How does Bebo address curriculum requirements?

In education today it is incredibly important that we as teachers are providing our students with the opportunity for them to experience the wonders of the world wide web, and how it can be used as an effective means to communicate with others around the world.

Bebo can be used to enable children to develop their skill and abilities in English. Currently English in the New Zealand curriculum- in regards to writen language suggests:

Students should be able to:

• engage with and enjoy written language in all its varieties;
• understand, respond to, and use written language effectively in a range of contexts.

Bebo has the potential to allow children to engage in a variety of writing methods, in personal blogs children are writing about themselves using a more creative stance. By using the whiteboard tool children are able to discuss with their peers topics or simply write recounts about what they have been doing on the weekend or over their holiday break. Many people can not see past the negativities Bebo can encourage, if you take a step back and take a look at the skills children are developing by creating their own Bebo page, providing this social networker is use sensibly, its possibilities are phenomenal!

Bebo also has the potential to enhance children's reading abilities, the beauty of Bebo is that everytime a child wants to learn about each other or understand a comment someone has written about them they have to read! Although many people don't realise it, reading is a huuge attribute of Bebo. By taking a closer look into the makeup of Bebo it becomes clear that this social networker corresponds with many of the ideas presented in the English in the New Zealand curriculum document. The Ministry of Education believes that reading and writing make it possible to understand, clarify, and communicate ideas, feelings, and thoughts, as well as to gather, process, and present information. Bebo can enable children to understand,clarify and communicate ideas, their feelings and thoughts concerning topics, they are also able to gather, process and present their information in a medium that is appealing to them. What I think is so powerful about Bebo is that children are learning communication skills along with many other useful life skills without even realising learning is going on! We all know that when children learn best when they are enjoying what they are doing and have developed an interest.

When looking at the Oral language area of English in the New Zealand curriulum it becomes visable that Bebo can facilate this dimension of learning too. English in the New Zealand curriculum states that

Students should be able to:

• <>engage with and enjoy oral language in all its varieties;
• <>understand, respond to, and use oral language effectively in a range of contexts.

Bebo also has the potential to enable learning in this area as well, children can engage in a variety of oral language mediums, such as watching videos their friends have posted on their page and even listening to voice messages each other have recorded and put on their page or yours.

English and language hugely impacts on the development of communcation skills. In the current draft curriulum communication skills have been recognised as an essential skill that children need to develop.
Communication Skills where students will:

• communicate competently and confidently by listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and by using other forms of communication where appropriate;
• convey and receive information, instruction, ideas, and feelings appropriately and effectively in a range of different cultural, language, and social contexts;
• develop skills of discrimination and critical analysis in relation to the media, and to aural and visual messages from other sources; or argue a case clearly, logically, and convincingly;

http://www.megabright.co.nz/UpSouth/curriculum.htm

Through the integration of ICT using social networkers such as Bebo, children are being exposed to these aspects of the essential skill, communication skills. they are developiing skills in listening, speaking, readiing and writing. They are communicating with a variety of different people all over the world, therefore they are conveying and receiving information, ideas and feelings in an appropriate context. Through Bebo children also have the chance to critically anaylse discrimination within oral and visual messages

There is so much potential in learning communication skills along with many other skills in Bebo, it makes me wonder why their is so much uproar in society concerning Bebo, and its use in the classroom. This is an area I will be concentrating on for my next blog, What are people saying about Bebo?- positive and Negative. This will enable me to crtique others views.