Social Media in the Classroom

Image from freedomforuminstitute.org

Should teachers use social media in the classroom? And if yes, how?

I believe social media could be a useful, engaging tool to use in the classroom. Since it is a relatively new tool, it may seem difficult to figure out how to use it effectively. Teachthought posted this article about how to safely and effectively use social media in the classroom. 

Image from TeachThought

I would like to teach early elementary special education. A few of these suggestions are too far-reaching for a majority of that population. However, there are a few ideas that stood out to me:

• Creating a classroom Facebook page or blog to update parents about events and assignments
• Creating a classroom Pinterest page to share student work while still displaying it in the classroom
• Posting "top submission" or "top story" of the week to a blog in order to create a sense of achievement and motivation

While a majority of my students wouldn't be able to tweet or blog on their own, social media could be a great tool for parent-teacher communication. It can also be used as a motivator for students- they love watching YouTube and looking at themselves with funny Snapchat filters on their face!

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If you are a middle school or high school teacher and you want to use social media in a more student-driven way, I recommend reading this article. I did not read the entire ebook, but Megan Poore describes a few 'best practices' when using social media in a classroom.

Edutopia also posted a great article with examples of how teachers have used social media in their classrooms. One of my favorite examples was a teacher allowing students to pick "nuggets" of information to tweet about for their parents to see. This may be a more student-driven way of using social media with younger students. It allows students to become familiar with the platform and to share their ideas, but the teacher guides most of the typing and posting. 

I will definitely utilize social media in my classroom. I think it is a great way to communicate with parents, and I think it provides a platform for students to 'show off' their work.