Creative Ways to Weave Social Media Into the Classroom:)

In this day and age of social media, should teachers try to incorporate twitter, pinterest, facebook, etc.  in their classroom lessons?  Well, students are already well versed in it, use it regularly, and enjoy it.  So why should teachers consider weaving various social media tools within their instructional activities? 

Using social media is a highly effective tool to spark student interest and therefore their desire to learn.  Teachers who are not very proficient in such tools will need to explore them a bit before bringing them into class, but if help is needed, students can often come to the rescue.  The benefits far outweigh the risks.  The potential rewards from enhanced instruction merit a try on the teachers part.

Facebook has already been used in some classes and with good results.  Students might use facebook for group projects.  Click here for a quick "how to build a facebook page for classroom."  Teachers will see language skills of English language learners soar as they experiment with a medium that they use regularly with their friends.  What kind of projects can a teacher initiate?  Here is a link to some. The limits are those of a teacher's imagination.

Twitter is another tool which has met with success in the classroom also.  How many ways can it become part of school?  Here are 60, but there are many more.  I have used it as a way to keep my finger on the pulse of student learning.  Since tweets are limited to 140 characters, I am more likely to get responses from ELLs who are still new at the language.  I also it carry on a lively discussion on key topics.  Students are encouraged to save the feeds as additional study tools for upcoming tests.

Pinterest is rather new.  I use it to provide key visuals which support the concept I am teaching.  I use the materials I find there in power points especially to provide background information.  When teaching content vocabulary, pinterest can provide powerful images to clarify concepts. In developing writing skills, I use key images to inspire journal writing.  The list again has no limits:)

Try social media in your lessons.  You will not be disappointed:)

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS
Twitter @ell_teacherpros (1950 followers)
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Bringing Social Media Into the Classroom Dramatically Increases Student Involvement:)

How can teachers inspire kids to participate more in classroom lessons and activities?  Why not weave into class the writing tools with which they are already quite familiar with (unlike many of their teachers)---TWITTER and FACEBOOK?  These writing tools will enhance any subject area by offering students a variety of ways to express what they know.  In many cases, the students will quickly see that they may have more expertise in the use of social media than their teachers possess.  Imagine--students will be in a position to support non-tech teachers in delivering lessons:)

Why not let  fakebook  (fake FACEBOOK) occasionally replace the traditional book report?  Students could even work in teams as they look for documents to upload, videos (their own or ones from the internet), create "friend" postings or comments, add "current day" historical events in timelines, etc.  Students will exhibit real enthusiasm as they work with familiar devices to demonstrate their understanding of the topic.  Of course, teachers may wish to see the video first before they launch into any project.

Another fun learning tool which is surfacing in classrooms of late is TWITTER.  For using twitter in the classroom, teachers need to prepare students for the task of completing concise statements.  After all, it take some practice to keep comments down to 140 characters.   That being said, young people are fast learners, and since many of them are already using smartphones, learning how to effectively use TWITTER should not take too long:)  All class tweets would be kept within the class account so that there is a record of everything shared in the lesson.  Students could later on refer to them in doing future assignments or to review from in preparing for tests.

The New York Times Learning Network offers more creative uses of TWITTER in the classroom.  A less is more with twitter approach will have students see quickly that there is merit in being succinct in their writing.

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

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