Social Media Guidelines for Educators

I recently read a blog post about what education leaders should tweet about which had ten guidelines. I really enjoy sharing these types of posts because, as an avid social media person, it is nice to refresh and reflect on my own use, but also to share and help other educators get involved.

In a social media workshop for educators that I facilitate I challenge participants to try 'one' new thing that week... these guidelines may help those who have started to use social media take that step further.

What you should tweet about:

1. Sharing innovative strategies and news from your schools. As an educational leader, we are a needed voice and advocate for our own practices.  Twitter only allows for 140 characters, so often you will have a link to an article or accompanying blog post within that space.  This is a great way to be your own “press” while also contributing to the greater good of education.  Sharing is a must!
2. Educational articles that influence your thinking. I read so much online and you probably do to.  If you believe that the article written by an organization or another educator is beneficial to your learning and/or the learning of others, tweet it out.
3. Thoughts and quotes. As leaders we need to be thinkers.  Sometimes it is nice to have a space where we can share these thoughts.  Also, these short quotes may be just the fuel someone else needs to push through
4. Questions that will help you or your organization. Last year, I wondered what would be the best portfolio platform to serve our student needs.  Instead of starting from scratch, I decided to ask this exact question to my Personal Learning Network on twitter.  Not only was the research already done by others, someone actually helped me create the platform! (Warning:  Do not get frustrated if you ask a question and do not get a response early.  You have to build a network of others first!)
5. Support others educators. You are a leader and the best leaders empower others.  Twitter is a platform you can do this with your staff, or educators all over the world. Retweeting other work is a way of saying that you enjoyed what they shared.
6. Some personal information. This is where some educators may disagree with me.  Here is my philosophy.  As an educator, I am a person first.  When I share who I am with my students, we build a stronger connection. Sharing with people (every once in awhile) helps to build relationships as they realize you are person who goes to the gym, eats food, and likes music.  My belief; share what you would be willing to share with students (Twitter is public), but this should not be the majority of your tweets.

What you SHOULD NOT tweet about:

1. Do not use any profanity. You wouldn’t do it in front of kids.  When you are on Twitter, you are in front of kids.  Don’t do it.
2. Do not get into “fights” with others. Same as above.
3. Do not share links to sites that are inappropriate. Same as above.
4. Lose the negativity. Yes sometimes educational issues drive me nuts and I am bothered by some of the things I hear.  The occasional tweet about this shows that you are a person.  Doing it ALL THE TIME though is not what makes a leader.  People want to surround themselves, and be surrounded with positivity.  This needs to be emulated in your tweets.  Stay positive and if you can’t, stay off Twitter until you get there.

Source: http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/1810

Novel Reading: Post-It Note Tumblr Class activity

  I absolutely LOVE this activity. I have tried similar strategies, but this teacher describes in detail the process and outcome - I love it!

In this class, students read the John Green novel of their choice.  We didn’t attempt to balance the groups. Because it was enrichment, we really wanted students to have choice and to read the novels that spoke to them.  We had about 35 students read The Fault in Our Stars.  We had just 6 students readWill Grayson, Will Grayson.  The rest of the students were scattered about equally between Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, and An Abundance of Katherines.    

Our Goals

1) Students read independently. 2) Students come prepared to engage in text-based discussions. 3) Students write analytically about the text.

The strategy we introduced on the first day was a way of cataloging their Post-It notes during their reading.  We knew students would find a great number of passages in their reading that they found meaningful, but I wanted to push them to think more about why they passages they marked were significant.  (In previous Breakfast Club sessions, we’d found students didn’t want to annotate IN THEIR BOOKS.  For many of our kids, this was the first new book they’d ever owned and they were reluctant to write in them!)

Our students loved to highlight their favorite passages by copying them onto Post-Its.  We asked them to tag those significant passages #quotes.  We also asked them to consider other hashtags, like #characterization, #plot, and #figlang.  Students were also encouraged to write their questions and reactions on Post-Its and to tag them accordingly.  From the first week, students were excited.

