and I will have an upper classman talk about safety again as well as how to blog - speaking from her own experience. I'll let you know how this peer teaching goes!