I have to admit that I am a little addicted to social media. I use just about every app there is to connect with people. I do it both personally, and quasi-professionally. I have a small pottery studio and I use Instagram, and Facebook, as ways to shamelessly self promote. Maintaining a website is mildly out my skill set, and sounds about as much fun as doing my taxes. Social media allows me to stay connected with customers long after the sale is over. It also allows them to see inside of my studio to see my process, and it allows them to connect personally with my work. Plus, I secretly want to be famous on Instagram, so increasing my audience is helpful. I look at other artists like Tortus Copenhagen and am amazed at how many people he reaches with this throwing videos. He's parlayed that attention into artist workshops, and people pay him to fly all over the world to lecture and teach. Not a bad way to make a living. One problem I had was managing multiple outlets. I always felt like I was forgetting to post on certain sites, mainly because I was. Hootsuite is the perfect solution to that problem. But it makes me wonder what can I do with social media in my classroom?
I knew I always wanted to have a Facebook page for my classroom. I think it's a great way for students and parents to connect to the classroom. The addition of Instagram will be a great arena for my students to write and express themselves. That teacher's comment was so profound, "I don't care where they write, just as long as they write." So true. Who says it always has to be on paper. Just sitting here thinking about it, I barely write on paper anymore. I am mainly writing a post or responding to a virtual format. Why should it be different for students? Why hold them to an archaic tradition? As long as I can see what they wrote after they wrote it, it counts. Imagine all the possibilities to capture student voice!
I wish there had been social media access for the classes when I was in school. I'm the kind of student that as soon as I leave the classroom I forget all about the homework. I would remember 10 minutes before class when one of my peers would ask me a question about it. A simple post by a teacher right after dinner time would have been a God send to remind me that I had something due in the morning. The idea is borderline Pavlovian. The Facebook alert goes off and, boom, I'm instantly in homework mode. Both parents and students would be alerted, so no one is left out of the loop.
"Why hold them to an archaic tradition? As long as I can see what they wrote after they wrote it, it counts. Imagine all the possibilities to capture student voice!"
ReplyDeleteYES! What a powerful statement. You want to talk about differentiation? You just nailed it with that statement.
First of all, I totally did not know that you did pottery! How awesome is that! Just like Dave had said in Math that having a classroom page can be very beneficial so the students can be connected as well as the parents. At first I was super put off by the idea because when I was in school you weren't supposed to be friends with your teachers because you were scared of what they might see. Now it is completely different! I feel as though teachers are so set in their ways that for them to be able to adapt to technology today is to far of a stretch but I think all of your ideas for the use of technology in your classroom are fantastic! I also love your comment about student voice because like Jeff talked about yesterday, the generation in elementary school now communicates through social media so that's a perfect way to see their own voice! Although social media can be a great way to allow students to show their voice, is there any other ways you think that you will implement into your classroom to promote student voice?
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