Clark County (The Evening News)
Silver Creek students are surfing for an education
Networking site aims to enhance curriculum for SCHS juniors
SELLERSBURG — Take the average teenager’s interest in playing on social networking sites, add some classroom lessons to it and you get the pioneer form of teaching Paul Hankins is attempting.
His first assignment this fall for his 11th-grade English class at Silver Creek High School was for each student to set up his or her profile on his Ning network, www.RAWINcK.ning.com, which is dedicated to reading and writing.
“It kind of caught me off guard,” 17-year-old Aaron Beck said of the assignment. “But it’s a good change.”
Hankins said this gives students a safe way to utilize a social networking site online, while picking up a few lessons, too.
He talked about a heated discussion on the site’s forums, where students were debating whether or not marching band is a sport. He said students responded with multiple paragraphs, citing resources backing up their respective positions. Hankins said it looked more like English essays.
“We actually tricked them into writing,” he said.
Also on the site, students can access class notes in case they missed a day or need a refresher after a long weekend. It also serves as a way to post writings for feedback from the teacher and classmates and a place where students can ask questions about class outside of school.
“I’m kind of addicted to it,” Zac Steward, 17, said. “At home, it’s kind of hard to express how I feel. Here, I can openly express how I feel ... it’s simple to use and it’s a way to get whatever is on your chest off your chest.”
The feedback process is what many of those on the site enjoy.
“You don’t say [to your classmates], ‘Hey, how about we go to this place and talk about my poem?’” Kalia Pinkston, 16, said. “No, you don’t do that. So, this give us a chance to do that.”
“I think it helped me to better understand how to put my words into what I’m thinking about,” 16-year-old Jennie Sauer said, adding that the feedback is helping her to improve her writing skills.
“It breaks the clique barriers quite a lot too,” Carol Absher, 16, said, noting that more people are willing to give constructive feedback online than in class.
While students work to perfect their writing, soon they will be talking to the professionals. So far, Hankins has recruited seven authors to be on the site. One, Ellen Hopkins, is participating in an online question-and-answer session with students Wednesday evening.
“If we can get kids writing about books and reading about writing, it will kind of fill the void,” Hankins said.
While the site seems to be a hit with the kids, the parents are giving mixed reviews.
“My mom thinks I’m crazy,” Jin Kaps, 16, said. “She says, ‘You’re doing English at home? On the Internet?’”
“My sister thinks it’s weird that you can talk to your teacher after class,” Sauer said.
“My parents admire it,” Pinkston said.
The site is kept clean. Hankins — along with the school’s principal and IT director — are administrators for the site, meaning they can delete any message, profile or comment they deem inappropriate.
However, Hankins said that hasn’t been necessary.
To date, about 130 of his approximately 150 students have voluntarily signed up on the Web site. Hankins said students are only allowed to stay on while they are enrolled in the class. He said in May, all current students will be taken off the network and new ones will join next fall.
In the future, Hankins said he hopes to see this grow to include alumni and possibly other schools, so that students can have even more feedback on their work.
“I think this is the way we’re going to affect young readers and writers,” Hankins said. “I’m hoping it becomes a literacy virus that spreads.”
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Continued ... - Clark county briefs for Sept. 2, 2010
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