After reading Gwyneth Jones's article titled Six Six Ways to Avoid Those Social Media Landmines, my beliefs were assured and strengthen. Social media can both be a blessing and a curse! As a person, social media would keep me in the loop, it kept me informed of almost everything that was happening down to the moment. As an educator, I haven't had much experience using social media and work. With the current exposure I have had lately with Twitter, I can see how powerful and beneficial social media can be. Already, I am able to see ideas from other teachers, ask questions and expand my knowledge all thanks to social media. I am very aware and informed that we as teachers have to be extra cautious of what we say and post, because we are role models. As Jones says in her article, " Overshare the professional, under share the personal, and never share the private". The idea is to always stay professional, and have in mind that you would never want to jeopardize your job.
Last week I came across an incident when two of my students decided to look up inappropriate images on google chrome instead of doing the sum-dog contest. The routine was as usual, a few students asked me if they could move next to a partner to play the math games. As I was helping a student log in to the game, I noticed two of my students were laughing and having a little more fun than the usual? As I made my way to their desk, one of the boy's looked at me with a scared look and scrabbled to quickly log out of what ever he was researching. I quickly confiscated the two chomebooks and was in shock to see the contents of their "history" . I immediately took snapshots of their screens to have as evidence, because I problem I constantly face in fourth grade is students owning up to their actions. The technology contract and the trust I had in them was broken. It is my job to keep all students safe, and I expect respect in the class and respect when using technology. Those two boys have lost the privilege of using a chromebook at school for the rest of the year. They will only use the chrome book when taking assessments. I have no control of what do or see at home with their parents, but in my class, that behavior will not be tolerated. I hope this punishment will serve them to think twice before doing something they should not. As their teacher, I will continue to do the common sense media lessons hoping that someday all my students will be safe, respectful, and responsible digital citizens. If they don't learn through the lessons, hopefully they learn through the consequences. Only time will tell.
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