Week 29 - Professional Online Social Networks
Week 29: Activity 5: Using social online networks in teaching or professional development.
So this weeks task is to use Jay & Johnson's model for reflection to critically discuss the use of social media in my professional practice.
1) Descriptive -
I use social media for both my teaching and my professional development but for the purposes of this blog I will only talk about it's use in a teaching capacity.
Most of the social media I use is to help me come up with ideas for lessons to share with and teach to the children.
Pinterest has been a favourite of mine specifically for art ideas. It has helped to make my art lessons more exiting and enticing for the children and so has been a fantastic resource so far.
I use youtube a lot to teach children new things, fantastic way to teach something that I personally do not have a lot of knowledge on. I also use it to share their learning. I have made videos of their learning and videos of books they have made on an ipad app that I have put on Youtube and this has been shared to the children and their parents as well as other colleagues.
Blogger is a platform to share the children's learning, including student voice where they recount what they have learnt that week, videos of their learning and scanned pictures of their work and stories.
Other social media networks I use to gather information to inform myself of my best practice and give me ideas for things to teach the children and to set up the classroom with activities that will benefit their learning, such as Facebook groups - Learning through play, NZ Teachers (Primary), NZ Teachers (SEN - Special Education) & NZ Teachers (NE -Year 2), ILE & Collaborative Teaching NZ, Primary Art Ideas and Play based learning at home.
2) Comparative -
If I had older children, high school age I would definitely use Twitter and Facebook more to support their learning. I can see these being very powerful tools to learning with that age group but as I have 5 and 6 year olds there is a limit to the type of social media I can use.
My school has just switched to a new SMS (Linc-ed) which has the capacity to use this like a blog to showcase children's learning. I am looking forward to being able to use this more when our parents get onboard with using this tool.
My school has just switched to a new SMS (Linc-ed) which has the capacity to use this like a blog to showcase children's learning. I am looking forward to being able to use this more when our parents get onboard with using this tool.
3) Critical Reflection -
The children of the 21st Century have had digital tools all their life. They have grown up with it so we need to use these tools and teach them how to use them effectively and safely. As Kathy Cassidy comments on her video "using Social Media in the Classroom" we can use it to help the children connect to areas that they wouldn't normally have access to and it can teach children to have an empathy for others and a look into a world outside of themselves. The video called Connected Educators has a number of educators talking about how important it is to stay connected - whether it be to gain more knowledge, to share their knowledge or just to get feedback that you are doing a good job. This is vital in education nowadays and you can connect with people all over the world instantly sharing your journey with each other - how can that not be a good thing?
References:
Tvoparents. (2013, May 21). Using Social Media in the Classroom.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZStaz8Rno
Office of Ed Tech. (2013, Sep 18). Connected Educators. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=216&v=K4Vd4JP_DB8
Kia ora Cat, I wonder about privacy and 'intellectual property' when you are using YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. I too use Facebook and YouTube for ideas to enhance my programmes. I am a little fed up with the NZ Teacher (Primary) site, as it is supposed to be for teachers in NZ, and I have noticed many members who are not teachers or even based in NZ. I feel that I have to be super duper careful because of this. I have found that once a year I share one really awesome thing we have done at school, this is good, but then teachers want your plan, etc., and I often think this is lazy rather than collaborative.
ReplyDeleteI wonder that myself sometimes and I think you have to be careful who you work with and offer your ideas too. Will they be someone who will compliment your teaching and offer a 50/50 approach or is one person riding the coat-tails of the other? You have to be careful too that you work with someone who has the same passion, drive and commitment capabilities as you. If you are someone who has no dependants and responsibilities outside of school you will probably be someone who has more time to spend on your job but if you have small children, a demanding husband and family commitments then you are more likely to not put as much time and effort in. Then you need to decide if you are okay with that. Some people love to put the extra work in as it gives them a purpose to life if they don't have other responsibilities so they don't mind doing more, you just need to make sure that the other person doesn't then feel stressed and anxious because they cannot put the same amount of time in and feel like they are letting the other one down.
DeleteAs far as sharing your ideas online - if I have done a lesson and it worked well I would probably be happy to share this with others. I doubt I would do it again as every year I do something different with a new group of children so why not share it. Once you share it does it really matter if that means others have been a bit "lazy" and use it. Isn't that why you shared it? Maybe those people have busy non-work life commitments and don't have as much time so graciously accept any other ideas. They still have to implement it and put some effort in so - so what? Good on them for using their initiative, who are we to judge? We don't need to share if we don't want to.
Hi Cat
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion! I have found huge variations in the use of social media by teachers and their opinions - most people seem to be either "it is the devil and our children should be kept away from it" or somewhere along the spectrum to "it's a great tool to use in the classroom for a variety of things." I'm near the latter end! I think like you, it's all about being willing to do the research and find out what it is all about and talk to others. It is time needed but I suppose if you think it is worth it or a priority then you put that time in.
We are a Linc-ed school but have found that for our Year 0-4/5 students it can be quite tricky to post to - signing in, finding what you want to post in a different location (google account) then adding it to your Linc-Ed post. Our seniors are managing this well but we have just started trialling Seesaw with the 0-5's because it is all inclusive and has an app for iPads - just a bit more user friendly for that age of kids.