Students are Going Viral on Social Media

692 Words2 Pages

Each year, students seem to become more invested in social media platforms. With smart phones and unlimited access to the Internet, they are sharing, posting, favoriting, and retweeting in record numbers. While students have a great knowledge of how to maneuver through these platforms for social purposes, they often do not realize the implications of their digital footprints or that these platforms can be used for professional purposes. Teaching them to be positive digital citizens needs to be part of the curriculum, and with Chromebooks in hand every day, I have found many teachable moments to reinforce these ideas with them. For example, showing students how to access the revision history on a Google Doc and how each person's name is attached to his or her contribution can be an eye-opening experience for a sophomore in high school. Encouraging them to Google their names at random too can create interesting conversations and generate funny pictures that will hopefully make them smarter and savvier posters in the future.

During my first semester with Chromebooks, I have wanted to create experiences that mimic how students share and post on social media, and I wanted to teach them that these social media platforms can be used for academic purposes. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and other platforms can lead to job opportunities in the future. When the high school students of today enter the workforce, they will be expected to be savvy consumers and more importantly, creators of content. Their digital presences will be taken into account, and it will be a critical tool in evaluating whether or not they are hired by prospective companies.

Here are a few websites and activities that I have tried to utilize to start these imp...

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...new understanding of information (CCSS).

I have used Blogger as an online discussion board for both my sophomores and seniors. When I post questions online, students can post responses and then comment on other people's responses. I can also post YouTube videos or articles online that students can then read and comment upon. Also, I have used it as a place for students to post their own daily work. When completing these activities students are actively engaged, providing their own thoughts, and reading the thoughts of others. As the semester went on, I found the results and quality of writing improved. Again, this does take coaching. Sometimes when students write online, they write quickly and forget to think about conventional grammar rules. Talking about the fact that their posts are essential permanent does cause students to pause before hitting post.

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