Parents and Teachers of K-12
How Social Media Can Help Your Student
Technology Can Be Extremely Useful In The Classroom
In today's younger generation, technology is extremely prevalent for entertainment. You can walk in the grocery store and see several 5 year old children on iPads. For this reason, technology would be a great addition to our every day classrooms. When used correctly, technology can enhance a students ability to grasp a subject by presenting the information on a more understandable level. Through social media sites such as facebook, twitter, and google sites, your child and student will be able to not only see information in several different ways, but can communicate with other students to see how they are understanding the information and gain feedback from them. This all in all will take learning home with them instead of keeping a learning environment confined by 4 walls and 1 teacher. The only thing we need is parental guidance and acceptance, as these sites must be kept on an appropriate level to ensure that the student does in fact learn from them.
Facebook is one of this generations older forms of social media. It is perfect for group discussions and debates, as well as contacting other students and the teacher as well if they are having trouble with school work at home. Often times, I will post a question about what we are discussing in class and each student will have to respond to the question, state their opinion, and explain why. Each student will also be responsible for replying to at least 2 other students responses by either challenging or agreeing.
Twitter is a fantastic way to connect with each other via hashtags and through actively discussing class on a quiet and appropriate level. Here, students can put there thoughts down without having to be interrupted or worry that they won't be heard. It's a great way to get every student involved.
Tumblr
Tumblr would be a way to engage students in a blog and talk about themselves more. Here, students can also follow other blogs in order to see how other perceive and understand the information provided. Tumblr is a great way for a student to provide longer descriptions and questions for each other since there is no character limit. Students can also put posts on queue, so if that student has a job interview during the time when they need to post a response, they can write the response earlier and tumblr can post it for them during that time.