Over this past year so far, I have really learned a
lot more about social media and ways to use it in the classroom, as
well as the benefits of incorporating it into instruction. I
feel that social media does have a place in my classroom. I was inspired when I
wrote my consent letter to parents about using Instagram in the
classroom. Check out my letter here. In this letter, I shared ideas on how I could incorporate this social media
into various subjects. In social studies, I shared that students could use this tool to pretend they are an historical figure. Since we're currently learning about Confucius, the ancient Chinese philosopher, and the positive behaviors he promoted, I decided that, by using Instagram, students could act as if they are Confucius taking pictures of positive-relationship interactions to demonstrate an understanding of the five relationships he encouraged.While I didn’t actually have my students use
Instagram this week, since my 6th graders are under 13, I modified the assignment by having them use
Storyboard That instead, but I still told them to pretend that they were Confucius sharing pictures on his "Instagram account." Even though Storyboard That isn’t a form of social media,
this "social-media idea" inspired me to use technology for this assignment, and in the process, I learned about another online tool that my students really enjoy. I am still open to using Instagram, but I might consider using it if I teach older students in the future.
I
don’t know if I’d use Facebook and Twitter in my classroom as I don't feel as comfortable at the moment with how to implement. Additionally, I am unsure if my administration and technology coach would approve of them being used. Despite this, I’d be open to creating a blog, like Blogger, with my students in the same fashion
that it is used for this class. I think it would be very engaging for my
students, and it would allow us to continue or have conversations outside of school. Furthermore, I think Blogger is very easy to use, especially in regards to adding images to a blog post compared to some other tools like Weebly.com.
In addition to Blogger, I would like to use YouTube more in the classroom. I often have the students watch short video clips from YouTube related to topics we're learning about in class. In order to engage them more in this site, I could have them create their own videos as well. Several of my students already create some of their own videos outside of school, so by using it in school, it would be an opportunity for them to use their technology skills to explain or learn more about a topic.
Lastly, I enjoyed spending more time exploring all the ideas for teachers that can be found on Pinterest. Teachers have a lot of talents, and by sharing and learning from other teachers on Pinterest, I can gain great ideas to use in my classroom to help with class activities, as well as management and organizational ideas.
Overall, these forms of technology are a part of many aspects of our society today. Children are growing up with them being the norm. With this in mind, it is important to realize that it is inevitable for them to become more and more a part of school. Therefore, I believe all educators need to be open to utilizing some of these forms of social media in their classrooms to take advantage of what they can do to help students learn.
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