I didn't know at first how I would be able to use it. I just knew that I had to do something to get my pass rates up. Within the NYC public education system, the teacher is held accounted for everything. My school has only a 48% graduation rate, and I am given classes with the lowest 3 of students. Most of them did not show up to class more than 3 days a week. I was held accountable for why my students grades were so low. I explained to my principal and assistant principal that I had sent out letters to ever home... which I had documented. I made several phone calls home, which was documented as well. The response I received was that I needed to do more. What else could I have done? I wasn't about to make home visits. I made a facebook instead.
Even though I made a facebook my principal and assistant principal were not pleased. At least, not at first. I knew that attendance was the big issue, and because of attendance, the students would fall behind on the work and then cannot catch up, and ultimately give up on trying altogether. Most of my students worked to help pay bills, or stayed home to take care of their siblings while their mother's went to work. They could not balance full-time school with their realities.
I used facebook to post up work that I gave out that day. I would teach my lessons as normal, but the class assignments, readings and homeworks I put post up on the notes section. And on my status, I would briefly describe what we did for the day, and post up any major assignments coming up such as projects or tests. The students that showed up regularly obviously did much better than the students who didn't... but they had a chance to not give up hope for the semesters. Students were actually handing in their work. It's not like any one of them wanted to fail and stay in high school longer, they just did not know how to balance all that is expected of them... I'm an adult, and I'm still trying to figure it out. I also gave them a designated time on when I would be on facebook so if they had any questions they could e-mail me or chat with me.
My superiors did not understand how facebook worked and were scared of what I was doing. I had reminded them that they wanted me to do more, and this adventure into the realm of facebook was doing more. To my surprise my pass rates went up by 25% because more students were handing in the work they would normally be missing because of their lack of attendance. It was much more work on my end... but I believed that using facebook as a teaching tool was beneficial for my students.
Humaira, I found this posting informative and your venture into using facebook in the classroom seems to have a more productive outcome than Childs yet I am still left with the question, What about privacy issues? Did you do anything to protect your privacy? How did your students feel -- do you think they saw it as an intrusion into their personal space? Did you read my posting? Did you consider a class blog or wiki?
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing first hand account of the potential benefits of using digital/social media as a supplement to the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered how to make something like this effective and relevant to the lifestyle of "urban" students. I am certain the results will vary but should remain positive overall.
You should use the tool again and do a year over year comparison and then write an article about for http://www.eschoolnews.com/. Or just write an article about it now!
Jane- I set up my privacy setting where the students had to have my e-mail to add me. I am not searchable through google, and if anyone that is not my friend tried to view my profile they couldn't. I told the students to block me against anything that they do not want to me accidentally see since by law I am required to report anything that is harmful to the student.
ReplyDeleteStacy- Ann- I actually am going to use this tool again. Every year is an opportunity to add and recreate and build upon existing ideas.
How well have your documented your success? It sounds like you have the making of a professional article here. The 25% improvement certainly is eye catching.
ReplyDeleteI would be afraid to try social networking with minors, unless I had consulted with an attorney. Did you have their parents sign off on consent forms?