Social Media and PD

I am so excited about my blog post this week! This week I really dove in deeper to several different social media accounts that I have and focused on using them as a PLN. Let me just start by saying that I am in LOVE with these social media accounts and what they can do for me as an educator! It’s a personal opinion, but I get more value from these three tools (individually) than I do from Twitter. I will be talking briefly about the two main social media tools I use as my own little professional development and how they help me become a better teacher.

   

The first social media platform I’d like to talk about is Instagram. I have been using Instagram a lot to follow other teachers and educators around the world. It all started several years ago when my teenage sister got Instagram and kept insisting that I get an account too. I did, but many of my friends did not have accounts, as I grew up in more of the Facebook generation. What I did find was that nearly all of the teacher bloggers that I follow had Instagram accounts, and they were more active on those than on their blogs! I follow over 70 Instagram accounts, and about 95% of those accounts are other educators. Instagram is a great way for me to see what others are doing in their classroom without having to click on individual blogs and read through a bunch of text. I am a very visual person, so having a feed of images from people I follow is really the best way for me to stay interested and get the most information.

   

**The pictures above are screenshots of posts I’ve “liked” on Instagram, so you can see a variety of examples of what I see on Instagram** I tend to get frustrated or tire out quickly when I have to read through a bunch of text to even decide whether or not that information is worth it to me. With Instagram, I can scroll through pictures and if I decide I want more information, I can click read the caption or click on the link in the profile. If you are an elementary teacher, check out my Instagram by clicking the picture below. Once you are on Instagram, search for me (@jesslynne222) and then click on “following” at the top of my profile. This will allow you to see who I am following so you can get a good start of who to follow!

The next social media tool I’d like to talk about is Pinterest. I’ve been using Pinterest for teacher ideas since I was in college. It is actually the primary reason I joined Pinterest, and discovered they had home decor and recipes AFTER joining to look for teacher stuff! Similarly, I really enjoy Pinterest because it is very visual. Again, I don’t have to read through a bunch of information to decide if it is relevant to me or not. If it is something I would like to learn more about, I just click on the image to be redirected to a site where I can get more details. I think it’s important not to have too many “boards” (which are like folders) - don’t get too specific. At first I had really general boards (upper elementary and lower elementary) but then rearranged everything into a little more specific (3rd Grade-Reading, 3rd Grade-Math, 3rd Grade-ELA, etc.). Also, something I didn’t do at first and wish I would have was change the description under the pin! Often when I wanted to pin something I just clicked “pin” and put it in my board - I left the original description! But, sometimes this will make it hard to search for pins you know you have saved because the keywords might have been missing from the description. So, my advice, change the description and pin it to the correct board! View my Pinterest account (and boards) by clicking the picture below!

I use Pinterest mostly for lesson plans and ideas. It seems to be a one-stop-shop for tons of ideas on a certain lesson. For example, I just needed a new lesson idea for Main Idea & Details. I searched for those keywords on Pinterest and got hundreds of results, all visually. I didn’t have to read through descriptions of websites after doing a Google search, which makes it a lot more user-friendly for me. And this isn’t related to school stuff, but I’ve found some AMAZING recipes on Pinterest too! If you haven’t checked it out yet, do it!

A Networked Classroom

This week I read chapter 3 in the book Personal Learning Networks about Implementing a Networked Classroom. I really liked the quote from fellow educator Clarence Fisher, where he said, “Learning is only as powerful as the network it occurs in...but the power of that learning is more solid and more relevant at the end of the day if the networks and the connections are larger” (Fisher, 2010, p. 59). This quote stuck out to me because he reiterates that learning itself is powerful, even in the traditional way. However, when we expand that learning to our students farther than just the typical one teacher to a classroom of kids, we really give our students a much better advantage and a much better learning experience.

Solomon and Schrum (2010) mention that, “we need to unlearn much of what teachers historically have done, and instead begin to craft new roles and expectations for ourselves in the classroom” (p. 61). I couldn’t agree more with this statement. Many teachers, especially those close to retirement, tend to stick with what they have done forever. They don’t want to take the time or the effort to do anything new or differently, and in my opinion, that is doing such a disservice to their students. Teachers are still using worksheets that were created and copyrighted before I was even born! I feel you’d be hard pressed to find a teacher who could tell you that there is not a more relevant or engaging lesson than the worksheet that was created in the 1990’s.

