No child is left behind in using social media at George Middle School in the Portland, Ore., area, Converge magazine reports. Over 90% of the students qualify for a free and reduced lunch, and the school receives Title I funding, but they are not without technology in the classroom. Many of the students don’t have landlines at home, but 75% of them have cellphones, so – in order to beat the label of “failing school” and get students engaged – the school started the Portland Project to get social media into its classrooms and cellphones into the learning process. “Instead of sitting students down with a piece of paper, a pencil and some 3×5 cards, George Middle School is allowing them to use tools such as their cell phones that help them learn better, faster and more accurately,” according to the school’s counselor. She, “Principal Beth Madison … and [education tech expert Karl] Meinhardt picked [free educational social-media tool] Edmodo to use with four classes at no cost [and] eight months into the Portland Project, students are building websites, writing blog posts, and creating videos about what they’re learning,” Converge reports. The whole project, including the multidisciplinary approach of its creators and administrators seems riddled with intelligence. Please see the article for results and future plans.
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