Every student had a large piece of construction paper where they were able to arrange their Post-Its each week.  We used them for first check ins.  Students would read the “Tumblrs” of their group mates.  We encouraged them to “like” and “comment” on each other’s Post-Its.  They were also able to “reblog” other student’s thoughts if they wanted to add to them.  (We made sure they gave their classmates credit.)  We also had a “Teacher Tumblr”. We used this to keep track of comments we heard when listening to the group discussions and questions that came up for us.  We also invited students to add questions and comments, which they did.  With enthusiasm.

Integrating Evidence Meaningfully in Discussion and Writing

One way we used the Post-It Notes to help students get ready to speak and write about their texts was to ask them to pull out those Post-Its on which they’d written significant lines or passages from the text.  We knew our students could read and opine about the action and the characters, but they struggled to present substantial evidence to support their assertions.  Their first instincts were not to begin with the text and work out from there.  Often we’d receive writing assignments that included NO evidence from the text.  In revision, students would go back to the text looking for three or four quotes to shove into the already-written essay.  Not a lot of commentary there.  

So we asked students to pull out those quotes, and then on new Post-Its, we asked them to write a sentence or two of context.  What’s happening in the quote or passage?  What would a reader need to know?  #context Now, get another Post-It.  What does it mean?  What is the writer doing? Why is it significant to the greater meaning of the text? #commentary

Students began to understand the ways they could be commenting on the text, and they began making these notes independently as they were reading.  

It was powerful because when we asked students to come together and discuss questions about their text, they were ready to talk.  They had things to say.  They went to their Post-It Notes and some of the processing had already begun.  

The flexibility and mobility of the Post-Its also helped our students to track the development of characters and themes across the text.  They could group patterns together, they could look at statements characters made early in the text side by side with statements they’d made later in the text. 

We introduced “The Author Says, I Say” to help students see how to seamlessly integrate evidence into their own writing. 

On the last day, when we gave the students an unannounced on-demand writing assignment, you could hear a pin drop in the room.  Students who used to struggle to write a sentence had something to say.  In all the weeks leading up to the last class, we never told the students they would be expected to write, but when we asked them to, they were ready, because they had already had multiple opportunities to process their thinking, and discuss and write about the text.

Our students reported feeling more confident as readers and writers and during the debrief, they talked about ways they could use the strategies in other classes.

Source

4 Ways Teachers Can Encourage Online Interaction

Online Quizzes

These can be a good way to help your students learn easier. If you use them as pop-up quizzes at the end of a presentation, chances that students remember what the course was about raise considerably. You can find a tool to create complex online quizzes that will answer all your needs and results will probably improve immediately. Working with custom made quizzes is easier that to search for ready-made ones. Online quizzes are a great way to keep your students focused, to evaluate them and offer them the chance to test their assimilation capacity.

Feedback Forms

Feedback forms can be a great chance to find if your tactics actually work. Feedback is a great way to find what students actually think of your course. The odds that they will fill such a form are higher if you allow respondents to remain anonymous either if you have personally met them or not. You can focus on data and put your efforts in finding what is relevant for improvement of your online course.

Surveys

Surveys have a lot of applications in the classroom. Use them to discover the general opinion of your class, to learn about new trends and better adapt your teaching style or prepare new courses. Online surveys will generate statistical data that can help you reach further and understand the needs and requirements of present and future students. These are perfect for research, especially if you desire to create a new course and test the water to see if there is a demand from students.

Polls and Ratings

Conduct regular voting and let students participate in decision making. For example, let them choose the projects they are about to do or the topic you will discuss on a special lecture. There are many variations, the important thing is to enable them to feel they are actually part of the course you are teaching and that their opinion actually matters. If you don’t have the luxury of adjusting the course as you go, you can add ratings to your course with grades or rating stars to learn an immediate reaction of your students.

