Being Professional

I've just finished my third week of my BEd Primary course at Plymouth University and the thing we've had drummed into us is, it's important to 'Be Professional'.

Firstly, we need to make sure that our 'Digital Footprint' shows exactly what we want to have on show. For example, when my name, Hannah Corner, is googled I don't want any dodgy photos that may have been put on 'bebo' six years ago to be the first thing people see. I have created a professional twitter page (@hannahjcorner) so I can keep up to date with anything in the educational sector as well as having a place for myself and anyone else on our course to discuss anything from a lecture or seminar.

We've been being spoken to a fair bit about twitter and blogs and how they are useful within the primary classroom but I didn't really understand how properly until today. During education studies we had to look at the use and purpose of using twitter and blogs in the primary classroom. Not only did we look at the pros and cons but we looked at people who have frequently used blogs and twitter within an educational environment. Oliver Quinlan, Peter Yeomans and David Mitchell are prime examples of this and how social media can be used to help education.

Blogs and twitter can be a great way for parents to keep up with what their children are doing in class without having to get updates directly from the teacher or rely on their children's storytelling. In 2009 it was suggested that the new curriculum would include the use of social media however this is a bit controversial. Is it right for children to learn how to use twitter at the age of 10? Should twitter have an age limit? Would it be good for children to learn how to be safe on the internet in the same way they get taught about road safety? But when you look at all the resources online, should we be letting children explore these?

Technology and social media is changing everyday and we'll constantly be unsure of how much we should allow children access to. What on the internet is safe?

I hope to continue to explore this throughout my three years of teaching.

Hannah Corner