The Great Book of Social Networking Scenarios

Scenario # 1The Players:

•High School Principal

•Father of a 15 year-old Female Student

Late one Friday afternoon, the father of one of the most popular students at the district’s high school storms into the principal’s office. He is extremely upset at the principal for what he calls, “blatant insubordination of a teacher.” He shows the principal a blog maintained by one of the Biology teachers, Mr. Jeffries. The blog is titled “Musings of a Science Teacher on the Brink,” and though much of the blog seems to upset him, he takes particular issue with a post called, “Abortion and Teens: All the Rage.” In the post, written only two days ago, Mr. Jeffries advocates for all teens who get pregnant to abort the fetus, particularly in the case of popular girls – because they will undoubtedly spread their poor behaviors to their “genetically-handicapped babies.” The father claims that this is a direct attack on his daughter because she openly disagreed with him about a grade she was given that same day…

Scenario # 2The Players:

•Student Teacher

•University Advisor to the Student Teacher

It was discovered recently that a student teacher had made some inappropriate comments about her mentor teacher, Ms. Raky, on her FaceBook page. The mentor teacher is very upset, and the principal of the school has canceled the school’s portion of meeting the student teaching requirements. The issue has now come to the university advisor to determine whether or not the student teacher should continue in the teacher education program and/or obtain a state teaching certificate. The student teacher has been granted a meeting with the advisor to assist the advisor in making his final decision about her program placement…

Scenario # 3The Players:

•District Superintendent

•School Board President

In light of recent instances of cyberbullying and one case of teacher-student sexual harassment, the superintendent of the district has decided to propose an alteration to the technology acceptable use policy to the school board which will completely exclude the use of blogs, FaceBook, and MySpace for educational use. The president of the board, a former teacher and current instructor of technology integration practices at a nearby university, thinks that this decision may have come in too much haste – as she can clearly see the value of these online tools in the classroom setting. She also knows that it is likely she will be one of maybe two members on the board of nine that will not support the proposed change, and she doesn’t get a vote. The superintendent has been approved for tonight’s board meeting, but before the meeting starts, the president of the board pulls the superintendent aside…

Well, what do you think?

After your group has acted out all three (3) scenarios and discussed them, go back to the Google Doc and fill out the form provided. Only one form per group is required, but all six (6) voices must be represented in your responses!

Powerpoint Template Credit: The Rapid eLearing Blog