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

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

Hold On - I'm Coming: Motivating Unmotivated and Difficult to Teach students

By
This session presented by Charles Beaman was phenomenal.   He is such a dynamic and engaging speaker.  His main points were how important it was for teachers to try to reach students by using expression, stimulating AHA moments, use multiple strategies to reach all types of learners and have "hooks" to increase engagement.    He shared ideas on the importance of using brain compatible strategies and how critical it is to make learning fun.  He emphasized 3 things the Brain Loves:  Choice, Novelty and Challenge.  Lastly, he talked about how important it is for teachers to be  "Life Touchers" for students.  The slightest word of encouragement can make all the difference in the world and you may not ever realize just how big your impact was but how critical it is to be mindful of the impact you can have. The Difference between Teachers and Life Touchers.  All Life Touchers are teachers but not all teachers are life touchers.  St...
Post a Comment
Read more

Quizizz, Quizalize, and Quizlet Live... Oh My!

By Anonymous
Quizizz, Quizalize, and Quizlet Live... Oh My! Please scroll down toward the bottom to see the email from the presenter. She included links to her presentation and many useful resources. You can follow the presentor @EdTechTiff tiffany.elberfeld@gmail.com She is a former French Teacher and now serves as a tech integration teacher working throughout her district. Here are a few interesting tidbits :) Kahoot! Can now be assigned as HW!!! Big change. Other game modes on Kahoot! are: "Jumble", "Ghost Mode" and "Blind Kahoot!" Quizizz www.quizizz.com play live or as a HW assignment students can view on their own screens shuffles answer choices within the classroom Memes!!!! Scroll down to see answers inclusive Self-paced! immediate feedback question library avatars Possible uses: pre-assessment, exit ticket, review, intro a new topic, student collaboration Quizlet Live www.quizlet.live term/definition/pairing must have at...
Post a Comment
Read more