Social Networking Activity

The social networking activity that I would like to use with my 4^th grade students will involve discussing the students’ heritage. In our social studies book (Social Studies Alive!), chapter 3 discusses the people that make up our nation. It discusses the different groups of people and their contributions to our country. These groups include Native Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, European Americans, and Hispanic Americans. I would like to create a social network so our class could communicate with another class, preferably a class in another country (if not, another city in the US would work fine). On this social network, students would post descriptions of their heritage and what countries their ancestors came from. They can discuss family traditions, holidays, and the contributions that their ancestors have made. The Ning site will allow them to post pictures. They can scan old photographs and draw pictures. My objective will be for students to learn about other cultures than their own and gain an appreciation for all of the groups of people that make up our country.

I will use the program called Ning (www.ning.com). The reason that I chose this site over other sites is because this site gives you the ability to create a private network. I will be able to decide who can join and the students’ posts and comments will remain private. This site works like a wikispace and social network in one. Students can make posts about anything and others can respond. Students can also scan in pictures and attach them to their posts. This would be a great way for students to share work with one another. Students will be able to access this site from home, so that will give them more time to work on the project. I considered using a program that students are familiar with, such as Facebook, but I was concerned about security. The students would have control over who they are “friends” with and could invite anyone they wanted to the network. I want to be in control of who is allowed to join.

One problem I foresee involves student etiquette while communicating with each other. I plan to prevent this by discussing in advance with my students how to show respect while on the internet. I will ask the teacher of the other class to do the same. Another problem involves the students getting confused with the program and having difficulty using it. I plan to help students with this by offering them extensive tutorials on the site before we start the project. I will create user guides for them so that they can try to solve the problem themselves if they get stuck.