I do love me some social media. I’m the Pinterest queen (just ask my husband,
who sighs and rolls his eyes resignedly when I start sentences with, “I was on
Pinterest and I saw…”) and I love using Facebook to keep up with old friends
and show off my adorable son. I write
lots of reviews on Amazon and Etsy and the only way I can keep up with my
ever-growing reading list is with LibraryThing.
Twitter isn’t really my thing, but I am all about Blippi and SimpleSongs
videos for my 3 year old.
It’s no secret that reading is, in general, not as
popular with middle school students as it was in the past. Before cell phones and reality TV and video
games, teens and tweens often entertained themselves with books. Now, though, a vast majority of them turn to
electronic entertainment and associate reading with school work instead of as a
pleasurable free time activity. So how
do we rekindle that love of the written word?
Well, as they say, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” As media specialists we’d be foolish not to
join the social media craze and use it to our advantage. So how do we do that? Here are some ideas:
Create Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and/or blogs
for your media center to advertise additions to your collection and upcoming
events
Allow students to create Facebook pages for book
characters, historical figures, books, elements from the periodic table,
elements of literature, etc.
Encourage students to create accounts on sites like
LibraryThing to track what they’ve read, keep up with what they want to read,
and practice their summarization and book review skills.
Use sites like Remind101 to send overdue
notifications and announce media center events
Create chat rooms on sites like TodaysMeet to host
literature discussions – would be especially useful in book clubs
Use PollAnywhere or the like to survey your teachers
to find out what kinds of materials they would like to see added to the
collection or what lessons they’d like to see added to your menu of
services. Can also be used to solicit
book suggestions from students
Allow students to film book trailers, post them on
YouTube and/or TeacherTube, include hyperlinks for the videos on library’s
Facebook page, Twitter feed, blog, or website.
Create a Pinterest page for teachers that has boards
with lesson ideas, resource sites (like TeachersPayTeachers or sites with free
lesson plans), helpful websites, ways to integrate reading into specific
subject matters (one for science, one for music, one for math, etc.)
Unfortunately my district blocks most popular social
media outlets, like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. I believe Pinterest is also blocked using the
student login. While I understand the
safety concerns, the school district in which I taught when I lived in Missouri
opened access to these sites when we implemented BYOD and it was very
successful. I was on the technology
committee that year, and one of the things we always discussed in our meetings
was security and safety issues or problems that arose. Despite the concerns of many teachers, we did
not have any major incidences that would dissuade us from deciding to continue
allowing access in the future. Do any of
your districts allow access to these types of sites? What, if any, protocols are in place to
protect student safety and confidential information? Do students have to sign a digital
citizenship contract? What social media
outlets are you using in your own classrooms or media centers?
You are exactly right when you stated that electronic devices seem to have taken over the pleasure of reading. I noticed this in my own child. When she received her first iPod it was the only thing I would see her interact with. Upon taking a closer look, she was actually reading and writing! She wasn’t reading the novels that I wanted to find in her hands, however, she was reading FanFics and using wattpad to create her own stories. My district also blocks a variety of the social media sites. Companies have been trying to create sites that can be used within the school districts that are safe for all students, such as, MyBigCampus. Another site that I discovered but I know nothing about is: www.twiducate.com . There are so many safe options out there. I mentioned this on another blog, as long as we are teaching our students how to use the certain social media sites correct and providing them with a goal/purpose, then the sites can be beneficial to our students. Due to the numerous sites out there, we do need to decide which ones we want to utilize with our students.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughtful blog post. I really appreciated the ideas contained in there. My intention is to work in an elementary school as the Media Specialist (I teach in elem. now). At first I thought- no social media is not for elementary students, so this won't apply much to my future plans. But, the more I allowed your suggestions to roll around in my head, the more ideas I could see could be adjusted and applied to this level.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about a Facebook page- since most elementary students do not have a FB account (I hope), this could be a tool to promote your program to the parents. During registration, you could pass out a card or simply talk with parents about "liking" your page on FB and then post status updates with exciting student news and pictures of student work. You could also use this to promote your book fair and ask for parent volunteers where needed.
I have to say as a classroom teacher, my students just completed one of your suggestions and it was a smashing success! They were electronically given a sample Facebook Template and had to create a "page" for an American Revolutionary Character, including friends, interests, books read, and status updates / comments on their wall by friends. They loved it! I loved it! And the amount of true understanding of their chosen persons role in the Revolutionary times was surprising good. This will be one that I keep in the classroom and could easily transfer with me into a Media Specialist position.
I also use Remind ( formerly known as Remind101) in my classroom as a quick, but powerful communication tool with parents. I have almost 100 % sign up at the beginning of the year and I see more "results" from this than I do with weekly emails.
I personally use Goodreads instead of LibraryThing. However, I have an assignment in my other class this week using LibraryThing, so I will see if they are able to convert me. With the tagging options and the review options, I see this as a good tool for teachers and SLMS to collaborate on books that support the curriculum. With parent permission, I would love to help students set up an account to log their reading, set goals and read/write brief reviews among their friends.
To respond to your ending questions, our district has a very tightly controlled access port. YouTube and all social networking are blocked at the student level, and all social networking are blocked at the employee level. This would present some challenges to implementation of these social media suggestions, but I see the parent involvement and higher grade student involvement to be outside of school most anyway, allowing them whatever access their personal devices and internet provider offer.
