The idea of sharing your personal pictures, comments and list of friends with students may not be very appealing. If you plan to use Facebook in the classroom, make a separate teacher profile. This ensures that students will only hear your thoughts on Shakespeare or quadrilaterals, rather than a rant about your evil boss or how much you need a new pedicure. Also ask students to create a separate profile, using it only for school and avoiding inappropriate pictures and comments. "Friend" those students and begin the learning.
Status updates are publicly viewed by all students on your friend list and can be used in different ways. Use your wall as a discussion board where both you and your students can post information, whether personal thoughts, questions or links to interesting articles related to class learning. List daily homework assignments or information about upcoming activities, and remind students to bring certain books or materials to class the next day. You could even use the wall as a journal substitute, requiring students to post a paragraph about something they learned from an assigned reading. Encourage students to comment on other students' posts, and maybe spur a debate that can continue live in the classroom.
Reserve the messaging capability for one-on-one communication between you and a student. If the student has questions about an activity or wants your opinion about his project, he may message you. This allows you to give a longer, more thorough and individualized explanation with the privacy unavailable through regular wall comments. Make sure to stress to students that this is only for emergencies. They should not message you with questions that can wait until the next school day or with things that will be posted on the wall, such as what pages to read or which problems to complete for that night's homework.
The notes section in Facebook is similar to a blog. In fact, you can actually import blog posts into the Facebook notes. But for classroom use, post notes about what happened that day, retelling fun stories and anecdotes that review important or exciting activities, such as a fun project or guest speaker. You may also want to ask students to write a post about class or submit a well-written essay. For security reasons, do not allow students access to the page as an editor. You should be the one to post all notes.
Use the Facebook poll app to design your own survey. This is a great way to check up on how well students liked a particular activity. It can also get students more involved with their learning by allowing them to choose which novel to read next, decide where they would rather go on a field trip or select a winning class project.
Put several students in charge of taking classroom photographs or videos. These could be on special guest speakers, student projects and presentations or class field trips. Make sure that they are only taken at appropriate times and not distracting students or interrupting the learning environment. When seeking initial parental permission for students to join your Facebook page, make sure you ask about photographs and videos, as well. Some parents may be fine with their children posting comments, but do not want the students' pictures online.