Read More at Source

#FirstWorldProblems - put into perspective

Ah, First World Problems. If you live in a western country, for one reason or another, you’re probably guilty of uttering one of these phrases.

Sure, minor inconveniences can really make a day unpleasant, but when put into perspective, having cold leather seats when you get into your car during the winter isn’t the end of the world.

Not having clean water, however, is an entirely different story. In order to highlight what “problems” actually are, Water Is Life launched the “First World Problems Anthem” video last year.

The video consists of people in the Third World reading tweets that were labeled with the hashtag #FirstWorldProblems. The stark contrast is sure to make the line at Starbucks seem like much less of a big deal.

Read More Here

Advice for New Teachers

Earlier this year I participated in in a twitter chat (#cdnedchat) discussing 'Advice for New Teachers'

You can read some of the highlights from that chat on this Storify Board:
http://storify.com/MsAmandaLong/advice-for-new-teachers

Here are some other basic tips:




Via: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/180636635027203901/

Sunday Twitter Chats #bcedchat #21stedchat

Tonight is #bcedchat and #21stedchat

Last week I participated and created a Storify you can check out here:
 
#21stedchat from Sept 8, 2013

#bcedchat from Sept. 8, 2013

Not sure I can tune in tonight as I have plans, but I will try! You should def. check it out!


In fact, check out this list of weekly chats for teachers: Google Drive - List of Twitter Weekly Chats for Educators


I chose a few I really like and added them into my smartphone calendar with alerts for each week so I remember to tune in if I can, or at least read the archives afterward!

It's a great way to grow your PLN!

5 Apps for connecting with Parents

I previously shared '5 apps that really engage parents' but with school underway, I wanted to re-share these ideas for teacher's in classrooms that have to start thinking about Meet the Teacher night and parent teacher interviews also.

1. Skype: Skype for computer, smart phones and tablets lets parents join in classroom events like story time and special presentations without having to be physically present. Even military parents overseas and grandparents who live far away are taking advantage of the Skype platform to read to students and participate in celebrations. Creative teachers ask students to find the parent’s/grandparent’s location on a map and ask a few questions to learn about the local geography, landmarks and culture. Skype can also be helpful as a way for working parents to attend parent-teacher conferences.
2. Twitter: Whether it is class homework updates, project deadlines, school news or dinnertime conversation starters, teachers are taking advantage of Twitter’s free tool and keeping parents up to date and involved in classroom happenings. In a day-in-age where most parents have cell phones, Fast Follow by Twitter becomes a simple and reliable alert system. To use it, all you need to do is setup a Twitter account and ask parents (and older students) to text Twitter’s shortcode of 40404 with the message “follow [your Twitter username].” From there, parents will start receiving all of your updates via text message in real-time.
3. VolunteerSpot: Get more parents involved in the classroom by streamlining how you ask for help and making it easier for parents to sign up to help. VolunteerSpot replaces paper signup sheets, reply-all email chains and backpack Pony Express. Simple online signups from smartphones, tablets or computers make it easy for class parents to choose a spot that fits their schedule or to send food or supplies for special events; auto reminders and calendar syncing help parents keep their commitments. Quickly organize parents to read to the class, help in the lunchroom or at recess, attend parent-teacher conferences, and help with class parties, field trips and performances.
4. Pinterest: A virtual vision board for classroom inspiration, Pinterest offers a great way for teachers and parents to build community and share ideas. Invite class parents to create and share pinboards with links to age-appropriate themes and ideas including educational boards like fun math apps, favorite books, vocabulary games, and science fair ideas – student-centric boards like recess games, scholarships and prom fashions – and boards geared towards parents such as healthy snack and lunch ideas, afterschool sports resources, and class party ideas.
5. Edublogs: A free, safe blogging platform for teachers, students and school communities, Edublogs lets you easily create and manage student and classroom blogs that keep parents up-to-date on class happenings and give students a safe portfolio for sharing their work with parents and extended family (via password-protected blogs). Post a few times a week adding videos, photos, links to volunteer signup sheets and educational resources – parents will enjoy your current content and feel more informed and connected to the classroom.