While I was reading, I had three main concerns that popped in my head about making my classroom a networked classroom. My first concern is the age of students I teach. Now, let me make sure that this concern does not come out wrong. I know my students are capable of a lot more than some give them credit for. I have met other third grade teachers that go on and on about how “our kids are only third graders” or “it took me two weeks just to get my students to be able to ______”, and my students have flourished beyond that. I am not saying that my students “can’t” do certain things or placing limits on them simply because of their age. However, I read a lot of examples of networked classrooms that were middle or high school classes. I just wonder how much of a networked classroom I can have with 8 year olds. When they come to me at the beginning of third grade barely knowing how to log-in to a device and having no idea what Google Chrome is, it is difficult to see how far I can take them by the end of the year while still teaching all the content and meeting standards. I understand it all has to start somewhere, but what would be a good place to start with the age group of kids I have and how much can I expect them to do?

Another concern that I had occurred when I read, “these classrooms are also learning centered, which means the emphasis is more on developing the skills to become lifelong, self-directed learners than on content that students are expected to stow away in their heads for recall at some future date” (Solomon & Schrum, 2010, p. 63). I would love to be able to have a classroom where I felt as though I had more freedom in teaching my students. I am not saying that content does not need to be taught, but sometimes I feel as though content is being shoved down our students’ throats at the expense of so many other skills. My district has so many assessments to make sure we are teaching X content at a specific time, and that it is “mastered” by my students by Y date, that it can be overwhelming to think of implementing other skills to make a networked classroom possible.

The final concern I have came from thinking about how networked classrooms are supposed to be more accessible, both with the content as well as the students (Solomon & Schrum, 2010, p. 63). For the past two years, I have taught in a 1:1 classroom. This coming school year, I will no longer be 1:1 due to budget cuts and the “need” to move devices from the younger grades to make sure all students in the older grades have one. With all the ideas I have of implementing more and more technology into my classroom, I feel as though I am being forced to take several steps back instead of forward with my students.

With all of that being said, I’d like to point out a few things I will do next year in order to take steps into being a networked classroom, no matter how many district devices I have in my room. First, I want to have my students start using blogs. I used Kidblog with my students in the past, but a couple of years ago it moved from being a free service to a membership only. However, after looking into it in more depth, it is a very minimal cost and I may purchase it myself or check out one of the blog sites mentioned in my reading. Second, I will use Twitter in my classroom for students to share pictures of their work, pose questions to other classes around the world, and make tweets about what we are doing in class.

I know that was a really long post, but I thought maybe some others would have some insight into some of my concerns or thoughts. I am very excited about all a networked classroom has to offer, and I believe in the power of having one, but I would love to see some third grade examples!

References:

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2010). Web 2.0: How-to for educators. Eugene, OR: ISTE.

Twitter as a PLN

Although I have been a member of Twitter since March 2014 (@jesslynne222), I really haven’t used it to do much besides observe and take in everything that others post. I never really contributed to Twitter. After doing some research and looking for more people to follow, I am anxious to see what more Twitter has to offer me as an educator.

Twitter was not very difficult to learn how to use and maneuver. I already had my account set up and finding new people to follow was as easy as searching for them and clicking a button. I was a little disappointed to find that many of the teachers and educators I have followed for years on other social media sites are not on Twitter. However, I am excited to see the new connections I can make using this online PLN tool.

As Solomon and Schrum (2010) mention in their book, “Twitter has become a popular tool for educators to connect with one another to get advice or information quickly, share points of view, or just stay in touch...it connects individuals and enables educators to assemble a group of people to turn to for instant advice and leads on where to get needed information” (p. 35). It will be a new learning experience to get and share ideas with educators through Twitter, and I hope that it will help grow my PLN. If I’m being honest, I still am more of a fan of Instagram and Facebook to connect with educators around the world, but I am more than willing to give Twitter a try. The blog post by Emily Fitzpatrick (click the picture below to link to her blog) really helped me get some ideas on how not just to use Twitter, but how to use it as a PLN. I like the idea of using Twitter chats or simply following hashtags to find more information and people to follow. I found more information about Twitter chats and hashtags by reading the article found here by Fowler and Riley. I found their examples and explanations very useful to understanding Twitter chats, and hope to get started participating in one soon.

