My Take on Social Media in the Classroom

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Hey again, everyone! Today I want to talk about using social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) in the classroom.  As a school, we actually have a Facebook page for different activities at the school (we have one for just general West Hancock information, one for track, one for basketball, etc).  The principal and/or coach is in charge of these pages, but teachers are encouraged to use the general page to display what is happening in our classes.  This is actually one of our Board Goals this year and last year.  A lot of students open enroll in our area, and sites like Facebook and Twitter are great ways to "show off" everything that is awesome about our district and to encourage people to come to West Hancock!  Here's one that I posted last year about Pi Day!

As for using social media specifically in a math class, I have struggled with this concept.  I want to be able to see their work, and typing mathematically is a lot more difficult than writing it out.  However, I think it would be great to use for having students explain answers, or discuss a certain topic with each other.  I also found this awesome idea of a teacher who uses Instagram!  This would be so cool!  It brings in that real world application that a lot of students need in order to understand the math concept.

In chapter 2 of Social Media for Educators: Strategies and Best Practices by Tanya Joosten, the book that we are reading for my Using Digital and Social Media in Education class, Joosten says that "any emerging technology should not be implemented simply because it is cool or the latest thing." (location 825 of 2723 on my Kindle Fire).  I totally agree with this!  I think a lot of teachers, myself included, get lost in the "implementing technology" part that is somewhat pushed on us by administration, that we sometimes lose sight of the actual learning that should be happening by using this technology.  Have you ever had a great lesson planned using technology, but then after reflecting on it, the students didn't actually learn anything about the content because they were too focused on the technology?  I know that's happened to me!  We need to identify what the learning outcomes should be first, then find the technology (social media, apps, etc) that facilitates this. The teacher who used Instagram wanted to use it to "provide experiential learning opportunities" (table 2.2 in Social Media for Educators, location 835 of 2723 on my Kindle Fire) by using it as a way for students to apply the mathematics concepts to a real world situation.  I could also see Snapchat used in a similar way.  This would definitely get the students' interest!

Does anybody else know of ways to use social media in a math class? I'd love to hear your ideas!