Blog Entry #8: Social Media

Social Media in My Classroom

I have used several social media platforms over my ten years in the classroom.  First, I used Edublogs as my classroom communications website when I worked for Detroit Public Schools.  I would post homework and communications to be sent to the parents.  I find that the needs for a site like this has been diminished by implementation of LMSs like Google Classroom or Rediker. 

For Yearbook, I used Pinterest for aesthetic creation.  Students add color palettes, print ideas, and even things like architecture or nature that could inspire the look of a yearbook page. Here is an example of our aesthetic board from 2018 when we won an award for our typesetting-themed yearbook. We have also used Twitter and Instagram for Yearbook advertising and surveys.  However, our school cut back on who could have an account tied to our school, and we were asked to shut down our unofficial accounts for PR reasons. 

Behavior Management Programs

I have not used collaborative productivity tools, but I have colleagues that have used them.  I have elementary colleagues who like ClassDojo for classroom management and parent communication.  It looks like ClassDojo has expanded to be a platform for classroom communications, not just a system for parents to know behavior.  I think the downside of this is having to have a device with you at all times and remembering to update it on top of all of the other things elementary teachers deal with in a day.  I think if a management system like ClassDojo is used, it has to be 100% commitment from the teacher and buy-in from the parents.

Screen-Spying Programs

When teaching in high school, my school half-heartedly implemented a "screen-watching" program, which had three downfalls.  

1. It was easy to cheat the program is your were on a MAC computer. 

2. It was a bulky program that didn't always work on our school's wifi, or, students would claim it wasn't working.  I used it twice and gave up on it.  It was too much work, and I rarely spend time at my computer during class, so there was very little time to actually monitor the screens.  

3. I felt like it was a cop-out for real classroom management.  Shouldn't we be teaching students how to monitor their own impulses when it comes to digital distractions?  It seems like this is just another way to invite rebellion.

All-Hail Google Classroom

Guys, I'm in love with Google Classroom.  Don't tell my husband. But for real, this platform is a one-stop shop for learning management, grading, and student collaboration.  Our school got it last year, and it made productivity with lesson creation, communication, and grading so much more streamlined. It allows for multimedia, multimodal, and social media-like collaboration and I'm enamored.  

"What's the Lesson, What is the Takeaway?"

Now that I've made you all sing along with Maui, it's time to talk about what I've learned in this class.  It is fun to nerd out about English-related pedagogy, and I wish I had the opportunity to meet all of you all in person.  Dr. Lewis-White cultivated an excellent list of resources and there was a good amount of freedom to tailor the course to your classroom needs.  I especially found the writing-related modules  the most edifying for my practice.  I did not realize there were so many resources for shaking up my prewriting, editing, and publishing practices.  I have also reconsidered my thoughts on using blogs in the classroom.  In my mind, blogs are a bit "ten years ago" as far as relevance to my students.  However, college classes seem to use them a lot and literacy in this type of classroom communication may be beneficial for my high schoolers. 

I am starting my final project using Tiktok as the main platform- pray for me!