I will say that what makes me most excited about Twitter is still the ways I can use it in my classroom with my students. I can’t wait to set up a class Twitter account and connect parents and other classrooms around the world to my students and the learning they do every day. I want to teach students to share their learning with others through Twitter, and hopefully it will encourage students who struggle to really try and do their best to show the world what they can do.

References:

Fitzpatrick, E. (2015, August). Building your PLN with twitter: A beginner’s guide. [Web log]. Retrieved from https://blog.learningbird.com/building-your-pln-with-twitter/

Fowler, D. & Riley, J. (2015, September 11). How to build your PLN on twitter. Retrieved from https://thejournal.com/articles/2015/09/11/how-to-build-your-pln-on-twitter.aspx

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2010). Web 2.0: How-to for educators. Eugene, OR: ISTE.

Personal Learning Network Reflection

I recently started working on getting my Masters in Educational Technology. As a part of one of my classes, I am reading the book Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education.

I just finished the Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2. Let me start by saying I am really enjoying this book! It is filled with powerful ideas to help me transform my learning as an educator but also help my students transform their learning in my classroom. The Introduction and Chapter 1 gave me some background on the power that Network Learning has in the education world. The idea is that in today’s society, we can learn in ways we never could before. We already use the Internet to connect socially - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat - but why not use these same tools, and more, to connect with people who share the same interests as us, allowing us to grow in our profession and knowledge?

This really stuck out to me, probably because I consider myself to be part of the generation that grew up with technology. Although we did not have Internet in our home until I was in upper elementary school, technology has always come fairly easy to me and I have always embraced it and the changes that come with it. Teaching is my passion, and for years I have been using blogs, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and more to connect with educators around the world for ideas and collaboration. I learn more and grow more as an educator from these connections than I do from district mandated professional development. When I want to learn something new, I am not limited to just talking with the people in my building or in my community. Like Richardson and Mancabelli (2011) stated, “There is now an easy connection between a person’s passion to learn something and the resources to learn it. It’s called a network, and it needs to be a part of any literate adult or student life” (p. 25).

Chapter 2 had lots of great information about how to get started setting up a personal learning network (PLN). Although I am pretty comfortable with a lot of different online tools for collaboration, I was really excited to read about how to use Twitter as a PLN. I have had a Twitter account for several years, but hadn’t really dug deep into all that Twitter could offer for me as an educator. I loved how this book gave great suggestions and specific examples of how to get started with several different online tools. What I am most looking forward to is what I am hoping is to come in the next chapter - how to get my students connected to their own PLN. It’s difficult as a lower elementary teacher to teach students to be responsible for their own learning, as it is often very different than how their first few years in elementary school were structured. I found several different posts by some teacher-bloggers about how they use Twitter in their elementary classrooms - even as young as 1st graders! This first one is by Catherine, a teacher I have been following for years through her blog, The Brown Bag Teacher. Click the picture below to see her blog post about using Twitter in her 1st grade classroom. She primarily uses her classroom Twitter account to connect with parents and other 1st grade teachers in her district. She has some great ideas!

This next blog post is also by a 1st grade teacher, who uses Twitter to have her students (yes, that would be six and seven year olds!) tweet about what they are doing in class, connect to authors, or ask questions to other 1st grade classrooms around the world! Click on the picture below to read her post.

Even though in this class we haven’t started using Twitter yet, after reading these blogs and a few others, I am so excited to use Twitter with my students next year! After all, if 1st graders can do it, my kids definitely can!

Other Resources

• Twitter in the Classroom Pinterest Board - over 1,000 ideas of how to use Twitter in the classroom
• Edutopia post - “Social Media: Making Connections through Twitter” - a post with lots of ideas on how a school district in Virginia uses Twitter in all grade levels
• Scholastic article - “Twitter for Teachers: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Started” - an article that has several great tips for teachers and basic “need to know” things about Twitter

References:

Richardson, W., & Mancabelli, R. (2011). Personal learning networks: Using the power of connections to transform education. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.