Chapter 7: Flickr

I do see the potential use of Flickr in the classroom.  It would be fun to share pictures with families and the community or create assignments with images the students can access and annotate with this online tool.  However, as I pointed out in my last post, I feel it's important to narrow down the tools I think I realistically use in my classroom and I don't think Flickr will make the cut.  I see too many drawbacks from the stand point of a low-income district.  Parents need to have access to the Internet and the interest in surfing it to have time to view their child's classroom activities using Flickr.  This means they need to have an active Flickr account since I would make the album private for the safety of my students.  Also, as in many Phillips Elementary school (the school I hope to teach in) classrooms, I would be lucky to have one computer for the students to access.  And with every teacher vying for time in the computer lab, I cannot count on constant access to that either.  Flickr would have to be an ongoing endeavor and I don't think the benefits outweigh the cost of time and access. 
This chapter did make me realize that I want to send home a survey for the students' parents to fill out at the beginning of the year.  I know currently some parents don't have the Internet in their homes but with technology expanding so quickly, and the parents I will be involved with will have an increasing interest in technology since they will be a younger generation than current parents of elementary schoolers.  I want to find out what programs parents would be interested in and which they would keep up with, like a blog, Twitter, a Facebook page, etc.  I want parents to feel involved and connected to their child's experience in the classroom.  But, I don't want to do it in a technological advanced way that discourages parents.  I want them to find the mode of transmitting information easy, convenient, and inviting for them to keep updated on their child's success. 
I also don't see Flickr being the best tool for classroom learning either.  A lot of the possibilities of Flickr can be accomplished through other methods.  For example, if the goal is to have the students interact and label images, a SMARTboard can help facilitate that.  The students can come up to the board and write directly on the picture or make a star and tell the class about the picture, this method would be similar to annotating a picture on Flickr.  Overall, I can't see Flickr being the most advantageous tool for learning, classroom management, or parent involvement.  It would not be a wise use of my time and effort as a teacher.