Blog #8: Social Media

          Since it has been a few years since I have been in a classroom, this was a topic of particular interest to me.  Most of my students only had flip phones when I left the classroom 10 years ago.  Social media was not something I had to deal with.  The topics this week really gave me a lot to think about in terms of using social media in the classroom. 

            After looking at all of the suggested uses of social media in the classroom this week, I still think that I am the most comfortable using platforms that have the most privacy settings for teacher/students.  I agree that we have a responsibility to teach our students how to engage responsibly on these platforms, but I would feel better with ones that had safeguards.  I actually think I would try to use ones that have "the look" of recognizable social media platforms...Edmodo (Facebook), Twiducate (Twitter), or Edublogs (Blogger).  I think this is a great way to provide students with the option to use social media, but within the frame of education.  

            I really liked the suggestion to listen to podcasts as a class that pertain to a certain unit of study.  Then, the class can use topics from the podcast for discussion or even further inquiry.  I liked the way that this allowed the teacher to make sure that the podcast was appropriate and topical.  It would be neat to later have students create their own podcasts using audacity or garage band.  We could then post the podcasts on a private classroom website.  

            In terms of collaborative productivity tools, I am the most familiar with the Google platform.  I used to collaborate to create lesson plans with fellow teachers on Google Docs.  It was really accessible and easy to use.  It would be interesting to have students work on a project collaboratively using Google Docs.  I would definitely have to make sure students knew how Google Docs works prior to having them use it independently.  I remember one member of my group deleting major work without realizing it...that made for an awkward conversation.  

            Another collaborative learning tool I would like to use is Tiki Toki.  It is an online timeline maker that students can use to make digital timelines independently OR as a group.  It is a bit expensive...$150 for the year.  I still think it could be an amazing tool because I teach history.  The timelines are really dynamic...students can embed audio, video, etc. into the timeline!  Thus...it could actually be considered multimedia.  

                I do think that the way that I manage my classes will have to change a bit when I return.  I think one major change will be that I need to maintain a classroom website.  I am not sure how much freedom I will have with this...as districts have their own platforms that they support.  I know teachers who have used Schoology and Class Dojo, both with mixed reviews.  While it may take time to create and maintain, I think having a digital presence (website) is important for my students and for parents.  

            I am actually really excited to use many of the digital tools we have examined this semester.  Prior to taking this course, I was pretty nervous about ways to integrate technology in my classroom.  I think it was neat that we had to actually use the platforms to see how well they actually worked.  My favorite things we did this semester were digital graphic organizers, blogging, and creating the podcast.  I am really interested in trying to safely bring these into my own classroom.  I also loved tools like Canva and Comic Life.  I think these would really be neat to use in my history courses.