Strategies for Safe and Appropriate Use of Social Media

Dealing with twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (or other social media sites) is a reality in the classroom. What are strategies that you could employ to help teach safe and appropriate use of these sites?

Having spent the last few years networking online, presenting or attending provincial workshops, I have certainly grown to appreciate the technology environment that has developed in the Waterloo Region District School Board. It starts with our Chief Information Officer, Mark Carbone who has provided us with an ever growing access to devices and most importantly a plan for professional development for the use of technology in our classrooms.  We have a Technology Consultant for the elementary panel and one for the secondary panel.  We have a full time Technology Support Teacher and 4 Digital Literacy Support Teachers as well.  We have developed a CATC (computers across the curriculum) team that administers after school workshops and every school has a computer contact that meets throughout the year with the above leaders and stays informed on latest developments and shares important information with their school.

These above mentioned people and their ideas are the ground work and behind the scenes activity that has been crucial to developing strategies for safe use of technology in Waterloo. It is from these foundations that the best models and experts can be found to meet the classroom teacher needs.  When I want to introduce a tool such as Twitter to a group of students I have access to either a Support teacher or the resources such as this slideshow presentation that was developed by Susan Watt (with some contributions by me).  Modelling appropriate use by creating a class account is the easiest way to begin.  Choosing a Tweeter of the Day, or setting aside a class reflection time ensures daily or weekly integration in a positive atmosphere.  At my school as more teachers became familiar and comfortable with Twitter we developed a school hashtag as a stepping stone audience or purpose for our tweets. #franklinlearns  It has been shared with parents and offers a wonderfully safe view of activities at our school.

Three years ago the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council Social Media committee (of which WRDSB is a member) grabbed onto the “THINK” poster that originated in the U.S. It grew its second year and this past November grew again to the “30 Days of Think”  campaign for schools which was very successful.  Positive Use of Social Media, using Social Media for good, and seeing the value of Social Media were the cornerstones of this campaign.  All the resources and ideas are fabulous and free to share!  

In summary, tap the experts, seek out the positive online resources, start within your comfort zone and slowly expand your circle of Social Media interaction.

Changes in the Role of Teacher and Learner

How is the role of the teacher and learner changing in the 21st Century?

It was September, 1999.  The last few months of the 20th century and I was teaching Grade 5 at Suddaby Public School.  A very old school that was opened in 1857 and home to the first Kindergarten classroom established in Canada.  Those walls had history!  And there I was strolling its beautiful, spacious 3rd floor hallways to the computer lab.  Off to book a “time”. Forty minutes, once a week, the class and I would file in, mindful of cables and ready to share chairs as we doubled up in front of the screens.  I wish I could tell you what the lesson was, but I honestly can’t remember.  What did we do then?  I know there was typing practice. (Almena was big) I’m pretty sure there was word processing, probably a story or something to do with that week’s spelling list. But what else?  I did a quick search and thanks to the Huffington Post found a few reminders.

Ah yes, good ol’ Jeeves!

There it was, the world on one page of links! Research time.

Wish I could say I was on the Google Bandwagon right from its Beta start but sadly I only vaguely remember using this.

Even after looking at those images, I remember more of what there wasn’t.  There weren’t any phrases such as Digital Citizenship.  Yes, we had to make sure they didn’t type in any bad words, but that was about it.  There weren’t many places other than word processing to finish tasks, certainly no way to work together and only the emerging email system for sending messages.  Blogger was just getting going but it would be a few more years before I knew of many people using that tool. I as a teacher felt like I had access to a giant encyclopedia, a huge newspaper and endless paper to write on. Meanwhile back in the classroom, the 3 C’s (create, collaborate, communicate) were done by students on paper or in performance (music, art, phys.ed).  Using the computer was a separate activity, a separate subject for the most part.

We were just beginning to connect with the world.  Throughout the next 15 years, it got faster, more detailed, full of imagery and most importantly became a 2 way street.  We take in information and we put it out there too. I’ve only ever heard people comment on how quickly technology has moved and/or changed.  No one will tell you that it has come along slowly and it has been easy to integrate the tools and information wealth into our teaching and curriculum.  Some teachers will tell you that the content in our jobs has doubled or tripled and yet the school year remains the same length.  This in turn would mean that students need to learn more than before…..just because we have access to more? And what about the phrase “21st Century Learning Skills”? http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2010/10/12/01panel.h04.html  http://www.skills21.org/

While there is a push to the development of these skills, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus in education that the 20th century skills are to be forgotten or replaced.  How do we as teachers make this happen?  Multitask, integrate, leave things out?  Twenty-five years ago I didn’t have to ask….What will I have time to teach this year and what tools will I use?  I find it strange that as I become far closer to the end of my career than the beginning, I know less and less about what the next year will be like.

Using Social Media in the Classroom

I was asked to respond to the following question. 

"How can teachers use Social Media in the classroom as both, part of the instructional approach in teaching as well as helping students understand the online web 2.0 environment?"

How can they not???  It’s 2015, isn’t every teacher at the very least faced with a Social Media message in some way every day? Think about its definition.

According to Wikipedia…”Social media are computer-mediated tools that allow people to create, share or exchange information, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual communities and networks.”

I don’t think there are many school boards (I’m thinking about Ontario) around that don’t have  an email conferencing system.  Teachers have resources and messages at their fingertips 24/7.  They are provided by colleagues, administrators and board officials.  Every staff meeting and workshop I attend incorporates advice or examples or visuals or models or statistics or links to someone else’s idea for our instructional approach in teaching. Even if a teacher doesn’t follow up on any of these opportunities there is still a very high likelihood that Social Media infiltrates its way into their classroom anyway!  They know about world events, weather, latest trends etc. through shared information. And they pass this on to friends and students daily.

An informal survey was conducted at my school in the fall and every teacher that participated was using Social Media in some form for personal use.  By association, teachers are going to reference or mention or share information in their teaching that was found ‘on the net’ whether purposefully or not.  

So that would be one far end of the continuum.  I would argue that even a teacher that ‘looks’ like they are not using Social Media IS using Social Media!  And along the rest of the line are teachers that embrace and model these tools from lightly to tightly. It seems to be a one way street along this continuum. I have yet to meet a teacher who, for example, after learning about “the Twitter”, says to me, “There’s no need for students to know about this!”  In fact, it is usually with some amount of resignation that a teacher will sigh…..”I know, I should be doing more…..”  We are all moving in the same direction.

So back to the question at hand, “How can teachers use Social Media?”  I’d say they should use it honestly, openly, and at their pace.  The most important thing is to acknowledge to their students when they are using it.  If they heard that there was a tornado in a country half way around the world because twitter reported it first, then they should tell their students that’s how they know.  If they finally figure out how to “Skype” with an author and its exciting they should share that feeling with their students.

It’s not the individual tools they use but the attitude toward using them that counts.  There are endless ways to teach with Social Media and endless information to share with students about the Web but there is only one impression students will take with them.  Can their teacher help them use Social Media or not?

Welcome

Hello All and Welcome to my Blog!  I'm writing to you from Kitchener where I teach Grade 5 at Franklin Public School.  It is the fourth school I've taught in during my 25 year career.  As I reflect back through the years I find it amazing that it was at my first school during the early 90's that I was initially introduced to the World Wide Web.  I have a feeling that taking this course (EDUC9F61) will facilitate a journey through the past, present and future for me.  I look forward to sharing my reflections, opinions and predictions.  Hmmm, I wonder if I'll be looking back at this entry 25 years from now????