From the cutting floor: Links and songs that didn’t make the social networking presentation

Image via CrunchBase

Here are some of the resources (some serious, some not so serious) that won’t be in the parent education presentation on Thursday night at USM.

Facebook Song on YouTube

Facebook in Reality

Is Facebook Growing Up Too Fast?

When Everyone’s a Friend, Is Anything Private?

Are Granular privacy controls too complicated for users?

The Twitter Song

The Tweet Show

P-O-R-T-A-L is not a four letter word

‘A Dame’s School’  We’ve come a long way . . . .

Originally uploaded by National Media Museum

Ah, technology and its promises. Ease of use, improved communication, anytime-anywhere learning and living.

What? You’re not buying it?

First, let’s review how a typical family with a child in each division might be using “technology” to participate in the USM community over a 24 hour period. (Okay–so it’s my family.)

10th grader: Check the English Literature blog, the Western Civ blog, the Facebook group on Latin 2, the portal for homework updates, do a webassign for Chemistry, and do vocabulary sentences on the Sophomore English wiki.

6th grader: Check the portal for homework (compare to assignment notebook), enter answers to History on e-Learning site blog, re-enter the answers to History on e-Learning site forum, check French wiki (after Mom reminds you) for assignment, check out lunch for tomorrow.

4th grader: Check portal for homework (compare to assignment notebook); attempt to sign on to GoogleDocs via Google, attempt to sign onto GoogleDocs via portal; beg mom to send email to teacher so you have work for weekend.

Mom: Check portal for all homework, be sure to check French wiki, read sophomore English blog (What? I used to teach high school English!), download US announcements, email Frau Jaeger about school picture order form 10th grader forgot to bring home, check 6th grade History site, check portal for grade comments, read Friday Folder/Friday Footnotes/US Update, read email from teacher about GoogleDocs, . . . .

Dad: What’s a wiki?

I’m guessing, given the number of kids on Mr. Matera’s site last night and the note home from Mrs. Ptak about GoogleDocs, and the extension of Mrs. Kendall’s composition assignment last week, and [insert your story here] that there are still some kinks to work out in “extending the learning experience out of the classroom and into the home.”

Still, I thought it was pretty cool when my 6th grader did the take home quiz for History online. And, you know, it’s nice to have some window into what my 10th grader is doing in school. It’s great, too, that the 4th grade class is learning about GoogleDocs now–saves paper AND reduces lost papers.

So, learn your portal user name and password, set up your NetWildcat account, maybe even update your profile (Really–you have a profile waiting to be updated on the USM portal).

Most of all, be patient. And see what you can learn about USM and what our children are learning.

Got Web 2.0? Teachers and parents invited to learn

Fellow parent advocate Lorna Costantini invites parents and teachers to join the conversation about Facebook, blogging, texting, voicethread, wikis, feed readers, Twitter, webcasting. . . . on her blog, Parents as Partners.

Her big question in this post: How are teachers teaching parents about Web 2.0? She writes:

“It is apparent [in blog postings on Internet censorship in schools] that parents, in their absence and by insinuation, are faulted for driving the bus on censorship. Parents complain and administrators listen.
With that in mind, I ask where are the learning opportunities for parents to create their own classroom? Their own personal learning network. A classroom that allows them to experience what their children are learning. Parents, well informed, can make their own decisions and by developing a parent/teacher personal network, can drive change.” (Bolded text is mine).

At University School of Milwaukee, Matt Montagne, the middle school technology teacher, pulled together, at parent request, a study group on Web 2.0 tools. He’s created a wiki for the parent group. He’s video streamed the sessions live and archived them.  He’s shared it with people internationally (thus his–and now my–connection with Lorna).

I’m participating and, believe me, while the learning curve has been steep, “learning by doing” has been very powerful.

I’d invite teachers and parents interested in learning more to pick just one tool and try it out. Facebook is fun and, if your child already has a page, he or she might just invite accept your “friend” invitation. (See my first post on this blog).  For teachers, trying out Facebook is a great way to think about how you may need to adapt your curriculum–kids know how to use the tools, but you still have the wisdom that only experience can bring.

And if you’re a teacher or school leader already using these tools to teach, come post on Lorna’s voicethread (look for the cartoon) and talk about how you’ve invited parents to learn about that tool’s use in your school.

Facebook for Moms, 101

I’m not 100% sure what prompted me to register, but on Sunday, I took the plunge and created a Facebook page. My first “wall post” was from infant Facebooker, Susan C., at 11:37 p.m. central.

“LOL You should go to bed, before you know it we will be twittering to one another. I joined tonight.”

I listed “trying out Web 2.0 with Susan C.” as one of my activities on my Facebook profile. The twitter reference (www.twitter.com) was a joke (I think). I do have a twitter account, in the spirit of trying out some of these ideas. And, as you see here, I’ve created a blog page.

I’m trying out Facebook, Twitter, Jott (www.jott.com), bloggling, feed readers, texting, webcasting and new things to come, I’m sure, because experience, in this instance, is by far the best teacher. Reading about other kids’ Facebook and MySpace pages was tedious and technical or scary and sensationalized. How will I ever know if jotting works or if I want a twitter network of people to “shout out to” during the day? Why does my son use texting instead of email and his cell phone?

(Reading a little helps. Try Anne Reed’s “A Trial Lawyer’s Guide to Social Networking Sites.” It’s readable and more general than the title suggests. Look in the right hand column of the blog.)

Social networking tools (that’s what these are collectively called) promise to enhance social interaction. Of course, some worry that it can also inhibit social interaction. Yesterday’s NYTimes took issue with the promise. “Compared with other forms of human interaction, online social networking is really not all that social.”

“People visit each other’s MySpace pages and Facebook profiles at various hours of the day, posting messages and sending e-mail back and forth across the digital void. It’s like an endless party where everybody shows up at a different time and slaps a yellow Post-it note on the refrigerator.”

LOL.

That was my precise experience in the twenty-four hours I’d had a Facebook account. In addition to Susan C. I had Post-its from fellow hockey moms Christine K. and Nikki L. I read their posts to each other and learned that Notre Dame was going to the Frozen Four (and that Nikki’s son was disappointed he couldn’t play because of an injury). I heard from fellow MRA board members Reggie M. and Kim S. You can see that Reggie and I posted on each other’s walls about the upcoming State Supreme Court race (he supports Louis Butler). You’d also see a post from childhood friend, Mary Pat H., whose step-daughters set up a Facebook page for her a year ago.

Silicon Valley is bringing back ‘live’ socializing to social networking. I’m not one to question the product development folks in the Valley, but my first impulse is that I won’t have much use for 3-D virtual chat rooms in my virtual social life.

What I like about these tools is that I don’t have to schedule one more face-to-face interaction. Like most moms around me, I’m already juggling my own professional calendar as well as my three children’s and my husband’s time outside of work. I hate scheduling more than matching socks, which I put off until no one has any socks to wear.

Instead, Susan C. and I can have a “LOL” across time and space. Christine K. can tell me that my photos made her “homesick” four hours after I’ve posted them. For my busy friends and colleagues, it’s already turning out to be a nice way to keep in touch. Come join us!