Giving Students an Authentic Audience: Effective Social Media Strategies for the Classroom

The main question of this session was simple:

How can we use social media as a tool to give students a voice?

Going into this session I was curious to see what tools these speakers were using and how they were integrating social media into their classrooms.  They covered how they use 4 major apps: Instagram, Vine, Twitter and Skype. 

Instagram

Instagram is an app that allows it's user to take pictures and share them with their followers.  Users can add hashtags (#) to build links with other images that can define searches later. 

Here are some ideas for using Instagram in the classroom:

1. "Insta-Notes"  Students take pictures of their notes from a specific lesson or unit and assign a specific hashtag to the image.  This allows all of the notes to go to one place.  Students can also use this as a study tool for the test by going on instagram and looking back over the images. 

2.  Hashtag Hunt- Use hostages to create a multiple choice scavenger hunt.  Each multiple choice sends you to a unique hashtag that tells the students where to (physically ) go next in the school or location.  Students then favorite the image when they have found the correct location.

3.  Art-  Students shocase their art projects (digital, physical- any medium) on Instagram with a specific hashtag linked to their art class. Students are able to share their artwork with others as well as connecting the images back to class. 

4.  "If a character had Instagram"- Create an Instagram account as if you were a certain character.  The student would then take pictures that would relate to the character's personality, story, etc.  A class hashtag could be set up to allow connection back to the classroom.

Vine

Vine is an app that allows it's users to take 6 second videos and share them with friends on the network. The videos then will loop constantly for anyone willing to watch them.  Vine also uses the hashtag system to help create filters and links between videos.

1.  How to videos:  Teachers can use vine to create a stop motion step-by-step video to help students do certain tasks (such as a math or science equation)

2.  Students create vines to define vocabulary words.  The word is posted and the students create the Vine that defines the word (without using the word in the Vine)

3.  Sharing lists- Booklists, movie lists, etc.  

4.  Exit ticket- Have students share what they learned in the lesson--"What I learned in 6 seconds" and then shared to the class hashtag--used as an exit ticket

5.  Teachers use Vine to communicate to parents about the day's lessons or about their specific student.

Here are some more ideas I found on the web: http://www.teachthought.com/technology/3-ways-to-use-vine-in-the-project-based-learning-classroom/

Twitter

Twitter is a "micro-blogging" app that allows it's users to share information.  The catch is users can only use 140 characters at a time, so thoughts must be short and specific.  Hashtags are also used in twitter to build connections (for example #21CLHK is the link from the conference this weekend.  If you search it on twitter you will see hundreds of tweets related to the sessions. 

1.  Create a Class Account (Teacher Run):  Post class pictures, ideas, quotes, and memories.  Allow any student to send the class tweets, connect with relevant public figures that you might be studying in class.

2.  Math- Follow the movement of trends or hashtags around the world using trendsmap.com and tweetping.net (maps of where the trending topics are coming from and how they shift)

3.  Class Recap- Specific lesson hashtag that allows students to recap the week in the class (exit ticket, weekly exit ticket)

4.  Live Tweet an event to share with others.  Live Tweeting is sharing an event on twitter as it's happening. 

5.  Tweet as a character from history or literature. 

Here are 50 more options!

http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom

Skype was primarily presented to connect different guest speakers from around the world with your classroom.  

1. Mystery Skype: Connect with another classroom and have the students talk to see where they are located

Other Skype Ideas:

https://education.skype.com/

One Useful Minute

I sat through an hour of information that wasn't relevant to us at all, until the speaker finished a couple of minutes early and shared some of his favorite Chrome Extensions.  Here are a couple of great and useful tools for you and your students that can be implemented in so many ways.

At least it wasn't an entire loss!

Videos + Cloze worksheets

It's difficult to figure out how much video to integrate into your curriculum.  At what point am I labeled a lazy teacher for using too much video?  Do I not use any video to avoid that label?  How can I make the videos I want my students to watch more meaningful?

Enter zaption and edpuzzle.  Both tools allow you to trim videos, insert prompts, questions and voice recordings, and provide details on your students' responses.  These are both very powerful tools and should make showing videos more meaningful and interactive for students.  Say goodbye to those cloze worksheets!

Here is a video showing a side by side of the two programs to help you select the right one for you:

Schoology...We have not reached Cowboy riding a Shark Status

 

Not to say that this is the measurement from which we should determine our level of Schoology expertise, but it could be.  I sat down with Rick Conners from Wanganui Park Secondary College in Shepparton Australia - near Melbourne I think.  Currently Rick is championing Schoology into his public school, trying to show the administration that it is a worthy investment.  For the past couple of years he has been using Schoology on his own in his classroom.  Ironically, I was the only one in the session so we got to share a lot of different information back and forth.  Below is a brief summary, I think this is something we will need to look at on a Pro-D snapshot level 

1. Differentiation- Grading Groups- Within your members list you can divide your students into grading groups based on level or skill.  This is really cool because once you have your groups established you can then assign specific activities for each group and they will only see the differentiated assignment for them, not what students who are lower or higher  will be doing.  
 

2. Add Page/Text Block- This is something I (and I believe others) are under using.  Placing information and resources in a linear fashion under the specific unit or lesson folder.

3.  Student Completion Tasks within Folders-  We have the ability to create a lesson folder with specific tasks that the students have to complete and in order.  The best part is the next assignment doesn't even show up until the previous assignment is completed to the criteria that you defined for the step.  For example: Student must read the article before they will be able to watch the video.  They must complete these tasks before they can read the instructions for the project that will be done in class. 
 

4.  Did you know when you assign a test or homework using Schoology it AUTOMATICALLY adds it to our student's workload planning graph.  (E-class flashbacks?)

Going to be a good day!