A bunch of Gagglers!

The only people allowed to access their personal email accounts, to my knowledge, within my school building is teachers. This is great, because if need be, you can check your Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, etc. However, with teaching a generation of students who have grown up not knowing what life is like without email and the internet, I have wondered for a long time why students do not have access to their email accounts at school.

I understand most of the security reasons. Of course I want my students, and all students to be safe on the web; but shouldn't it be partially our job, as teachers, to teach students how to use email and the internet appropriately, so that they do not turn into internet bullies on the plethora of social networks available to them?

This being said, yesterday my students got school safe email accounts! This may have been more exciting to them than anything we have done all year, with the exception of maybe our classroom blog. With the help of our schools librarian/technology teacher, my students were introduced to their new Gaggle.net accounts. This email site allows us to filter and sensor emails. As a teacher, I can pick and choose what students can and cannot subscribe to; such as Facebook vs. Edmodo.

Within minutes of setting up, my students became their own teachers. They were fast at work, using our school C.O.W.S. (Computers on Wheels (lap tops)). The excitement built as they began to find their classmates in their contacts, and even further built, when for some of them, they received their first ever email.

I look forward to being able to use this resource as another communication method. It is obviously one of many resources that could be tapped into. I think it is insane to think that email skills are something that should not be taught. Our students are the "21st Century Learners."

This week was a great technology week in my classroom. I hope my students do not expect to have their own lap top sitting on their desk when they show up on Monday.

Chris