Social Media is becoming more and more prominent in the lives of students AND teachers. Social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Edmodo, Google Plus, etc., give students and teachers a mode to share, communicate and reflect on their learning and instruction. Through social media, students are able to share personal bits of information about themselves, by choosing how they wish to express themselves online. Their social media site can be a reflection of their identity, and peers can get to know them this way. They are also able to share knowledge with friends, peers, and teachers by posting comments. Students can also share resources like books, websites, newspaper articles, etc., that they find particularly informative and useful.
Social Media also gives students a method to communicate. Students can communicate to teachers, peers, friends, and others. Some students may be otherwise too timid to communicate in person, and social media can be their outlet to participate. Many meaningful discussions can be had on social media, whether it be social issues or topics relevant to the classroom. Also, students can communicate about assignments, and topics in class that they may need clarification on. This type of collaboration can create bonds within classrooms.
Social media can also be used for student reflection. Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow for personal status updates and tweets that are limited to a certain number of words where students can post their reflections. Reflection practices can be promoted by teachers as they encourage students to make posts on how they are feeling, what they learned, and what they need clarification on.
Through these social media sites, teachers are able to share resources, articles, thoughts, and ideas. I have really learned this from our Tech class. Twitter is an example of a social media site that is great for sharing. By ‘following’ teaching professionals, and educational figures, I am able to gather knowledge and resources from these sources. For instance, I am gathering great information from ‘@edutopia’ through Twitter.
Communication is another benefit to teachers using social media. Teachers can communicate with other teachers, parents, and students. Meaningful discussions can be had and information can be shared. Twitter, Facebook, and Edmodo can be particularly useful to communicate with students and parents. Teachers can communicate about assignments, important dates and deadlines, provide clarification, etc. This method of communication makes it easy for everyone, and opens the door to creating a collective classroom community. Teachers can use social media to spark communication among peers and can facilitate discussions regarding certain topics relevant to what is being learned in class. In this situation, social media can give students a voice. Giving students an outlet to share this voice is particularly important for those who have trouble expressing themselves in the classroom and at school. This YouTube video really addresses this point.
I think that using social media to reflect may be a personally challenging task, yet a beneficial one. Teachers can reflect on whether they think a lesson went well, or not. They can use this reflection to ask other teachers for tips and suggestions.
Personally, it feels good to share ideas and resources that you think others will find useful. I particularly find having resources and ideas shared to me through social media, a great source, as I trust the information that fellow teachers are sharing with me. I think that Tech class was a perfect example of sharing through social media. Classmates were constantly posting (onto Google Plus, Twitter, Blogs, and the Forum) resources, and sharing cool ideas that they either heard about or tried in their classroom. Delicious was also a good tool to share links. As well, our blogs offered us an outlet to share thoughts and ideas on particular tech tools and teaching ideas. I have learned so much from this course and from my fellow classmates!
Also, through this course, I have learned that through social media, I am able to communicate with other teaching professionals who without social media I would have never been able to communicate and share ideas with.
I have found that from being exposed to so many different ideas and resources surrounding education over the past view months, that my own teaching practices are constantly in review. This self-reflection is the way to become a better, more informed teacher.
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