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

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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

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TWITTER--GREAT TOOL FOR INSTRUCTION, CLASS COMMUNICATION, AND INFORMATION SOURCE FOR PARENTS

Twitter has amazing potential for classroom instructional use.  Many students already use it so the only one who might not be fully familiar with it will most likely be the teacher (humor intended).  So, using a social media tool which kids already use and like motivates all students to take an active part in any lesson.  Even normally quiet students are engaged since silent participation is acceptable.  In fact, as such students demonstrate a deeper command of the content, they will be more confident in taking part in class discussions/projects after completing their tweets as well as reading the tweets of others.

TWITTER IN HIGH SCHOOL  Notice the use of digital media in this high school.  Students are using digital tools which they enjoy-iphotos, blogs, imovie, twitter, etc..  This is a motivator for all.  It actually makes learning fun and there is nothing wrong with that.  Twitter offers immediate feedback (classroom twitter feed) which is available for as long as the teacher wishes to keep the material available.  Ideally, material could be kept there all year in topic folders/lists.  Students could review material as needed as well as add ideas using their individual class twitter account.  Further, teachers could make the twitter feed available to parents so that they would know everything that is happening in class including important class announcements on tests, projects, readings, homework, etc.  It is probably the most efficient way to contact parents since emails don't always work.

Some suggestions for its use?  Why not use it for vocabulary building activities?  For example, provide sentences where students must use context to determine meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary.  Students would have to twitter their guesses on the meaning of the word in say 10 seconds.  Since they are limited to 140 characters, they will not be able to be wordy in their responses.  Another use might be to put up a photo related to a content area and have students tweet their reactions to the photo.  For mathematics, teachers could tweet problems and then time kids to find and post their answers as tweets.  The class could then poll the results to see how many had the correct answer.  Also, students could challenge responses by other students to document their findings.  This would necessitate having kids research the sources from the web which would support their position.  In an English class, teachers could pose an open ended question as a check for prior knowledge and have students tweet their reactions in 140 characters or less.  Later, the teacher and class could try grouping the responses by topic.  This would provide writing support for the weaker students especially (like the ELLs).

 Could TWITTER be used in lower grades?  Sure.  I have seen 4th graders use TWITTER.  It can be done.

100 WAY TO USE TWITTER IN CLASS BY DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY

How does a teacher start TWITTER in class?  Check out the suggestions in this link.  Whether a teacher is a beginner at this or a pro, this site will offer some new ideas for everyone willing to give it a try.  If a teacher struggles a bit, s/he only needs to ask a student for help since they are probably already pros at it:)

Denise

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TWITTER--A SOCIAL MEDIA TOOL WITH A LOT OF POTENTIAL WITH STUDENTS IN THE CLASSROOM

Nowadays, kids of all ages have cell phones and spend a great deal of time on them using social media:  twitter, facebook, texting, instant messaging, wikis, iphoto, youtube, etc.  However, when they come to school, teachers spend a good deal of time reminding students to put their phones away or set them on vibrate.

Cell phones are called smart phones for a reason--they are basically pocket sized computers!  If school districts would promote a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy, every student would have access to the internet and all the forms of social media that come with it.

In this post, the key focus will be on TWITTER.  Why TWITTER?  For English language learners especially, the limit of 140 characters is not intimidating.  Further, shy students will probably feel more comfortable sharing their ideas since no talking is involved.  Every student can participate with ease and the teacher (as well as the entire class) can watch the twitter feed on the screen.  What a great way to excite students about sharing their opinions with the world!

See what students think in these two videos.

TWITTER IN HIGH SCHOOL
Here students share how much more involved they feel in their learning now.  Students are actively engaged in their non-elective courses taking full advantage of tech tools.  One item not mentioned is that assignments could also be saved on DROPBOX or in GOOGLE DOCS where they will be safe until the user deletes them.

 KQED "DO NOW" AND BURTON HIGH SCHOOL
Here, KQED (San Francisco, CA) created "Do Now" activities for teachers to use at the start of class.  Students pulled out their cell phones to respond (tweet) to the topic of the day.  A world audience is involved when a person sends out tweets.  Students were amazed that people around the world were sharing ideas with them.  

If using twitter is a problem at your site, offer to pilot using it for a semester, keep records of the student involvement, note increases in grades, and annotate student change in attitude about being in school.  Share with administration and hope for the best:)

Denise

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