My use of facebook and google groups in the classroom.

I have a friend who also teaches 5th grade in another state and we are both teaching our students about American History. We have collaborated and decided to have our students make facebook pages and write and share about some of the facts that they have learned about American History. They will each be assigned a history buddy from the other classroom who they do not know. We have chosen facebook as a tool for this project for a few reasons. It is a fun means of communication for this age group to participate in. They will have fun putting together their profiles and building their pages, all the while learning about valuable technological tools. During this project they will be able to study facts that they have learned and then share them with their buddy, as well as other students. Face book also offers a chat window in order for them to share information instantaneously, as well as a means of posting information on their wall for others to access and learn from. We both feel like this opportunity will both help our students learn and share American history, but will also introduce them to a world of technology. We also feel like this will enhance their learning experience and entice them to want to learn more. Likely they will be eagar to discuss history with fellow students and will probably be eager to learn and share other subject areas as well. Some concerns that we have discussed will be internet safety and privacy of these students. We plan to explain to their parents that this is a project that needs to be somewhat monitored by their parents, and we will of course be helping students implement safety awareness by teaching that they must not invite unknown friends to join. Regular checking of their facebook accounts will also be a top priority in order to protect the students.



Another objective that I plan to implement technology in my classroom is by using google groups. I am having my students divide into several groups and work on a group project for science. Each group will be given a different science concept and together present their discoveries to the classroom. I want them to be able to communicate about their science topic both in and out of the classroom. I will give them plenty of direction in how to go about this. They will be required to do some research about it, and then collaborate about possible solutions that may come up, during their research. They will need to prepare a poster, experiment, hypothesis and then teach the other students about what they discovered in this research. By being able to discuss various things outside the classroom they will also be learning and using google groups to communicate. This way they can each add, edit and communicate about each of their findings and then share with other group members. I will then be added to the group so I can then evaluate as to who participated and provided information for the project. I feel like this tool can be very beneficial for my students to learn to cooperate as a team as well as learn a valuable communication tool for future group projects. I realize that these young students will need a lot of guidance and I will communicate with them regularly in order to assist them. I will also be communicating with parents and informing them of what we are trying to accomplish. I will send home information about the research and how to help their student succeed. I feel when we introduce students to such valuable tools in the world of technology we are enhancing their educational experience. They will be much better off in our modern society if they are required to use these types of tools at such a young and impressionable age.