The Twitter.... huh?
#AlmotForgotToPost #Schoolisalmostover #Lifejustgotextracrazy
We all remember Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon back in 2013 with their #hashtag skit, right? No? Have you been living under a rock, or don't follow Jimmy on Twitter? Well then, you must watch the skit before I can even go on. I'll wait.
Ok, so now that we have that out of the way. Let's get down to business. I decided to take a look into twitter a little bit more. Part of that comes from he sparked interest from the twitter chat earlier this term. I looked through some of the different articles Nicole provided, and thought that this one is great for all to read if you are first starting out with Twitter in general. How to speak the Twitter.
I liked how it was a simple break down of the social media app and what you can do with it.
By now, I think that most of us are past that point with Twitter. So then I started looking at some other articles. 10 Tips for Tweeting Teachers was the next article that I looked through and thought that it was a nice read. The beginner, intermediate, and advanced sections were nice to see a break down. The 3rd tip talked about was determining the purpose for your account. I think that was super important for me to read. With student's having access to twitter on their own, you want to make sure that what you post is something you don't mind a student reading. One colleague I work with has a twitter account only to share out important college information with her students. She doesn't use it for anything personal, and informs the students of her handle from the start of the year.
So how can twitter be used in the classroom, and why is it so important to include social media within education at all? There are so many ideas that are running though my head. I really like how my colleague uses it to supply information to the students. It makes me think, well could I use it to send out assignment reminders to the students? Do we have a classroom hashtag to use to share our thoughts or ask questions? Since twitter can include photos now, where before you could only use 140 characters, I think the uses of twitter have expanded within education. The twitter chats that we were apart of a few weeks ago sparked some ideas on how to use twitter in the classroom. For students it can be an easy way for them to join in on a chat during the class period, and share out their thoughts on a topic. Within the math classroom, it could be as simple as a weekly chat to check in on homework assignments and any questions that a students may have and ways the students can respond. The chat can supply the teacher with specific questions the students have and supply them with support in some form.
Now, I am not against using social media in the classroom, but I do have my own personal hesitations. The one thing that stops me from using social media with students is solely based on the fact that I am a mandated reporter, as are all educators. For the group of students that I teach, the social/emotional aspect is very high when working with them. If I was a friend/follower of a student then I have access to the posts that are visible to me. Anything that can harm themselves or others requires me to make the phone class to the right authorities to further investigate. If I didn't, and something happened to the students with me knowing based on the posts I saw/read I would be putting my career on the line. I think that has a lot of weight to be put on my shoulders, that I might not be ready to take on outside of my normal school say.
As I previously mentioned, I am not against the use of the social media in the classroom, but I would like to see some policy changes or guidelines that would help support the staff and students who are looking to use social media.
Well, I couldn't end without another #hashtag clip... or two?
We all remember Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon back in 2013 with their #hashtag skit, right? No? Have you been living under a rock, or don't follow Jimmy on Twitter? Well then, you must watch the skit before I can even go on. I'll wait.
Ok, so now that we have that out of the way. Let's get down to business. I decided to take a look into twitter a little bit more. Part of that comes from he sparked interest from the twitter chat earlier this term. I looked through some of the different articles Nicole provided, and thought that this one is great for all to read if you are first starting out with Twitter in general. How to speak the Twitter.
I liked how it was a simple break down of the social media app and what you can do with it.
By now, I think that most of us are past that point with Twitter. So then I started looking at some other articles. 10 Tips for Tweeting Teachers was the next article that I looked through and thought that it was a nice read. The beginner, intermediate, and advanced sections were nice to see a break down. The 3rd tip talked about was determining the purpose for your account. I think that was super important for me to read. With student's having access to twitter on their own, you want to make sure that what you post is something you don't mind a student reading. One colleague I work with has a twitter account only to share out important college information with her students. She doesn't use it for anything personal, and informs the students of her handle from the start of the year.
So how can twitter be used in the classroom, and why is it so important to include social media within education at all? There are so many ideas that are running though my head. I really like how my colleague uses it to supply information to the students. It makes me think, well could I use it to send out assignment reminders to the students? Do we have a classroom hashtag to use to share our thoughts or ask questions? Since twitter can include photos now, where before you could only use 140 characters, I think the uses of twitter have expanded within education. The twitter chats that we were apart of a few weeks ago sparked some ideas on how to use twitter in the classroom. For students it can be an easy way for them to join in on a chat during the class period, and share out their thoughts on a topic. Within the math classroom, it could be as simple as a weekly chat to check in on homework assignments and any questions that a students may have and ways the students can respond. The chat can supply the teacher with specific questions the students have and supply them with support in some form.
Now, I am not against using social media in the classroom, but I do have my own personal hesitations. The one thing that stops me from using social media with students is solely based on the fact that I am a mandated reporter, as are all educators. For the group of students that I teach, the social/emotional aspect is very high when working with them. If I was a friend/follower of a student then I have access to the posts that are visible to me. Anything that can harm themselves or others requires me to make the phone class to the right authorities to further investigate. If I didn't, and something happened to the students with me knowing based on the posts I saw/read I would be putting my career on the line. I think that has a lot of weight to be put on my shoulders, that I might not be ready to take on outside of my normal school say.
As I previously mentioned, I am not against the use of the social media in the classroom, but I would like to see some policy changes or guidelines that would help support the staff and students who are looking to use social media.
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| https://www.discoverelearninguk.com/infographic-twitter-a-powerful-tool-for-education/ |
Thanks for your post, Karen. The videos are hysterical. When my son graduated high school in 2014, I will never forget one of the school board speakers, he finished his speech with about a 2 minute hashtag rant. When I use twitter I forget to hashtag, so this is a great reminder!
ReplyDeleteOn a more serious note, I usually use twitter just to connect with other educators, never really thought about students using it. But your infographic is so helpful, with great ideas. And I agree with your concerns about using social media in the classroom, we all need to be very careful when bringing in these tools to use with kids. I always get excited about the newest tool with all it's bells and whistles, but there are serious considerations as well. Thanks for that reminder too.
Karen, this was awesome! I loved the videos and I loved the different ways to use Twitter in the schools. We use Twitter mostly as a self-promotion platform in my district - our students are too young to use Twitter on their own, so it is not an available tool for us to use to post assignments or announcements to students. There are, however, plenty of parents that follow the schools and teachers to get information, which changes the game a little. The infographic you included was fantastic, I am definitely going to share it with my principals and colleagues. Great information, thank you!
ReplyDelete