USING social MEDIA TO ENGAGE STUDENTS AND ...

USING social MEDIA TO ENGAGE STUDENTS AND FAMILIES Author(s): LISA NIELSEN Source: Educational Horizons, Vol. 92, No. 2 (December 2013/January 2014), pp. 16-20 Published by: Phi Delta Kappa International Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/42927216 Accessed: 10-03-2015 00:35 UTC

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EDUCATIONAL HORIZONS 2014 II DECEMBER 2013/JANUARY


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OURFAVORITE MUSICIANS,GAME AND CELEBRITIESARE DESIGNERS, AND ENGAGING MASTERSATINTERACTING WITHTHEIRFANSUSINGSOCIALMEDIA. eventhough Theyknowhowtograbourinterest in culture the is stiff there competition pop scene- andinourdailylives- forourtime theirexample Youcanlearnfrom andattention. and students to media social engage byusing in If theirfamilies. youonlyengage one-way aboutthenoteinthe communication (think mediapresence), and no social youwill backpack andoutoftouch.On the outdated be considered usesocialmedia otherhand,wheneducators wins! andfamilies, toengagestudents everyone towhatis goingoninthe Familiesfeelconnected learnusingthetoolsof canbetter school,students theirworld,andschoolsshine. haveInternet ornotyourstudents Whether accessawayfrom school,therearemanyways and tousesocialmediatobuild,strengthen, achievement academic and growrelationships amongallparties.Herearesomewaystoputthis intopractice. Families with Internetaccess thatthedigitaldivide Itis anunfortunate reality access is power,andwithout exists.Knowledge areata andtheirfamilies students totheInternet, determine to A a is disadvantage.survey greatway access.Youcan don'thaveInternet whichfamilies resources toward community pointthesefamilies as wellas extending suchas thelocallibrary, Youmay accessandhoursfortheschoollibrary. that to families alsoconsider programs connecting an access,suchas Connect2Compete, support

that Commission oftheFederalCommunications initiative whoareeligiblefortheNational millions offamilies offers Internet broadband discounted SchoolLunchProgram or notebook refurbished accessfor$9.95permonth, $150 When andfreedigitalliteracy training. desktopcomputers, haveInternet schoolsdo theirbesttoensurefamilies access, therearemanywayssocialmediacanbe usedtosupport andtheirfamilies. students HELPYOURSCHOOLSHINEWITHYOUTUBE - innovation is doinggreatthings Yourschoolcommunity - butin danceperformances fairs, spokenwordevents, fade. is over,thememories mostcases,whentheactivity has this no to be. it used how Atleast,that's longer Today, tobe thecase.WhenwetalkabouttheABCsinschools thealphabetto"Always wehavemovedfrom learning today, Be Capturing." capturethewonderful Today'sschoolsneedtoconstantly the thattakeplaceduring yearso theycan occurrences sharethemwiththeworld.Everyschoolhasa story, thoseschoolswhomusttake andit'sthepeoplewithin andowningtheir thesenarratives for responsibility sharing schoolbrand. othervideosite, a channelonYouTubeoranother Creating what'sgoingonin suchas Vimeo,is a greatwaytocapture yourschooldeserves. yourschoolandbuildthereputation theprincipal on Bevacqua(@jvbevacqua Twitter), Johnny British SchoolinVancouver, atSt.Patrick Secondary useshisYouTubeChannelatwww.youtube. Columbia, towatchstudent as a vehicleforparents com/STPCouncil andtheir alumni school councilmeetings, memories, plays, welcome incredible assembly. WITHEDM0D0 SUPPORTLEARNING areuneasywiththeidea It'snowondersomeeducators We'veall seenthe ofusingsocialmediawithstudents. >

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SOCIAL MEDIA TOENGAGE ANDFAMILIES USING STUDENTS

sensational headlines: "Facebookgetsteacher fired!" It todiscover socialmediawaswhat onlytakesa minute behavior caught- notwhatcaused- theinappropriate for thatledtotermination. social media Still, many, using withstudents is uncharted and educators territory, may wanttoexercise cautionwhenentering thesewaters. Edmodo(www.edmodo.com) is a terrific for platform that. doingjust Edmodobillsitself as a freeandsafeplatform forteachers andstudents toconnect andcollaborate. ItsFacebook-like is designedtogetstudents interface excitedaboutlearning inanenvironment that know, they usinga platform isn'tblockedinschools.Edmodoenablesstudents and teachers tostartorcontinue discussions, respondtopolls, andevents, andreceive award stayawareofassignments for or behavior. badges performance loveis thatevenifa student Whatteachers is absent, have access to No more hasto time they assignments. be spentexplaining orexcusing a missedassignment. With us or without cellphones

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RobZdrojewski a teacher (@MrZTechTVonTwitter), MiddleSchoolinBuffalo, atAmherst N.Y.,keepshis students their informed of (and parents) gradesand the with Edmodo. He says progress throughout year thattheplatform from fosters even engagement families, thosewhotraditionally couldnotbe as involved, because in are the with what is within they kept loop happening areinvolved, theclassroom. Whenparents student achievement andeveryone wins. increases

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FederalCommunications Commission Connect2 CompeteInitiative http://bit.ly/FCCDocument Getmoredetailsaboutthisfederal initiative andopportunities foryour families. students' Connect2 Compete http://www.connect2compete.org/ families withlocal, This site,availableinEnglishandSpanish,connects discounted offers forcomputers andInternet service.

