Skip to main content

Social Media and the Classroom

By
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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

By Anonymous
I attended a short Speed Learning Session with Vicki Meigs-Kahlenberg and enjoyed it so much that I ended up purchasing her book The Author's Apprentice . Essentially, Vicki's session was on not letting narrative writing fall by the wayside in the world of high-stakes testing. She talked about teaching students to develop their writing voices by studying the works and process of popular young adult authors such as Kwame Alexander, Jacqueline Woodson, Jason Reynolds, and Lois Lowry. I have always been interested in using mentor texts to teach students writing strategies such as "Show, Don't Tell" and dialogue that develops characters, but I felt like Vicki's process takes this one step further because she has students research the actual authors and learn about their lives and writing processes. There is no one correct way to write. Every author plans, drafts, and revises differently, and I think sharing this with students makes the whole writing process seem m...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lead Like A Pirate

By
I think my favorite session was called "Lead Like A Pirate" which was titled after the book.  The presenter's school theme is "Making school a place where kids are banging down the door to get in, not out".  I thought this sounded a lot like our school philosophy. She shared LOTS of great ideas that her school uses including Teen Tweet, hiding secret eggs, Birthday carts, and more.  It got me thinking about different ideas we could do in our school and I can use in my Advisory to make school an enjoyable place for the students and for the teachers.  There was an emphasis on taking care of the teachers so they will take care of the kids.  It made me try to think of ways we can take care of each other.  I went online and bought the book "Teach Like A Pirate". I also went to another presentation on scheduling intervention in a tight schedule.  It gave me some great ideas for trying to help us bring math intervention into the school day.  I don't ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Brain Basics 101: Creating Socially and Emotionally Healthy Classrooms

By
Brain Basics 101: Creating Socially and Emotionally Healthy Classrooms Key ideas/emphasis: Trauma and stress are big challenges to learning Emotional health is not an “appetizer” or a “dessert”- it is the plate Teaching students about the parts of the brain and what they control Helping students understand dysregulation  (acting out and acting in) Teaching students the proper way to breathe-the prefrontal cortex (which is used for complex thinking)  “goes offline” during times of stress, and correct/deep breathing helps bring it “back online” and also releases oxytocin Pyramid of trauma, stress and learning (below)- students who form ONE healthy, supportive adult relationship can offset this pyramid Big takeaway: CHASE THE WHY-The Posture of Curiosity Easy to begin using tomorrow When dealing with students who are either dysregulated or not exhibiting the desired behavior, use the following phrases: “I wonder…” or I noticed…”   Exampl...
Post a Comment
Read more