Source: http://www.weareteachers.com/community/blogs/weareteachersblog/blog-wat/2013/05/30/5-apps-that-engage-parents-in-the-classroom

Social Media Icebreakers - Age Appropriate

We Are Teachers has some social media icebreakers for back to school. You could also do some of these as a TTOC (sub) since most do not actually use social media or technology (the rules vary in districts) but the ideas from them. These ideas were in response to a 5th grade teacher looking to use social media ideas in the classroom.

1. Talk about digital footprints by having students trace the bottoms of their shoes on pieces of papers. Then, with pencil and Sharpie, have them draw the lines they see on the bottoms of their shoes. Scan their footprints into the computer and have kids add text around their illustrations describing what it means to be a good digital citizen. —Rachel O.
2. Create a "Fifthbook" bulletin board display where students can routinely add "status updates" about what they are learning. Begin by having them fill out predeisgned templates that are similar to a Facebook bio. Then, throughout the year, have students add their mood, feelings and other updates. —Tabitha F.
3. Try having students fill out a Facebook profile for a character from a summer reading book. You can do it via pencil and paper or online. Then have kids choose their next book based on their classmates' recommendations. —Dominick D.
   
   *** I did this when I taught Grade 9 with A Mid Summer Night's Dream: You can see it here
4. Have you tried Edmodo? It's a great social media platform that's completely safe for students as young as kindergarten. It does a nice job of mimicking the experience of grownup sites like Facebook and Instagram. You can have students fill out their profiles and share them as an icebreaker activity. —Karen L.
   
   ***My daughter's teacher used this
5. Have each student write down three statements about themselves. One of the statements must be false. Then have the children share their statements with the class, challenging the other students to guess which statement is incorrect. It's a nice way to get to know one another AND talk about how easy it is to lie on the Internet! —Francis K.
6. Try making a giant paper iPad with an app space for every student. It's up to the student to fill that space and keep it updated throughout the year. —Brandy G.
7. Make a "Futurebook" bulletin board display. Challenge students to write and illustrate Facebook profiles showing their future careers, hobbies, pets and families. It's a great way to talk about goal setting! —Sabrina K.

#cdnedchat "What Advice Would you Give to New Teachers?"

Have you participated in #cdnedchat on twitter? This week the topic/theme was: Back to School

The final question was "What Advice Would you Give to New Teachers?" and since I work a lot with new teachers and TTOCs and since one of the BCTF leadership priorities is supporting and engaging new members, I loved hearing all the answers, which I have compiled here to share:

They also archive the chats on their site here: http://www.cdnedchat.com/

Remind 101

This is another cool website for teachers. After discussing ways to involve parents during #21stedchat on Sunday, a few tweeting teachers suggested Remind101.

A safe way for teachers to text message students and stay in touch with parents. FREE!

https://www.remind101.com/

#21stedchat

Found a cool new chat: #21stedchat on twitter. It is every Sunday at 8pm - so check it out tonight!!

They have a site that compiles the tweets and it's pretty amazing! Lot's of interesting topics and links and resources shared.

http://www.21stedchat.com/

Visual Guide to Staying Safe on Social Media

 

The guide runs through some handy tidbits you should know. For example, what can you post on Facebook, what’s allowed on Tumblr, and how often do people post their location? Should you actually post your location on social networks? The verdict is still out the but the facts are in: this guide shows about a quarter of all users attach their current location to posts. 

 

See full article and visual guide HERE!

VSB Draft policy around social media

Vancouver Sun blog - The BC Education Report
Janet Steffenhagen
May 26, 2013

Don’t post anything on social media that reflects poorly on you or your school district.

