Social Media in the Classroom

Technology is rapidly growing these days as everybody tries to catch up. With everything becoming electronic, businesses and schools are doing their best to incorporate technology into their everyday routine.

Today’s generation of students are growing up with technology and social media, so teachers are doing the best they can to incorporate it into their classrooms.

A lot of times, social media gets a bad reputation. With that being said, schools are taking strict initiatives for setting guidelines for proper use of social media in the classroom.

One point that Guilford County Schools makes in their Social Media Guidelines, is that social media in the classroom in an extension of a physical classroom. What that means is that what is inappropriate in the classroom is inappropriate online.

Teachers also need to take caution on keeping their private life private, so they have to make sure to create separate accounts to use as an alternate to their everyday accounts. Though social media may seem like a risky approach to trying something new in the classroom, it really is a great tool to keep students engaged.

My area of interest for teaching in the future is high school mathematics, which is commonly the most disliked school subject for teenage students. Students often struggle understanding content, which makes them lose interest, thus leading them to not pay attention and instead browse through social media on their phones during class.

The best way to combat this problem is to give the students what they want: social media in the classroom.

More than 90% of teenagers have at least one social media account, so using it as a tool in the classroom would be beneficial to almost everyone.

In an effort to stay connected with her students, one teacher, mentioned in an article from Education Week, has an Instagram account for her class. Instagram is a social networking site used to post pictures and videos that your followers can comment on and like. Now in 2016, Instagram has surpassed Facebook in its relevance to teenagers. What this middle school math teacher does, is regularly posts updates on class notes, upcoming test dates, and homework assignments so her students can be reminded to do their homework or study for tests while they are out of class and scrolling through their news feed.

One student in her class says, “This is a good way to get students' attention and remind them in a relatable way about upcoming tests or homework.” Like this student says, this method of incorporating social media in the classroom is so effective because it is very relatable to students.

Aside from Instagram, one of the other most used social networking sites used by teens is Twitter. On Twitter, users are limited to 140 characters and up to 4 pictures or one 30-second video in one tweet. Users can like and retweet tweets, to share with other followers.

While most teens use Twitter as a platform to stay connected with friends or to share funny or relevant tweets, Twitter can also be very beneficial to use in the classroom.

Samantha Miller from Teach Hub writes about 50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom. She has many great ideas in her article, but these are the ones that stuck out to me most:

• Post Sample Materials
• Post Syllabus Changes
• Take a Poll
• Post Videos
• Post Math Puzzles

Of this list, my favorite is posting math puzzles on Twitter. Miller suggests that teachers post daily questions where students can reply with their answers.

Another idea that I had, is for teachers to post math problems on Twitter after school on content that will be taught the next day. Then, students can look in their textbooks to see how to solve the problem, then reply to the tweet or bring in their solution next class to receive extra credit. This offers a fun way for students to learn the material while also staying caught up on their social media feeds.

Another great example of social media being used in the classroom can be seen in this video below. The teacher in this video uses a Twitter hashtag for all the students to follow and post replies during class discussion.

Twitter serves as a great medium for discussion for students who don't like speaking in class. This way, students who don't like to vocally participate in class can share their opinions via Twitter.

Now after reading about all of the positive and beneficial ways social media can be used in the classroom, it opens my eyes to all the opportunities for changes in education in the future. One of my college professors uses Twitter to post her office hours, but now I see that Twitter can be used in much more profound ways. Going into my future as a teacher, I look forward to welcoming the opportunity for social media to change the way teens are educated.



References

Benmar, K. (2015, Apr. 21). My favorite teachers use social media: a student perspective. Education Week. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/04/22/my-favorite-teachers-use-social-media-a.html

Guilford County Schools. Social media guidelines for faculty and staff. Retrieved January 27, 2016 from http://www1.gcsnc.com/boe/2011/3_24/Social%20Media%20Guidelines.pdf
Miller, S. (n.d). 50 ways to use Twitter in the classroom. TeachHub.com. Retrieved from http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom
[Untitled image of Instagram]. Retrieved February 3, 2016 from http://www.softicons.com/social-media-icons/free-social-media-icons-by-uiconstock/instagram-icon
[Untitled image of social media in classroom]. Retrieved January 27, 2016 from http://cjayneteach.com/blog/2013/08/27/social-media-your-classroom-more-involvement/
[Untitled image of twitter]. Retrieved February 3, 2016 from http://www.iconarchive.com/show/flat-gradient-social-icons-by-limav/Twitter-icon.html
WaterlooSchools. (2012, Nov. 6). Social media and technology in the classroom [video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaYIvdv4jFs