Benefits of Utilizing Social Media in the Classroom
I had a positive experience with the utilization of the new media social studies assignment. It was effective for me, because it allowed me to become a reflective learner. I realize things about myself that every pre-service teacher should know this includes: knowing how you were taught in the classroom has an effect on the way that you will teach your class and, ‘hands on minds on’ it the most effective approach to having students understand concepts on a deeper level. I also appreciated the use of twitter and blogs, because it was the first class that actually gave us tangible advice and ideas as to how to infuse technology into the classroom. Students want to be involved in the technological arena, it is engaging for them.
First of all I will explore the benefits for a teacher to be known within the teaching community. I remember a teacher once telling me that there was no use in ‘reinventing the wheel’ you can always learn from others who have attained a level of expertise. The teaching community in general is very willing to share, communicate and adapt previous ways of thinking. Therefore it is extremely beneficial for teachers to blog about what is working in their teaching practices and what they need to change. Reflective practice is of paramount importance in the education because you can constantly be adapting your practice by ways of infusing technology, adapting how the classroom is run (classroom management), redefining what constructivism looks like in your classroom and most importantly how students can be involved in a minds on hands on activity.
Being involved in the blog community can provide a tremendous support as a pre-service teacher and beginning teacher. There are so many options, many ways to approach the program of studies within different entry points but it’s comforting to read about others experiences and how they reacted within the classroom. I know most of becoming a well-rounded teacher is experience and trying out different approaches until you find a blend that complements your teaching style and your students various learning styles.
There also is something to be said about getting your name out into the digital world. For students, colleagues and parents can find out what you in essence are ‘all about’ before meeting you this adds tremendous value.
Within my education class EDEL 435, we were asked to situation selves into twitter and were encouraged to back channel about what we learned in the classroom as well as sharing teaching resources. Within the arena as a pre-service teacher I found this exercise quite beneficial I found that there was value to be had in the twitter world. It is actually a mark of intelligence to get your point across in 140 characters and invoke thought in others. I know next semester as I jump into the world of my APT I will be relying on this community of educators if I am face with questions of effective teaching in any measure.
In regards to utilizing twitter in the elementary classroom I would say it’s largely based on their age, access to computers, and safeguarding measures from the outside community. If you were to utilize twitter in grades k-3: I would suggest collaborating as a classroom tweeting about what was learned during the day, and recording on #hashtag accessible to parents and school community. This allows for instant connection between the school community and home, and allows for parents to play a greater role in probing students about what was fostered that day in class. In elementary grades 4-6 students are capable of setting up twitters accounts and I believe that they would find value in class discussion pages. It would be easy for students to state their views points and post resources that back up their findings. There is really endless ways to involves social media in the class it just really involves creativity and patience in the beginning phases. Ways to broaden students scope beyond their own community and into the global world will help students develop their global citizenship identity.
Image taken by Douglas Porter 'Keyboard glow provided courtesy of Ahhyeah's Photostream 2.0 creative common license.