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STRENGTHEN THEHOME-SCHOOL CONNECTION WITHFACEBOOK Facebookis a platform whereparents alreadyare, so creating a pageis a greatwaytogivethema windowintowhatis happening inschool.This is what Parent Coordinator SaraCottoneof exactly P.S. 46 inStatenIsland,N.Y.,did.Shewelcomes to"like"theFacebookpageshecreatedfor parents themathttps://www.facebook.com/pages/PS-46Parent-Coordinator/100570000004967. Italsoservedas a lifeline duringcrises.Lastspring, theschoolFacebookpagewasoneofthefewways couldcommunicate parents duringSuperstorm When there was a bus thepage strike, Sandy. wasa terrific vehicleforsharing and planning information. logistics Butthepageisn'tjustforuseintimesofneed. It'salsousedtoupdateparents ontrips,school likepicture and other events performances, day. The pageis interactive, too.Parents canleave askquestions, andfindoutinformation. comments, arealwaysonhandto Cottoneandotherparents and feedback. respond provide Families without Internetaccess Notonlyarecellphones a convenient tool,but formanyyoungpeoplewhodon'thaveaccessto athome,theyaretheonlytoolwith computers whichtheyaccesssocialmedia.Mostpeopledo - the2009 CellPhone haveaccesstocellphones NationMaristPollsaidthat94%ofhouseholds had accesstoone- whichmakescellphones thebest nowtobridgethedigitaldivide. toolwehaveright aboutusinglaptopsand Whilemanyofus think tablets toaccesssocialmedia,evenbasic,textprovidea smart onlycellphones waytoengagein educational usesofsocialnetworking beyondthe basicFacebookapp.Herearesomeideas. HELPYOURSCHOOLSHINEWITHTWITTER FASTFOLLOW Yourschool'sstudents andteachers aredoinggreat allday,everyday.However, weknowwhen things children school,theiranswertothe gethomefrom "Whatdidyoudo atschooltoday?" dailyquestion, is often YoucanchangethatwithTwitter lacking. whichkeepsparents intheknow FastFollow, all theterrific attheir things regarding happening child'sschooleveryday.

EDUCATIONAL HORIZONS 2014 2013/JANUARY II DECEMBER


Twitter FastFollowis a simplewayforpeopletogetinformation let'ssayyouwanttoget care they aboutinrealtime.Forexample, ofHorizons the Pi Lambda from tweets Theta, publisher magazine to40404. PiLambdaTheta' Justtext'follow (@PiLambdaTheta). onthe The greatthingis thatanyoneintheU.S. canreceivetweets for Twitter. if haven't even on their up signed they phone, go,right what's tofollow theschool'saccounttodiscover This allowsfamilies the science at or school atthe assembly beinghighlighted happening a class'saccounttoseewhathappenedonthefield fair.Theycanfollow atschool FastFollow,theterrific happening things trip.WithTwitter intheschool.Instead,theyreachthehandsof arenolongertrapped themtotheirschool'sandclass'smostup-to-date connecting parents, tosee information. Watchthevideoathttp://youtu.be/GyQz48V6UmM Schoolusesit. howChicago'sLockeElementary tospreadtheword.Include don'tforget Onceyousetup youraccount, theschoolorclassinvariousplaces,including tofollow reminders andontheschool's signsinyourschool,a linkinyouremailsignature andbusinesscards. andanyblogs,anda lineonschoolflyers website WITHTEXTNOVEL SUPPORTLEARNING forlearning, areusingcellphones Withorwithout us,students mobile of use on students' to a technology according 2012study conducted Despite byTru,a globalleaderintweenandteenresearch. are that teachers and some theperception cellphones parents by deserve tokids,thisnational studyprovesthatchildren distracting as oneinthreeareusingtheirdevicestocomplete morecredit, andlearnbetter. homework andallow andwriting Teacherswhowanttoencourage reading from students' topublishfora realaudiencecando thisright students and readers for authors network a social with Textnovel.com, phones novel first Itis the ofserialfiction. website, Englishlanguagecellphone withtheircellphones towriteandreadfiction members (or allowing tools. Textnovel and online text email, computers) byusing messaging, the themtodemonstrate forfiction runscontests writers, allowing and serial its oftheirworkthrough unique market publication potential havetobe atleast13yearsoldtoentertheir Students format. voting can The novelsarerated(G, PG,PG-13,andR). Students contests. to are and there link and to illustrations Twitter, manysettings upload students. fit for andmakeit theexperience customize your Kathleen artsteacher Middleschoollanguage RaysaysTextnovel wasalwaysa Before herclassroom. transformed Textnovel, revising workafter with their be done wanted to Students endeavor. frustrating became students when draft. a first However, usingTextnovel, writing and themofcommenting, becauseitreminded liking, unliking engaged the WithTextnovel, activities. onFacebook,oneoftheirfavorite revisetheir usetheirphonestogettheinputtheyneedtotruly students wereobvious,so theyalsolearnedabout The improvements writing. The socialaspectthatTextnovel thevalueofrevision. bringstowriting inRay'sclass. madeall thedifference andrevising >

