Ramblings

I have been using social media in my classroom for a few years now. I have a class Twitter account. I have set up all my students with their own blogs. My class communicate with other students around the world using Edmodo. We have mystery skyped classes in the USA. We have shared our videos on the class YouTube account. My class has engaged in online learning on various interactive, social websites such as Khan Academy and Scratch. But as impressive as this list may appear, I feel as if there are so many aspects of social networking as a tool I have only scratched the surface of. In all of these social engagements, I have remained the one in charge. I have been the instigator of the social engagement; the engineer, the conductor, the driver, the orchestrator. This has made it a very manageable, controllable experience. One that most educators would feel safe in. One where the learning outcomes have been planned and catered for. One where the outcomes are possibly even predet...

I know of an ethical dilemma where a teacher posted on her private Facebook page some blatantly racial comments about a newspaper report on the actions of an Indian taxi driver. Many other people had also commented and expressed their opinions about this man’s reported actions. This teacher’s comments could be judged to have been inappropriate by most people’s standards. The comments were racial and offensive. Her Facebook page was open with no privacy restrictions. While her offensive comments were published for all to see, so was her place of work and her connection to her wider school community. This post was brought to her principal’s and her BOT attention via the fact that many of her Facebook friends were also work colleagues. She thought her comments were humorous. She felt she was just reiterating the general population’s disgust for what this man had purportedly done. She did not feel she had an obligation to uphold any higher code of ethics or standards than everyone...

It wasn't until I did a paper for my Masters on The Role of the Female in Traditional Storytelling that I began to evaluate and understand my privileged position in society as a white, middle class male. I have always thought of myself as being caring and understanding to all people, regardless of race, religion, beliefs, or gender. That paper helped me see that it was easy for me to hold to the belief system I had, simply because of the position I held in society, simply because of my gender, race, and financial stability. When I did that paper, I found it difficult to actually conceptualise what my culture actually was. I am from English, Irish decent with parents born in the British Isles, and yet, I feel neither a connection, nor an affinity to either of those places. With globalisation (brands, sports teams, music) and the  Californication   of our ideas through the American film and television industry, I felt devoid of a thorough understanding of what my white, midd...