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03:28 pm August 2, 2011 Twitter (27) Facebook (685) E-mail Share Stumble Upon Reddit Linkedin Digg What is this? Share Print Comments (146) Recommend (32)   by Eyder Peralta August 2, 2011 Listen to the Story All Things Considered [3 min 38 sec] Add to Playlist Download Transcript   A law signed into law last month in Missouri is making waves nationally, this week. A small part of the wide-ranging SB54, makes it illegal for teachers to be "friends" with students on any social networking site that allows private communication. That means teachers and students can't be friends on Facebook or can't follow each other on Twitter for example. All Things Considered's Michele Norris spoke to an eighth grade teacher from Joplin, Mo., who opposes the new law. Randy Turner, who teaches English, said as teachers your job is to reach out to students and that means going where they are and now a days students have shunned e-mail and are using social networking sites to communicate. The larger bill, explained Turner, was passed with great support because it was intended to protect children from predatory teachers. It was intended, he said, to stop what is termed "passing the trash," which is when teachers who have had inappropriate contact with students resign quietly only to be hired by another school. But Turner argues instead of protecting children, this new law may be hurting them. "We may be preventing them from talking to the very people who may be able to help," he said. In a story last month, Springfield's KSPR talked to a teacher from Nixa, Mo. Band Director Craig Finger said he has no problem with the law, because the lines between teacher and student are clear to him. "... If you ask any one of these kids it's very clear we're not friends," Finger said. "We don't friend any students. If you haven't graduated we're not friends. I think the only people I've friended under 18 are my niece and nephew." But Turner said that in the aftermath of the massive Joplin tornado that killed more than 100, Facebook proved instrumental. He was able to locate 20 students to find out they were OK, because he was friends with them on Facebook. Another teacher, said Turner, who monitors the chatter on Facebook was able to stop a fig

Another big point is regarding the power the bill would give to the schools when it comes to dealing with bullying, especially cyberbullying. The bill allows for school officials to deal with bullying which happens outside of school, including what happens on the internet. This gives school officials the right to monitor kids’ social media and other electronics and punish them for how they use social media even when they are outside school.

She introduces the students, who start off quietly, a little wary of this newfangled sort of author visit. But soon they’re taking turns sharing their favorite characters and we forget the computers that connect us. It feels like we’re all in the same room, and the questions fly across the miles.

The video connection allows for some show and tell. I hold up the leaf collection from my school that sparked the idea for the book. The students also get a sneak peak at the outline I’m working on for my new project, a middle-grade mystery. I love the way they talk not just to me but to one another, building on ideas like readers do in any book club discussion.

Almost all authors have an online presence with Web sites and email links, so it’s often possible to send a quick note to inquire.

Classes could use Diigo to review content in a type of fact-checking activity. The internet could be used to research important points of study and see if that information can be confirmed with bookmarks.

Teaching students to research is a common standard across all grade levels, elementary, middle school, high school, and beyond. Diigo excels as a research tool: Students can save relevant websites to lists in their Diigo student accounts. Each saved bookmark captures the URL and a screenshot, and can be searched later. Students can highlight important information right on the website, using Diigo. Later, when students return to the website, they find the reason they saved the bookmark in the first place. Students can use virtual sticky notes to summarize the important points of information from the website. This activity will mimic the time-tested procedure of using note cards to summarize and organize research projects. Students working on similar topics can create and join groups in order to collaborate. Later, when students need to document their sources, Diigo can be used to recall website URLs for citing sources.

Look for videos of under 10 minutes in length. There are uploads of entire documentaries, movies, shows, etc. but you probably can’t devote one or more classes entirely to that source.

Try to find videos that do more than replace your talking head with another. The idea is to change the class pace, not replicate it.

The multi-cultural setting of international education lends itself to a more natural development of global citizenship

The second tool that can be used to advance these ideals is through the use of digital technology. For years, sites have offered classrooms the opportunity to link up with other classrooms in order to learn about each other’s cultures and countries, but the current trend is to take these partnerships beyond the traditional “what is life like in your country?” model.

Learning becomes less about pounding facts into individual students' brains and more about how to think collaboratively and critically. To be effective, collaborative learning requires mutual respect among all the players involved, a willingness to listen to others' perspectives, being open to criticism and a desire to share knowledge, and being responsible for and accountable to the group as a whole.

The reality of course is that if a child wants to circumvent tracking and monitoring software, it is pretty easy to do.

Most people would agree that parents have a responsibility to keep tabs on what their kids are doing online.