Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts: Wikis (Chapt 9) Social Networks

This chapter about Facebook brought up some really good points.  I like how the author said that we shouldn’t just not use it because most schools have the site blocked.  The examples he provided In the book are very good examples about how Facebook can be used appropriately. Students now probably know a lot more about Facebook than most of us do, so I think it’s important to take the opportunity to teach students how to use Facebook appropriately and safely.  Some parents may not have Facebook or even know much about it, so as teachers, we need to take the responsibility to make sure our students know what they are doing and doing it safely.  From experience, I know how addicting Facebook can be and I know that a lot of people are on Facebook whenever they are home.  Since students are on Facebook quite a bit, I like the idea of having a “secret” group for your class where they can discuss different things.  This would make it very easy to accomplish classroom tasks if students are already on Facebook while at home.  I think it can also be a great way to build your class community by having an open discussion where students can talk to each other and the quiet students can even contribute and maybe not feel quite so much pressure as when they are in class and talking. 
I am not familiar with Ning.com, but this also sounds like it could be nice to use in a classroom.  I liked the examples the author gave about how teachers are using Ning in their classroom.  I think social networks can be a great way to help build a classroom community and at the same time you can teach your students how to be a safe online citizen.  You could also use these resources to help teach about bullying and how to prevent cyber-bullying or what to do if they experience or see cyber-bullying happen.  I think by using these Social Networks in the classroom there are a lot of teachable moments to take advantage of. 
As a future teacher, I would definantly play around with these two resources and see which may benefit my class.  I would want to incorporate this into my class so I can take advantage of the other teachable moments, especially cyber-bullying since this is a very hot topic right now.  I feel that by having an online classroom community, students can express themselves who may not otherwise do so in the classroom.