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Social Media and the Classroom

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At AMLE 2017 I attended Todd Bloch's presentation, "Social Media and Our Middle School Students."  His message was strong: Don't deny students access to social media.  Model how to use it! 

While I've embraced technology in my classroom, I've been very wary in incorporating social media; I think I've been scared of putting a public face to my classroom.  But why?  Because of those news stories of teachers fired for inappropriate posts?  I have enough common sense to keep my posts professional, so why not use social media as a means of promoting and advertising my students' work?  By doing so, I'm:

  1. showing the community the work I'm proud of
  2. connecting with parents
  3. connecting with other educators from whom I can find inspiration
  4. getting students excited (they love social media!)
  5. modeling how to shape the cyber footprint I leave

Remind me again why I've been hesitant? 

According to US News and World Report, 35% of college admissions officers are checking applicants' social media accounts (2017).  47% of the time, those checks encourage officers to view the applicants more positively (2017).  Imagine how these statistic might increase by the time our middle schoolers start applying to college?  We threaten students with the lasting implications of cyber bullying.  Do we ever discuss the way students can use their social media accounts to their advantage?  The best way to do so is by modeling the effect.

So, hold me accountable!  I'm on a journey.  @hbkropp is now tweeting out about her classroom.

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