Chapter Six - Social Media and Students

Social Media and Students

I apologize for the video syncing. Screencastify just ain't what she used to be. 

I have a feeling that this week's chapter will stir up a struggle with all of you. It is a sensitive subject for the majority of teachers as social media and students is a tough beast to tame. I just had this issue two days ago as a teacher was frustrated with students abusing Hangouts during class. So it begs me to question the approach of banning something. For some reason, these students want to use Hangouts. What if you found a way to use Hangouts for the purpose of learning? (I know...easier said than done, but certainly something to ponder.) 

So your job this week is to brainstorm a way to utilize a form of social media in your classroom. You could use a class social media account and reach out to an expert. You could utilize a specific hashtag that represents your learning. You could use any number of the tools that I'll list below to practice social media. It could even be spending time talking about the impact of social media and setting up norms/expectations if you were to utilize it for learning. Why is this important?

If you are highly against this idea, feel free to share your ideas of why. I don't want to assume that you do this project just because I said so. :) I welcome all points of view. 

• Here is the article about Blue and digital citizenship
• Here is my posts on Today's Meet
• Here is a resource on how to post items from SeeSaw to social media
• Here is the direct link to SeeSaw if you are unfamiliar
• Common Sense has a ton of resources on digital citizenship, here is their section on digital footprint

Chapter Five - Social Media and Teachers

The Value of Social Media

Social media has had mixed reviews from educators for as long as I can remember. What I can do is speak from my own personal experience. Social media has allowed me to connect to other educators outside of my little corner in NE Indiana. Don't get me wrong, I learn so much from you all as I visit your schools, collaborate with you during workshops, or participate in book studies. But there is some exciting stuff happening in schools across the country. How do we really know about it unless we are connected to them in some way? 

Here is your mission for this week: 

Pure Genius - Chapter 4 - Pages 45-58

From page 46:  "These six building blocks are necessary whether you're devoting an entire class or a portion of a class period daily or weekly to student-defined, passion-based projects.  Every such class needs to be:  Collaborative, Task-Oriented, Daring, Relevant, Reflective, and Ongoing."

In his section on Daring - I loved this quote:  "In the cave you fear to enter lies the treasure you seek."  How true is that statement?  When we attempt and or achieve something we were afraid of, doesn't the satisfaction and fulfillment we feel with that achievement feel so much better?  He continues by saying, "When students know they can trust that the teacher will not punish them for trial-and-error learning, they really start to push the limits of meaningful projects."  As we have all commented earlier, we need to teach them and show them that it is ok to fail.  Quite often, they will learn so much more about the topic - and themselves - when they fail and try again and again until they succeed.  They will remember what did not work.  They will remember what did finally work and they will have so much more pride in their results knowing they overcame the hard times and failures.  I tell my fourth graders quite often that it is ok to struggle - they need to try on their own instead of rushing to ask for my help.  Let them fail!  As long as they learn from their past attempts and continue on and don't give up.

Andi McNair, a teacher at Bosqueville Elementary in Texas wrote, "I want my students to learn how to fail, how to struggle, and most importantly how to try again.  As their teacher, I should be preparing them for the real world, rather than a place where every problem has a correct answer and all  of their questions can be answered by an adult or a textbook."  AMEN Ms. McNair - I agree WHOLE-HEARTEDLY!
Some examples of projects her students worked on were:
Introducing Augmented Reality to Teachers
Planning a 5K Run to Raise Money for Cancer
Finding Ways to Decrease Animal Euthanasia
Creating and Sharing New Ice Cream Flavors
Sharing Why Snakes are not All Bad
Teaching Others How to be Safe While Hunting
Finding Ways to Make Local Hospitals More Comfortable
Creating a Website for Students to Share Book Reviews
What a great range and collection of projects!  Each passion project can be constructed and completed on their level.

What were your thoughts and/or take-aways from this chapter?  Please share!

Pure Genius - Chapter 3 - Pages 29-44

Chapter 3 title - "There is No Plan" - um, excuse me?  No plan?  I don't think I can handle that?  😐

I highlighted some items on the Innovation Class blueprint that I try to keep in mind:

project-based, passion-based

personal interest

individually or in a group of up to three

outside expert

blog/vlog their results weekly

present their projects

We all know that it is much easier for us to "buy into" something that peaks our personal interest.  None of us want to work on something that we don't enjoy just as our students won't want to create, collaborate or learn about something that doesn't interest them.  

Depending on the age group, blogs/vlogs may not work.  But a weekly check in would be a great addition to keep everyone on track and moving forward.  Touch base often to keep distracted or idea-challenged students moving ahead on their project.

I try to focus on the presentation step with any project my class works on.  I can't remember what book I read it in, but even sending pictures to a nursing home is a form of presentation.  Let your students know that others will see, enjoy, appreciate their work - they will have more ownership and hopefully work harder to create something they are proud of - a better end product.

Has anyone had any success with finding appropriate TED talks or with contacting experts on a topic via Skype, Google Hangouts, etc?  There are so many people available at the click of a button or a sent e-mail...

Pure Genius - Chapter 2 - Pages 17-28

The title of the chapter says it all in my mind...  "Creating a Culture of Innovation & Leadership".  I think this is so important for a Genius Hour, 20% time, anything creative to work in our classrooms.  We have to establish the CULTURE that it is ok to think different than other students and that failure is ok.  They have to become comfortable with that setting.

Don Wettrick references the Daniel Pink and The Puzzle of Motivation video - if you haven't watched it, here is the link - http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.  Even if you only watch the first couple of minutes, The Candle Problem is quite intriguing.

Another quote I love in this book is, "Freedom is hard.  Being told what to do, although not exciting, is easy."  AMEN!  Quite often, my students expect to be told what to do.  They don't do well with freedom or interpreting directions in their own way.  Example - I'm trying to introduce my class to sketch notes - YIKES!  Some of them take right off with it, others, not so much.  I gave them general, loose directions, and some just could not "understand" or think of ways to apply it.  We will work and work and work until they benefit.

In my own classroom last year and this year, I have witnessed first hand what page 24 talks about.  Allowing time for brainstorming is so powerful.  They can create a list of topics that they are passionate about - things that interest them.  Then, once they have freedom to lead a project their own way, they can refer to their brainstorm lists.  Being inspired or passionate about their topic is amazing - their productivity will soar!

What did you all take away from chapter 2?  Any stories to tell about your own classrooms?