To anyone who has ever attempted to use Facebook in their classroom, you've probably been met with a block from the school district web filter. I say this is a good thing. I like Facebook as much as the next person, but it doesn't have a place in the classroom. There are so many classroom friendly alternatives out there (that's another post for another day). But what I do like is the Facebook format, and how it can be utilized in class.
Last year, I introduced a lesson that's hardly original, but somehow made it more difficult than necessary. I gave my students some cut outs of the parts of a Facebook home page (I guess it could be the timeline now), and had students construct the Facebook page of a character from the book we were reading. This year, I found a better way, using a pre-made template. I could give links to dozens of these templates, there are even entire websites dedicated to this concept, but I'm going to keep it simple. I'm just going to share the template that I'll be using, a printable pdf, I hope you like it:
Facebook Printable Template pdf
Ross, Have you tried Edmodo.com? It is a facebook style website (free as far as I know) that is all education related. Your kids can have profiles (that you control) and you can even give parents access. We are trying it in Howard county this year.
ReplyDeleteEd, I am familiar with Edmodo, and have used it in the past. I didn't use it last year, there were too many other projects going on, but I used it the previous years with that class I looped from 4th to 5th, and they really liked it. It has a simple interface, and is easy for students to pick up. Let me know how you like it. I also wanted to talk to you about possibly doing some kind of pen pal thing or something this year. We can discuss it more on Facebook if you're down.
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