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USING SOCIAL MEDIA TOENGAGE STUDENTS ANDFAMILIES

STRENGTHEN THEHOME-SCHOOL CONNECTION WITHCELLY Whileweknowthatparents wishtheycouldspendmoretime attheirchild'sschool,busyschedules often don'tprovidesuch Parents canstayconnected witha servicelikeCelly opportunity. a freegrouptexting service.Grouptexting saves (http://cel.ly), timeandimproves communication. The cellsreferred toinCelly areinstant mobilenetworks. WithCelly,youcanhaveopen ora hybrid wherecurators can groupchat,one-way alerting, approvemessages. andprivacy, becausephonenumbers Cellyalsoprovides security areneverexposedandtherearecontrols. Cellcurators filter before are sent to the This discussion messages they group. keeps on topicandreducesabuse,impersonation, andcyberbullying. withthe Cellyalsohasa built-in pollingfeature, complete tabulation ofresults.

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NewMilford EricShenninger HighSchoolPrincipal on in New Milford, (@NMHS_Principal Twitter) N.J.,suggests services such as introducing Cellyduring parent-teacher conference It'sa greatwaytoelicitfeedback nights. during ortosecurereal-time presentations inputonschoolinitiatives. Onceparents arecomfortable withitsuse,thestageis setto continue it and connected allyearlong. using stay Getting started somebuilding Usingsocialmediaineducation requires putting blocksforsuccessinplace.A strong foundation forsuccessful useofsocialnetworking ineducation starts bysecuring parent/ and student As guardian agreements. youdevelopa homeschoolconnection socialmediaintoparent byincorporating toseethe communication, youwillsetthestageforparents devicesas usefultoolsforconnecting inimportant ways. Considerhavinga workshop forparents andstudents tointroduce use of social and to secure theseagreements. your networking This notonlylaysa strong foundation foryourteaching practices, butitalsoprovides a platform forteaching boundary, privacy,

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REFERENCE: Tru.(2012).Verizon onmiddle foundation survey school students' useofmobile . Retrieved technology from http://www.thinkfinity.org/servlet/ 0549102-218289/ JiveServlet/previewBody/1 Research%20on%20Mobile%20Technology.pdf andsafety tobothparents andstudents. Hotissues practices suchas cyberbullying, andcheating shouldalso sexting, be addressed. to means behave, appropriate Teaching ways ofreporting, andtoolsforprotection, with along cellphone is usefulforbothparents andstudents. etiquette, The nextstepinthefoundation is developing anacceptable usepolicy,orwhatsomecalla responsible usepolicy. Considerdoingthiswithyourstudents, andusekid-friendly This is basicgoodclassroom language. management applied tothedigitaltoolsforteaching wehavetoday.Thereare availableinmybook,Teaching Generation templates Text Educator , andonmyblog,The Innovative (http:// Withthedevelopment ofthe innovativeeducator.com).

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usepolicyalsocomestheestablishment of responsible classroom which should be procedures, management withstudents. The possibility oftechnology developed andsocialmediabecoming a toolofengagement, rather thana discipline whengoodprocedures issue,willincrease withrulesandconsequences areinplace.The classroom should be andsharedwith procedures practiced bystudents as well. parents Socialnetworking a powerful forlearning provides platform andconnecting. Thisis important notonlyas a partofthe educator's butalsoas a vehicleto toolbox, 21st-century more for students tousereal-world provide opportunities tools.Children deservenothing lessthanfortheirteachers toembrace thepowerofthistechnology andsupport them inbecoming learners whocanusethepowerful socialmedia toolsandplatforms toclimbtonewheights. EH AUTHORID LISANIELSEN hasworked as a public schooleducator and administrator since1997andistheauthor ofTeaching Generation Text: CellPhonestoEnhance andTheInnovative Using Learning Educator Shetweets blog(http://innovativeeducator.com/). @lnnovativeEdu.

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