My students constantly talk about Facebook with each other. "Can you beleive (he/she) wrote that?" and "Did you see her status?" are commonly heard exclamations/questions I hear in student conversations. I decided to use Facebook to further explore Napoleon Bonaparte. I outlined the requirements of the Facebook page (3 questions about Napoleon to answer under "Activities", 3 friends, 3 wall posts, etc.) I also offered the option of writing an email from Napoleon to his kids from the Battle of Waterloo. This writing assignment required the students to answer the same questions in the Facebook assignment.
I made an example of the Facebook page of another historical figure (Pizarro) to model the activity.
What worked: The students were overall excited to create the Facebook page. Most students chose the Facebook page over the "email." A lot of students who usually don't hand anything in, handed in a Facebook page (yay!)
What didn't work: Because we couldn't actually use Facebook, the students had to create their own template for the page. This discouraged a lot of students as they wanted to really log on to the social networking site. The element of pretending to use Facebook discouraged some students.
Also, many students made a great page, but did not answer the questions about Napoleon (which was supposed to reveal some important info about Napoleon!) The artistic side of students was highlighted, but the content-focus was missed.
I made an example of the Facebook page of another historical figure (Pizarro) to model the activity.
What worked: The students were overall excited to create the Facebook page. Most students chose the Facebook page over the "email." A lot of students who usually don't hand anything in, handed in a Facebook page (yay!)
What didn't work: Because we couldn't actually use Facebook, the students had to create their own template for the page. This discouraged a lot of students as they wanted to really log on to the social networking site. The element of pretending to use Facebook discouraged some students.
Also, many students made a great page, but did not answer the questions about Napoleon (which was supposed to reveal some important info about Napoleon!) The artistic side of students was highlighted, but the content-focus was missed.
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