My first day in a technology in education class, I was sparked by the idea of having a classroom instagram page. Using social media to our advantage for education is better than joining the fight against it being present at all. I will be in a photography class this fall for my student teaching and I plan on asking my mentor teaching about setting up an instagram for students photos. It would be best to have the students be apart of the setting up the page and posts rather than just having the teacher do it. That way, students have the responsibility and interest in this activity.
This can also apply a literacy aspect of it by having students write captions, connect with other artists and getting feedback. I am very heavily influenced by the artists around me in my local community. When I taught at North Central High School, I would present the students with local artists and art opportunities around Spokane. By utilizing social media, these students can be even more connected than me just having a bulletin board dedicated to these opportunities. Not only that, but they can be apart how to promote their own work. Branding is a huge part in being an artist and any career. Students can learn skills on branding and social media skills by having a classroom instagram account. Once source I found regarding this was from Art of Education and the article A Guide to Using Instagram in the Classroom. This article discusses how art teachers can get started setting up their classroom instagram while also keeping in mind school policies, educating students on social media, and how to use instagram as an instructional tool.
It’s important as teachers, we keep up with what our students are doing outside of the classroom in order to engage interest in our content areas. We as teachers can use social media to our advantage rather than trying to struggle against it. There is a place for social media in education, it’s dependent on the educator to decide how to best implement it.
I love this idea! I think it would be a point of pride for them to be able to show people like their friends and their parents/guardians their Instagram page. I think they would enjoy that a lot. It's such a simple yet powerful way to engage with the students on a level that means something more to them than just assignments. Teaching them that aspect of branding is another layer that I never even thought of. It would be fun to see too if you could share it out with us! I'd love to see the students art if possible. I also loved the idea of being able to incorporate social media into the classroom to get them engaged especially with something they are familiar with.
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