Tech Talk for the Middle School

 Sharing technology with middle school students can be a controversial endevour. There are varying ideas as to  what kids should be able to do and not be able to do on the internet. 

The internet is full of fun and exciting things. I can spend hours searching the net for the most random things. Timeshares, LCD Screen cords, Disney pins, jewlery making classes you get the picture right. I often find some really neat things and want to share them with my students. The problem is not every cool thing you find is designed or marketed to a middle school student.

I recently started using Google with my 8th graders. There are so many cool things that would really get the kids excited about learning. However it also gives them access to somethings that are not allowed in our school. IGOOGLE is a great way to customize your home page. However some of the gagets that my kids found are not totally for middle school kids. The next thing we did was GMAIL. Kids all signed up and learned how to attach a file to send work to and from home. However anyone that you email that has GMAIL is also included in the side a chat feature. It takes me about a week to notice this feature. It takes the average 8th grader about 4 minutes to sniff out this feature.

I find myself checking my email and voice mail a lot right after introducing new things to my students. Parents have different views on the internet so far so good. I have not ruffled any feathers. I am sure that will not last forever. However I think that the possible negatives are far outweighed by the postitives when sharing technology with kids.