After reading all of the articles, I connected with the last one from edutopia the most. The author, Vicki Davis, wrote a great piece about using social media in the classroom:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/guidebook-social-media-in-classroom-vicki-davis
Basically, she said, the majority of the students are using social media anyway, so school is a prime place to practice using it responsibly. She then went on to list several examples of how it's already being used in classrooms around the country. I especially loved the comments below the article because several people commented on the importance of teaching students to use social media appropriately. Using digital media is a tool, and like any new tool, students need to be taught how to use it correctly. I agree that having a school policy in place regarding digital media, and following it, is also helpful for everyone involved.
One of Ms. Davis' suggestions was to post classroom learning on a blog. I send home a newsletter every week, but why couldn't a student or students post a note on a class blog about our learning and making? I could see doing that. One of my teaching partners moved to another part of the country and we talked about being pen pals next year, but we could also be digital pen pals. I also like the idea of using post it note 'tweets' as exit tickets. These ideas seem doable to me.
So on that note, I'm going to follow Vicki Davis on twitter. After perusing her feed, I found several items of note that were of interest to me, and have got me thinking about how I can use more
digital media in my classroom.
Reference
V. Davis. (2015, Feb. 15). A Guidebook for Social Media in the Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/guidebook-social-media-in-the-classroom-vicki-davis
I also appreciated Ms. Davis's suggestions for using social media tools in the classroom. The idea that students should be taught skills and tools they will actually use in the 'real world' is powerful, and not as obvious as one might think in a time of standardized testing and canned curricula. Thanks for sharing your reflections!
ReplyDelete-I
Thanks for reading!
DeleteCould using a blog verses a newsletter reduce the amount of work you have? I know it would be more work at first but maybe down the road it may reduce the workload.
ReplyDeleteYes, definitely. I guess I was thinking the blog could be done solely by the students (with me editing), and be on one topic vs. my newsletter where I give a synopsis of everything each week. Thanks for the suggestion!
DeleteI have my students make our newsletter as part of writing class. They were a little apprehensive about it at first, but after they published a couple they took ownership and everyone loves it.
DeleteI have been wondering about using Facebook, in my experience many of the parents are already comfortable and connected using FB. But maybe merging the blog into FB would be better.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, I agree with you as well! Let me know how it goes!
-K-
Thanks for reading, I hope to!
DeleteI agree that we have an opportunity to help students learn to use social media and that it is a potential way to engage them more fully. The article didn't address some key questions that are on my radar. First of all what is responsible use of social media and how do we manage it in the classroom? I also enjoyed the many examples in the article of ways that teachers are using social media creatively!
ReplyDeleteYes, what is the most appropriate age to teach about social media? And at what level, as I'm sure there are many layers! Thanks for reading!
DeleteI love this discussion! Those are some really powerful questions to grapple with...What does responsible use look like? How would you manage it? Further, what do kids write about? How to you make it "real world" for them? I've seen some great examples of passion blogs and establishing blogging and feedback guidelines together. These are important questions to consider and plan for as you move into the implementation phase. Are you thinking of doing a maker blog in your classroom?
DeleteAt this point, narrowing a blog down to one topic seems manageable to me in my mind's eye. It would also make me more committed to sustaining making in the classroom :-)
DeleteGreat post. I always thought that the use of technology in the classroom could be a challenge for an elementary teach such as myself. As the article states, students are using the technology at very early ages compared to when I was in school. I agree that the responsibility to teach them to use it correctly falls squarely on us as educators to some extent. This directly correlates with our first article, "Study Suggests Benefits of Social media in the Classroom," in that it addresses the need to prepare students for the world of technology that they will face. Again, on point post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading. As I get better at this, so too will my skills to use with my own children and students!
DeleteI like the idea of using a blog for a news letter, this might be hard if community members don't have internet. great thought
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree, thanks for reading. I believe I will also do a paper one- at least for students who need it.
DeleteIt's a little extra work to print a paper copy too but starting to help establish that e-reputation with a classroom blog is a great start and those parents who are using smart phones will pick up on it even if internet access isn't always feasible. It's a great first step.
DeleteThanks for reading Nicole!
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