Social Networking in the Classroom

While many schools discourage the use of social networking sites in school, these sites often have unharnessed potential in the classroom. For instance, Facebook has an application weRead (formerly iRead), which allows users to recommend books, rate them, and write critiques. This program reflects the practices of the much praised Nancie Atwell, who has her students write in journals about their reading experiences allowing other students to comment on their peers reflections as well as herself. Social networking sites can be a valuable discussion tool for literature. The blogging feature also allows students to post their creative writing work and others to make comments. Such a feature helps to build student confidence in their writing. Overall I believe students should be allowed to use social networking sites within schools. The important issue is guiding them to productive use rather than simply posting comments to friends and watching videos. It simply comes down to an educator having the classroom management skills to guide his or her students.