Keeping up with high school students is hard. And the ever-changing
world of social media makes it even harder. But instead of running with their
tails between their legs, many teachers are embracing social media and infusing
it into their educational practices.
But before teachers can begin implementing social media into their
classrooms, it is important that they first understand what social media means
to the students. It is easy to assume that students are too reliant on their
cell phones and that social media is rotting their brains, but this would not
be an accurate assumption.
According to
Content Strategist Jeff Knutson, understanding students' social media lives is
essential for teachers. It simply cannot be ignored. As teachers, we need to
keep our personal opinions of social media out of the equation and accept that
our students are growing up with more technology than ever before. If we want
them to be successful in our technology-driven world, then we need to start
incorporating it into our curriculum.
In September of 2018, Common
Sense released new research that focused on the relationship between students
and social media. The report, "Social Media, Social Life: Teens Reveal
Their Experiences", shows how important social media platforms are in teens'
lives.
Knutson believes
that teachers should use the research to inform their teaching and he gives the
following advice: understand your students' social media lives, listen to what
students say about their social media experiences, recognize the importance of
social-emotional learning, and support digital citizenship education in your
school.
To read the full
report, click HERE.
Kylie,
ReplyDeleteWhat I like that you talked about is how in order to implement, one must understand. I think this goes far because to understand something such as social media, it seems so crucial that teachers think about this in terms of a larger scale. Social media to me sure isn’t the same to my high school teachers. I am even learning that social media for me is different than it is for my English 101 students, who are only three to four years younger than me. I think this shows the larger impact social media can have, and the variations it has among us all. I like this idea in the context of your discussion because if it is to be used in a classroom, then teachers might want to understand why certain things attract their students, or how they can use to adjust to a new style of learning. Which if a teacher is willing to do this, then I think that is super interesting and valuable as well.