Social Media Blog

The article "Embracing Mobile Devices and Social Media Tools" really resonated with me. I completely agree that as educators we need to teach students responsible use of technology and social media rather than block it and try to prevent students from accessing it. There are many times in class when students pull their phones out to check or send text messages, I typically have a private conversation with these students to help them understand when it would be an appropriate time to check their phones. Some teachers choose to take the students phone, but I find that no learning experience has occurred. I love the examples of the schools that use technology and social media to enhance learning. I really liked the idea of students creating online portfolio to help promote themselves for future educational experiences and/or careers.

I also read the article "A Teenager's View on Social Media" by Andrew Watts, which I loved! I found his explanations of various social media to be spot on. Sometimes I feel so much older than my students when it comes social media. I am a Facebook user, so it is interesting to here that my students tend to run away from Facebook. As mentioned in a previous blog, I think my school uses all the wrong social media outlets to reach students, thus communication is missed. We have a huge opportunity to reach our students if we meet them where they are and use the social media they use.