That’s the main message from the Vancouver school district in proposed guidelines for employees using Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.

The guidelines, among the first to be developed in such detail by a B.C. school district, are on the agenda for discussion at a meeting Tuesday of the board’s education and student services committee.

To view the rest of the blog posting, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vancouver School Board: Draft Policy and Regulations: - Acceptable Use of Technology - Social Media Policy for Employees

Social Media amplifying the idea of "the grass is always greener"

I ran out of lives on Candy Crush and was scrolling through my facebook feed when I came across this post.

Such an interesting read...

The internet is like a first date. You show your best side, only revealing the good things about you,  a part of who you are, but not everything. On a date, this gives a "good impression" and maybe leads to a second date. On the internet, this leads to "the grass is always greener" syndrome. Bored and alone, scrolling through facebook, twitter, instagram or other social media sites, people are inundated with "the best side" of other people's lives and can easily start to feel in a rut...

This made me wonder about my middle schoolers and even my own daughter.

Her friends have this, or do this and she wants this or that.

This "grass is always greener" idea has been around forever, but with technology "rubbing your face" into other people's lives (or the life they choose to share) it becomes more of a problem.

I encourage you to check out this article - I think it is an interesting piece and certainly has me thinking more about the impact of social media (which I am a huge fan of!)





Read this article

I keep having the same conversation over and over. It starts like this: “I gave up Facebook for Lent, and I realized I’m a lot happier without it.” Or like this, “Pinterest makes me hate my house.” Or like this: “I stopped following a friend on Instagram, and now that I don’t see nonstop snapshots of her perfect life, I like her better.”


Yikes. This is a thing. This is coming up in conversation after conversation. The danger of the internet is that it’s very very easy to tell partial truths—to show the fabulous meal but not the mess to clean up afterward. To display the smiling couple-shot, but not the fight you had three days ago. To offer up the sparkly milestones but not the spiraling meltdowns.

My life looks better on the Internet than it does in real life. Everyone’s life looks better on the internet than it does in real life. The Internet is partial truths—we get to decide what people see and what they don’t. That’s why it’s safer short term. And that’s why it’s much, much more dangerous long term.

Because community—the rich kind, the transforming kind, the valuable and difficult kind—doesn’t happen in partial truths and well-edited photo collections on Instagram. Community happens when we hear each other’s actual voices, when we enter one another’s actual homes, with actual messes, around actual tables telling stories that ramble on beyond 140 pithy characters.

But seeing the best possible, often-unrealistic, half-truth version of other peoples’ lives isn’t the only danger of the Internet. Our envy buttons also get pushed because we rarely check Facebook when we’re having our own peak experiences. We check it when we’re bored and when we’re lonely, and it intensifies that boredom and loneliness.

When you’re laughing at a meal with friends, are you scrolling through Pinterest? When you’re in labor with your much-prayed-for-deeply-loved child, are you checking to see what’s happening on Instagram? Of course not. We check in with our phones when it seems like nothing fun is happening in our own lives—when we’re getting our oil changed or waiting for the coffee to brew.

It makes sense, then, that anyone else’s fun or beauty or sparkle gets under our skin. It magnifies our own dissatisfaction with that moment. When you’re waiting for your coffee to brew, the majority of your friends probably aren’t doing anything any more special.

This is just a bit of the post... please read more here:

  http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/tech/stop-instagramming-your-perfect-life

Teaching French: Connecting with other french teachers

There is always a need for french teachers in our district. We have a growing French Immersion program in multiple schools and a lack of teachers who are fluent in writing, speaking and reading in french.

As such, my grade 12 french has me more qualified than many, though not quite experienced enough to take on a french immersion class full time. I do teach on-call for french immersion and teach FSL (French as a second language)

There are so many awesome lessons available for teachers and our district offers teachers free french teaching classes where you practice french and have great taken-home units and lessons.

