Social Media Savvy!

To social media or not to social media....that IS the question! For me, the answer has been a resounding "NO" for a long time. I mentioned my issues with it in a former post, but this week I was asked to look at it from an educator's perspective. Come to think of it, I have been challenged a lot in this class to think about social media in new and different ways. Although I will likely not become a Facebook fanatic in the near future, I am more open to the advantages of using social media in my profession. In order to prepare these 21st century learners in my classroom, I must jump on the social media bandwagon!

Since I am not social media savvy, the first thing I did in preparing for researching the pros and cons, was to do a little digging. I used an awesome feature in Google Drive to help me write, research and cite all in the same place! To get started, you go into your Google Drive and access documents, then "tools" and click "research". The search tool in the upper right corner of the screen (see below) gives you the research articles, related images and even allows you to add links and cite your resources right onto the Google document. It was so easy and actually fun to use. Never thought I'd say those words together...research paper + fun??? Whaaaat??????

This is how the Google Drive research tool looks! So awesome!

I love that this week challenged me to think about my thinking. I'm such a thinker, some may say an"overthinker"(thanks Mom:)). Because of this flaw attribute, I generally know how I feel about most things. So when my thinking is challenged, I actually embrace it because I enjoy opening my mind to new ideas. I pretty much knew the disadvantages of social media ...it's a time sucker, it subtracts from face to face relationships and there are many dangers in putting yourself out there. I was curious what the experts had to say about advantages with students. As I researched, I found some pretty good arguments for social media. It improves student engagement, helps students connect/share, improves reading skills and gives them quick access to information. One fact that stood out is that students must be internet savvy to be competitive for college and future employment. Teachers must also be intentional about how we use social media with students. Teaching internet safety and citizenship will be as important as teaching them how to be safe on the playground. Being newly educated on the advantages of using social media, I am on board to try it out with my students. I think sites like Edmodo and kidblogs are most appropriate for my class, but there are many others to explore. Check out this site for a great list of social networking ideas for younger kids.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself! I just love the Keep Calm posters!

Ok, when I saw Pinterest on the assignment list I said "HALLELUJAH!!!" Finally, something I know about and know how to do (quite well, I might add). I absolutely love, love, love Pinterest. I never really thought of it as "social media", but I guess technically, it is. Pinterest is a free application that allows its users to collect and share ideas from the web. You can save ideas to different boards and organize them by naming and describing each board. Sharing is easy among pinners and searching for new ideas is made simple with the search tool. When you pin an idea it is linked to the full site and will link to related pins as well. I have gotten so many awesome ideas from Pinterest and highly recommend it! The video below is great for beginners. 

I hope you have become a little more social media savvy with me this week. I can truly say that I realize now the importance and urgency of incorporating social media into my classroom. It's the future, so we better get prepared!

Happy Pinning!

-Sarah