Facebook and Educators

Due to writing other items I haven't been blogging too often. An event occurred the other day that inspired me to compose this post. I was on Facebook, and a former coworker of mine, a teacher, chatted me to find out how to delete "friends" on Facebook. As I provided the instructions, I was informed that another teacher at this school was printing off teachers' Facebook posts and turning them into the building principal. I just find this entire issue absurd! This is absolutely childish behavior, from both the person printing, and the principal for reading. My question, first of all is, "Why isn't the principal on Facebook?" This is a person LEADING educators and children to become productive citizens of society. One of their jobs is to assist in the development of children to be prepared for post-secondary education. FYI folks...Social Networking Tools are EVERY WHERE: Higher Education, Business, K-12 schools, and most of all SOCIETY! Kids are using these tools and they are FREE, so why isn't this principal learning ways to incorporate a tool that students and most teachers already know how to use into the curriculum? Instead, you have now created an environment that promotes hostility among your staff, and one that diservices your students by not learning a tool that can be beneficial because you are "afraid" of it. It is something that YOU don't know how to use so you automatically think it is "bad." Create and account! Interact with your students and staff. Model Information Age citizenship and responsibility! You have also instilled a sense of "fear" into your teaching staff, which can definitely not be good for you, them, or the students. Instead of this teacher embracing Facebook as tool, you have now deterred her from using it. Do you even realize the possible educational activities she could have done with Facebook? Created a page for each of her classes, hosted discussions as a continuation from class instruction, linked to experts in her content area field (not just for her own contact, but with students), linked her students with other students, chatted with students in the evenings if they had questions about homework. There are so many possible and imperative teaching moments you have just blocked. Teachers, you are definitely not off the hook here. Some of you post heart wrenching comments about your jobs. If you don't want to be there or are miserable everyday, and continually count down the days to summer break how engaged and motivated to participate in the instruction do you think your students will be? Embrace this social tool and figure out ways to incorporate instructional activities with it. If you are reading this and are at a loss of how to use Facebook for instruction, I do have a few items to suggest:

Book: From Fear to Facebook: One Schools Journey - Matt Levinson
Website: http://fromfeartofacebook.com/
Book: Using Web 2.0 Tools in the K-12 Classroom - Beverly Crane
Book: Elearning and Social Networking Handbook - Robin Mason and Frank Rennie