With Resistance, Social Media is Reaching the Classroom

I’ve written my thoughts out before on how social media can be used in the classroom in my post Classroom 2.0 and I still believe that this, in part, is the future of teaching. Last week I saw a piece on CNN.com about a teacher in Los Angeles who is using Twitter in his class with what seems to be very positive results. He has shy, out of place students that are finding a voice, and his overall class interaction has increased. This is exactly what I had been talking about in my earlier post. I’m glad to see this actually start happening.

There is one thing that I did not foresee though, the resistance to the use of this tool in the classroom. I never expected quite the backlash at this “new” use of Twitter. The comment section is full of tidbits of close mindedness.

Here are some of my favourites:

• “Students will lose their ability to express ideas in a coherent manner since texting doesn’t lend itself to this.”
• “Another paid attempt to find a use for a tool that has minimal purpose.  The only use is is for the media to quote and fill content”
• “So if I want my order at Taco Bell correctly filled I need to tweet to the teen in the window?”
• “Fire this techer!  He is not required.”
• “You might as well shown them MTV too.”
• “Legaspi’s methods are part of the Dumbing Down of Americans.”
• “Oh good, yet another way to cheat.”

Aside from the fact that all of these statements show a lack of understanding regarding social media, this last one really gets me. Cheating? Really? It is time for the classroom to get away from the idea that collaborative thought, or collaborative problem solving, is cheating. when was the last time your boss gave you an F for asking a coworker for help? We have a problem here in the U.S. of A. with  our failing school systems. This country’s politicians would have us believe that the teachers are the problem, but that simply isn’t the case. Our problem is that we have an out dated view of how classrooms should be run. What do our children stand to learn about becoming “productive members of society” when we teach in a way that is devoid of real world experience? Teachers want to teach. We should let them.

Social media is just the tip of the iceberg in a revolution of thought that is/needs to be taking place in our classrooms. Bravo Mr. Legaspi.