Journal #3- NETS I, IV, & V

Levinson, Matt. (2010, February). Keeping the Peace. L&L, 37 (5). Retrieved from: http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=February_No_5_4&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4495&ContentID=25237&DirectListComboInd=D




In the article, “Keeping the Peace”, written by Matt Levinson, Levinson discusses a controversial issue, between the parents and teachers versus the students, at Nueva Middle School, when the school allowed instant messaging to be available to their students during and after school. The rampage it caused, made the district decide to look at the pros and cons of iChat, and in result, banned it. Students were sending instant messages to their classmates during class. Although, many teachers were not for it, the decision of the parents, was 50/50; Some felt it was a good source of social interaction, others felt it was a horrible idea, and thought it was inappropriate that a school would allow this. Although, this particular laptop program did not work out for the school, they considered it a “learning experience”. As a result, they came up with various ways to positively introduce and prepare everyone for the introduction of new technologies, such as: holding a boot camp for their 6th graders, to introduce them to the use of laptops, training sessions on how to conduct effective, and efficient online research, just to name a few.



Question #1: What is a better way this school could of approached this situation, and why?

A better way Nueva Middle School could’ve approached this situation, was like they had come up with after all this took place: creating a boot camp, not only for students but also parents. It is evident that children are beginning to use technology at such a young age, therefore, we have to look at the realism of this issue. Yes, instant messaging, myspacing, and facebooking can be dangerous. However, if parents are aware of their child’s use of these networking and social interaction sites, it is less dangerous. As future educators, we need to inform our students about sexual predators on these websites, and when it is appropriate to use sites, or IM. By doing so, it will create a safer technological environment for children, and less stress and concern for parents.



Question #2: What is a con of allowing students to IM, facebook, or myspace even after school?

This question stemmed due to my own experiences. Although I do not IM or myspace anymore, I definitely facebook, and can say this has kept me from doing school assignments/homework, and procrastinating. This is a major con, because after school, is usually the time children decide to do homework, because many children have bed times, so they try to get their homework done right when they get home. Also, another con is: cyber bullying. This has become a worldwide issue, due to internet use. We, as future educators, any supervisors, and parents need to be well aware of this, and make sure our children are using the internet for good purposes only.