Multi-Modal Post 1

"What type of student will not do well in [this] school?" This was the question presented by Kylene Beers in the Forward of The Socially Networked Classroom. To me the question may seem straight-forward, but it is more complicated than that. Is it the student or schools' fault for a student to be unsuccessful?


In the article "The Battle for Facebook," Fortune wrote, "There may be a new kind of Internet emerging — one more about connecting people to people than people to Websites." This statement if entirely true. The way people can stay connected through Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Skype, etc. shows that our society today is obsessed with staying connected. With that being said, the younger the generation the more technologically advanced they are becoming. Meaning the more technology should be integrated into classrooms. It is scary to see 5th and 6th graders texting and being able to do things on the internet, but that is their generation. In classes that I am taking we are learning how to integrate (safely) technology into the classroom. In another, I'd say five years, classrooms are going to be a majority technology based. They are trying to get campuses to be 100 percent online.


In chapters 1 and 2 of The Socially Networked Classroom there are many helpful ways to integrate new media into the classroom. I liked analyzing films element by element. I liked this idea because obviously you can do it with any film. It can be helpful for students to see the major elements in a film that they have looked past before. The more we do group activities in the class the more I like the idea of working together. That is why the count to 10 game was fun. However, my concern would be doing it in an average size class of 20-25+. I feel the larger the group the longer it would take? I also really got excited about the writing collaboratively activity. I felt like there is so much a teacher can do with this activity. Not only could you use it for poems, but you can use it as a story board, character analysis, plot summary, or grammar exercise. With students working together collaborating and bouncing ideas off each other it makes the work more fun and enjoyable.


Blogging is becoming very popular with everyone. Last semester was the first time that I kept a blog, but I really enjoyed it. When I was younger I kept a journal, so I was used to writing thoughts down. I believe many parents have a misconception of blogging. They automatically assume it is unsafe because it is associated with the internet. However, what the older generations don't realize is that blogs/internet is in and paper is (almost) out. I feel with the multitudes of safe blogging websites, blogging should be incorporated into the classroom for educational purposes. My sister is in 8th grade and some of her classes are turning more towards technology. Her social studies class last year set up a class page where they used a blog and had homework assignments. However, I was upset at how many parents complained they did not want their child to use the blog because they thought people would be able to hack into the information. However, in my future classroom I want to take advantage of blogging. Last semester we did online literature circles, which worked really well. I think blogging is a way for students to voice their opinions thoroughly without feeling embarrassed in class.


In regards to the "The Battle for Facebook" I found the article very interesting. I knew a little about the controversy surrounding Facebook, but did not know it went that much into depth. I don't know what to believe with the situation, but I think that Mark was a scary, brilliant student who was able to feed off ideas to create his empire. Do I think all those people who got robbed deserve money, not necessarily. They had versions similar to Mark's but he was able to make something from them. Everyone has ideas, but technically they were not patent ideas so can he really get into trouble from here-say? To me that's what the article was, these guys all had the initial "idea" for Facebook, but how is that to be proven? Thinking about this reminds me of a Seinfeld episode when Kramer has the idea for the ocean perfume and Calvin Klein steals his idea after they laughed in his face. He gets so mad and marches down to their office.
In the article, Mark stated he wasn't in it for the money "I'm in this to build something cool," he told Fortune, "not to get bought." I'm not dumb, of course he wants the money. That is why he fired everyone involved and is now a billionaire. He pushed everyone away and has a lot of people hating him for his actions. 
I never saw the movie Social Network, but I heard that it made Mark look like an ass (for lack of a better term). However, the movie was part fiction, which I feel is wrong providing fabricated information. Whatever the issue I love Facebook and kudos to the creator(s).