Social Media


I had the pleasure of reading, “Why I Use Social Media in My Classes” by @heyjuliesmith. I was interested in reading this blog to read her thoughts about using social media in her class. Every class that I have been in has a strict no social media policy. It is always interesting to see the other side of a concern.

Her number 1 reason for using social media in the classroom is that technology offers so many functions for the classroom that it doesn’t make sense to ban them from the class. She mentions Kahoot as one of her favorites to use in class. I have used the website in some of my college courses and they have always been a fun addition to a lesson.

Number 3 on her list is that she uses a quick cell phone activity to break up her lecture and to give the students a brain break. I could understand this position because it is tough to sit and listen to someone talk for an extended period. With younger students we use GoNoodle to give them a much-needed brain break. I can see using cell phone activity to offer older students the same type of break. I am sure that it goes over very well in class.

She goes on to mention a few specific ways to use cell phone technology to better connect with the classroom. Here are a few that I thought were very useful.

·         Twitter can be used to have discussions and to follow accounts pertaining to the content

·         She mentioned “real-time polling” which I had never heard of. Apps such as mentimeter and PollEverywhere offer services useful for the classroom.
The author of the article taught college and I think that her suggestions were very appropriate for her age group. I also think that those same suggestions would be easily adaptable in an elementary classroom. This article made me look as to social media as less of a threat and more of a tool to help our students.

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