Math, Science, English, and...Twitter?

With digital citizenship on the rise, many individuals are wondering if it really is possible for social media to become a critical learning tool in the elementary classroom. Some people worry that too many risks accompany social media use in the classroom and others believe it is a complete distraction from learning. So how can a teacher responsibly use social media for the educational good of his or her students? While I was unable to find social media guidelines for my former high school, the Social Media Guidelines for Guilford County Schools in North Carolina were readily available. Some examples of their rules include:

• Do not have online friendships with students or their parents.
• Make sure any professional social media account is not linked to personal accounts in any way.
• Do not denigrate or insult anyone as this can be seen as cyberbullying.
• Do not write about a student or colleague without their permission.
• Monitor your page to ensure others don't make inappropriate posts on it.
• Remember that you are ALWAYS representing your school district.

Teachers are held to extremely high behavioral standards and because of this, they cannot post anything that could even be slightly misconstrued on professional or personal social media pages. Although most people are only held to certain standards while they are at work, a teacher is always expected to act responsibly. In fact, one seemingly insignificant decision to post a picture online could come back to haunt him or her if a student or parent were to view it and be offended. Additionally, in order to use social media in the classroom, the teacher has to gain approval from the school and the students' parents. If one person disagrees with it, it can quickly become a huge problem. Although it requires diligence, many phenomenal teachers have successfully and responsibly implemented social media into the elementary classroom. One example is Nicole Crowell of Parkway Schools who was recently named teacher of the year and uses Twitter to communicate with her students' parents. Here's how:

It is no easy feat figuring out how to use social media in a class of five year-olds but Crowell found a great way to do so that also gives parents an opportunity to communicate with her in an appropriate manner.

In another classroom, second grade teacher Shane Heiman is encouraging his students to share their creative ideas with the world by posting their daily creative journal entries on Twitter and sharing them with high profile companies like Subway and Kohler.

Believe it or not, there are even more educational uses for Twitter. The Global Digital Citizenship Foundation compiled a list of sixty ways to use Twitter to learn.
Here are some of my favorites:

• Use hashtags and post activities on Twitter so absent students can stay on top of what the rest of the class is doing that day.
• At the end of the day, reflect on what was learned and discuss it on Twitter.
• Assign bonus assignments on Twitter for extra credit the next day.

Everyday, it is a challenge to discover new ways to make students excited about school. By using a medium kids find fun and grown-up, you are giving them a privilege and ensuring that they will be engaged in class. In addition to being an excellent source of differentiated instruction, the use of Twitter teaches students appropriate ways to use the social media that will be such an important source of knowledge and communication throughout their entire lives. Social media truly is something they will use almost constantly in the real world. Teachers have to be careful how they conduct themselves online but teachers like Nicole Crowell and Shane Heiman prove it is possible to enrich the classroom with life-changing learning opportunities that only exist beyond the classroom walls.

References

Global Digital Citizen Foundation. (12 June 2014). 60 Inspiring examples of Twitter in the classroom. Retrieved September 4, 2015 from http://globaldigitalcitizen.org/60-inspiring-examples-of-twitter-in-the-classroom

Guilford County Schools. Social media guidelines for faculty and staff. Retrieved September 4, 2015 from http://www1.gcsnc.com/boe/2011/3_24/Social%20Media%20Guidelines.pdf

The Lawrence Journal-World. (11 May 2015). Lawrence second-grade class shares creative ideas on Twitter. Retrieved September 4, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQZHbF2cAyw

Parkway Schools. ( 24 March 2015). Elementary teacher of the year - Nicole Crowell. Retrieved September 3, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q94j16ljNHs

Social media is possible [online image]. Retrieved September 4, 2015 from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140418050838-9912812-how-to-use-social-media-in-the-classroom-while-protecting-privacy

Twitter classroom [online image]. Retrieved September 4, 2015 from http://dailygenius.com/social-education/

Twitter skills [online image]. Retrieved September 4, 2015 from http://langwitches.org/blog/2012/09/19/twitter-hots-establishing-a-twitter-routine-in-the-classroom/