This is a great way to connect with french teachers and new-to-french teachers. I took the course and loved it! A lot of my teacher colleagues are in the current session and enjoying it.

Some online resources to get connected with french immersion and FSL educators and ideas?

Twitter: Hashtags for French Teachers 

#frimm (french immersion)
#frenchimm
#langchat (language chat)
#fle (francais langue etrangere)
#flteach (foreign language teaching)
#french (also get lots on non-teaching tweets though)
#aimlang (AIM - Accelerated Integrated Methodology approach to language teaching)
#ClavEd  (French Speakers – Wednesdays at 12h(EST) 13h(ATL) 18h(Paris))
#biliteracy (bilingual literacy)
#mfl (modern foreign languages)
#bilingual
#CanEd (Canadian education)
#mfltwitterati (UK modern foreign language twitter chat)

Twitter for Educators

If used right, Social Media can be a fantastic tool for educators. I have embraced social media and am curious on ways to explore it further. I want it to be an effective tool and I still struggle with some ways to incorporate it into not only education and collaboration, but as a means to reach out beyond my PLN (Personal Learning Network)

I realize that a lot of educators are weary of social media, in particular, Twitter. I have spent a lot of time speaking with new teachers about twitter and thought it would be nice to have an easy "manual" on how educators can get started on twitter. Of course, I found something (several somethings) on the internet...

This google doc starts with the basics and is useful in getting started.

Midsummer Night's Dream Facebook Assignment

So I decided to do fake facebook accounts with my Grade 9 Highschool Class for Midsummer Night's Dream. I saw "Shakesbook" and "Fakebook" assignments online and used them as inspiration to create this project. Students had 2 computer lab classes to complete the assignment and most finished easily in that time, while some needed to take extra time at home to finish.

Below I have posted the instructions, marking rubric and sources as well as some links to a few samples from my students.

Fakebook Profile for a Main Character
1. Choose one of the main characters.
2. Create a "fakebook" profile for the character that reflects what you know about them.
3. Write 5 status updates for the character that relate to major events in the plot and
    accurately reflect the characters personality.
4.Create 10 or more responses to the statuses from other characters.
5. You may have MORE posts if you wish.
6. Ensure the statuses are in reverse chronological order with most recent at the top.
7. Include your name and block at the bottom of the page.
8. Save a copy for your files and print a copy to turn in.
Marking Rubric

Minimum 5 Status Updates that reflect characters personalities and refer to major events in the
plot in chronological order. /5

Minimum 10 replies reflect characters personalities and relationships. /5

Profile details reflect character and show understanding of character. /5

Creative, correct formatting, appearance resembles template/examples. /5

Total:    /20

Resources

You may use any of the below resources to create your page or create your own as long as it
contains all the criteria:

1. Fakebook is an online ap. You can click to edit and create a page then save and print.
http://www.classtools.net/fb/home/page
2. Facebook template for Microsoft Word.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/templates/facebook-template-word-TC102239159.aspx

3. I have several templates I will share with the class.

Samples

*Please note at the time of posting these links are active and accurate, but may become unactive or edited in the future without my knowledge. These are a random selection of examples.

Demetrius: http://www.classtools.net/fb/31/BCYd7a

Nick Bottom: http://www.classtools.net/fb/36/WUbGMA

Puck: http://www.classtools.net/fb/56/JegDDX

Hermia: http://www.classtools.net/fb/17/g8mU4D

Lysander: http://www.classtools.net/fb/35/hHdYTW

Nick Bottom: http://www.classtools.net/fb/25/hKJDeB

Helena: http://www.classtools.net/fb/74/BgUNgi

Helena: http://www.classtools.net/fb/67/3Ee2Ci

Twitter
Two students paired up to use twitter to create their own version of the project:

Helena: https://twitter.com/#!/helenalovesdem
Demetrius: https://twitter.com/#!/2cool4helena