Week 6
This week we were asked to curate a list of links that lead to projects done in classrooms using different forms of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc. I used Pearltrees to group mine by the social media type.
Social Media for the 5th Grade Classroom, by khegel
With the global job market as competitive as it is, the sooner we start teaching our students how to learn using technology, the better. That does not mean that teachers are going to become obsolete and robots will teach all children, but kids need to start learning the technology lingo at a young age to succeed after high school.
To start students in that process, teachers can use some different forms of social media within the classroom. If students can reach out and communicate with other students from around the world, they are already becoming versed in the language of technology.
I know that it is extremely difficult to get the approval from some districts to use social media in the classroom without having to give away crucial information. What I've seen from some of the projects above, there are ways to use these forms of social media without giving away any crucial information about the students. The resource that allows this the most is Mystery Skype. This lets you go on and video chat with students across the world to figure out where the other class is based on yes and no questions. Using regular Skype with other schools across the country or even within your district can get your students to think outside the walls of your classroom.
Personally, I have had my 3rd grade students Skype with 7th graders from our district. The students were editing each other's work and practicing their public speaking all through the webcam.
This year, I want to incorporate a lot more social media into my classroom. I plan to have a class Skype and Twitter to start with.
With the global job market as competitive as it is, the sooner we start teaching our students how to learn using technology, the better. That does not mean that teachers are going to become obsolete and robots will teach all children, but kids need to start learning the technology lingo at a young age to succeed after high school.
To start students in that process, teachers can use some different forms of social media within the classroom. If students can reach out and communicate with other students from around the world, they are already becoming versed in the language of technology.
I know that it is extremely difficult to get the approval from some districts to use social media in the classroom without having to give away crucial information. What I've seen from some of the projects above, there are ways to use these forms of social media without giving away any crucial information about the students. The resource that allows this the most is Mystery Skype. This lets you go on and video chat with students across the world to figure out where the other class is based on yes and no questions. Using regular Skype with other schools across the country or even within your district can get your students to think outside the walls of your classroom.
Personally, I have had my 3rd grade students Skype with 7th graders from our district. The students were editing each other's work and practicing their public speaking all through the webcam.
This year, I want to incorporate a lot more social media into my classroom. I plan to have a class Skype and Twitter to start with.
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