What I have been finding about using social media technology in the classroom...
Today I joined Connected Educators. From what I found, I wasn't very impressed with what it had to offer. Maybe I just wasn't navigating it properly but the groups that were available didn't have many forums or resources available for me to explore. After this, I decided to go to a different social media sight that I have more familiarity in exploring....
I love Pinterest. I love crafts, cooking, and DIY projects. Pinterest lets me explore new ways to do these things that I love. I also am crazy about the fact that Pinterest can be a great resource for teachers. To get started, I searched "education communities" and up popped a list of the available boards to follow. I chose to follow: Connection to Collaboration, Personalized Learning, and Social Media.
The one I was instantly drawn to the most is the Social Media board. Something I began thinking about for this research project was "How can I implement social media/communication in our classroom more?" While my mentor teacher told me that he usually has the students write out class articles (each student shares something they learned during the week) which he puts into an email newsletter with some pictures from throughout the week, what if there was a way that I could create a classroom website where families could keep up with what we're doing and learning in the classroom.
With all of the tools that are available for social media, this is why I was drawn to this board in particular. I found a 'pin' which gives 10 Ways to Use Instagram in the Classroom and leads you to a teacher blog. I absolutely love this idea! Some suggestions from it are to create a class-only Instagram account that the families can access - but I could also see this being used to upload photos to a website too.
I also found a resource about using Social Media Icebreakers in the classroom. This link again led me to the same teacher blog as the Instagram site. While it isn't using actual technology, it is using technology inspired methods of having students introduce themselves. By creating a classroom "Facebook" bulletin board, it gives students the opportunity to share information about themselves with each other - especially when it is a completely new class.
For the final resource on Social Media in the classroom, I chose a 'pin' that give tips on Engaging Parents via Social Media. Lo and behold, when I followed the link, it took me to the same teacher blog as my first two resources. This initial exploration of Pinterest has not only given me some technology issues to look into, but also directed me to a new resource to explore... the We are Teachers blog site.
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