Erin, I feel as though I should stand, raise my hand, and say, "Hello, my name is Karen and I am also a Pinterest addict!" It's amazing isn't it? I have to agree with you on the "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" bandwagon. It IS true that we live in a very different day and time where reading isn't as widely enjoyed by students as it once was. (I miss those days...sigh.) But, Erin, you're absolutely right in that we have a new opportunity to take the social media platforms that are so popular with our students and utilize them for our benefit in the media center and the classroom. I love your list of suggestions on things we can do to promote the media center. I am a brand new member of Library thing and I can already tell that I may have a similar problem as with Pinterest on that thing. I need to find a website that catalogs movies similarly. You asked if our schools allow access to social media through the student log-ins. Since I work in an elementary school, few of our students are involved in social media with the fifth graders being the most likely candidates. As a result, I haven't had any situation that brought that information to light as of yet, but I am going to have to ask because I'm curious. I know that the teachers have access to them and they are allowed to use things like Pinterest during planning. However, we are asked to avoid Facebook during school hours. While I don't have answers to all of your questions, they offer a great catalyst for discussion with my media specialist. Thanks for such an informative post:)
ReplyDeleteMy school is like your school, we have everything blocked! One of the other postings (by Reshawnda Trapp) pointed out that the privacy concerns and safety of social media do not outweigh the benefits of using social media in schools. For example pinterest could be used to pin book covers of new arrivals, infographics and show events held in the media center. Twitter could be used to remind kids to turn in books and send out quick tips. There are just so many things social media can be used for in school media center.
ReplyDeleteI like the ideas that you gave for how students can use the different social networking sites. Of course most of these are geared more to high school and maybe middle school aged students. I would agree that the love of reading has died alittle since all students do is ‘read’ required books for school (if they actually read them and not find a quick way to learn the info). I think that LibraryThing is a great tool for students who are in elementary school because they could keep track of the books they have read and get special rewards once they reach a certain goal. I have never heard of TodaysMeet before. What is it? My school district that I live in and have been volunteering in does not allow the major social networking sites to be used.
ReplyDeleteHi Erin,
ReplyDeleteI love Pinterest too! I am also connecting with old friends on Facebook. Many students today like to use Twitter and Instagram. Creating some form of social media for your media center is a great way to bring in students and incorporate new technology. I agree “join ‘em”. I enjoyed viewing some of the ways you suggest students to utilize it in the media center – creating Facebook pages for book characters and creating accounts on LibraryThing to track books they have read. I think students will find using these applications pleasurable and not like real school work. I do plan to create a Twitter and YouTube account for my media center. I think I could provide constant updates about events or activities in the media center on Twitter. I could also provide interesting how-to videos on YouTube. I think it would show the school community I am working to stay current with technology.
I can't deny that I am absolutely in love with Pintrest! I love the fact that I can research anything from recipes to hair ideas to even designing bulletin boards. The organization of the app is incredible as well. My whole thanksgiving dinner was planned from Pintrest. Incorporating this app in a school setting would be just as great. Its a great learning platform that also allows an interactive dynamic. Unfortunately Pintrest is blocked for my school district, however teachers and staff members are able to gain access by putting in their username and password to override. Overall I agree with your post...was very informative.
ReplyDeleteI like the ideas you presented to get students engaged in their learning. I have seen many of the teachers at the school I work in doing many of these. Most of the grades have their own Facebook page to keep parents up to date. Most of the parents check their phones and Facebook accounts more regular than checking their kids backpacks. It makes it easier to post due dates and post pictures of what is going on during the day. I have had several parents thank me for posting pictures of their kids working on a project or presenting their work. Many parents can not get away to visit school during the day and this allows for them to become more engaged. I also like the idea of using a chat room for literature discussions. This is something I will consider trying. I have created a Youtube channel for our school and make videos of students at school events. Then I upload them to our Facebook page for all to see. I have been fortunate enough that they have granted me access to these sites while at school since I am working on school posts:) Our firewall prevents students and teachers access to these sites. There are only a few sites that teachers can override for teaching purposes only.
ReplyDelete1. Response to Team 2 post by Erin Timmons
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading Erin’s posts on school media in schools. I haven’t heard of LibraryThing, but it sounds like another great resource to add to the tool belt of social media resources for educational needs. One of my teammates presented on the technology of Today’s Meet last week, and that too is a great tool to use as Erin mentions it would be great to use to discuss literary reviews.
I believe using social networking sites is only going to become the norm if not already in most school settings. As a parent, this is how I receive any updates from my children’s schools (via their Twitter and Facebook pages). Rarely is there any paper forms or notifications sent home via the old method of the book bag anymore.
In my children’s school settings and where I had the opportunity to work as a professional (4-years ago), the system has a (in my opinion) loose policy in concern to social media. The classrooms are set up to ‘block’ certain sites like facebook, but students have found many workarounds to get into these by means of back door sites. The school system policy states that communication between all stakeholders is greatly increased and efficient if “Teacher/Administrator web presence, web sites, blogs, resource lists (traditional web page, socialnetworking such as Facebook,Twitter; Novell Teaming, in-house service)” is available. Their policy also states that the school system will educate its students about appropriate behavior concerning online activity and “Any activity involving interaction with others on social networking sites and in chat rooms; behaviors that may constitute cyber bullying; and how to respond when subjected to cyber bullying;…” The policy continues to read: “Social Networking sites are utilized only for educational objectives as directed by a teacher or administrator. Examples include but are not limited to FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, InstaGram, and/or Pinterest.” As long as these social networking sites are utilized as another educational tool and are provided with guidelines I believe they (social networking sites) can be driven as another layer of adding that personalized educational experience in and outside of the classroom!
Check out this social media story, this is a good example of the bad and ugly side of using social media. Did irresponsible social media posts feed meningitis scare? http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2015-02-18/social-media-irresponsible-reporting-fed-meningitis-scare-uga-president
And lastly, just this week there was a controversial post to Facebook by WSB-TV (Atlanta news station) 0ver 465 comments and 34,204 view!: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/automatic-raises-georgia-teachers-questioned/nkFJQ/