Twitter continued to jump as well, and I can say when the original image came out I was not a Twitter believer and now I cannot imagine my life without it. It is used to reach out to colleagues to get ideas, some who I have never even met! It connects my classroom community to experts. It validates student work. Twitter has also become a tool for my students to share what they are doing, have discussions about books, and seek answers to questions Google and their teacher cannot answer.Social media apps had huge growth. Check out the Snapchat facts! 104 thousand to 1.8 million! Snapchat is how we reach people these days- the jump in snaps created is proof of that. Filters on
Social media apps had huge growth. Check out the Snapchat facts! 104 thousand to 1.8 million! Snapchat is how we reach people these days- the jump in snaps created is proof of that. Filters on Snapchat are the new form of advertisement.
Go and ask students today if they are on Facebook or Instagram and many will tell you Instagram. I have been told Facebook is for people in their 40s by students. It is also a great tool to form groups where whole towns can ask questions in an easy format whereas Instagram is where the students build their community. I am still not sure what is so amazing about a picture of breakfast or the duck face over and over again, but our younger generation loves these photos so we need to be appreciative of that. I also am aware some students use Instagram to learn more about photography and show off their unique style. I do hope these students are learning how to use these tools in positive ways to spread messages. In an Internet
In an Internet minute, a lot of powerful things can happen. Things are also changing. Netflix was added to the circle. Streaming movies is making way for new technologies as we said goodbye to the VHS player this year. Soon our students will not know what a VHS tape is. Show them a floppy disk and see what they think it is! Tinder swipes continue to increase too, showing the power of people connecting and meeting. Of course, YouTube use has doubled! This shows how much has changed in a few years. Imagine what will be in 2018? Maybe one of your students will create something we can do on the Internet in a minute. I would swipe right to that!
About the blogger: Rayna Freedman is beginning her 18th year at the Jordan/Jackson Elementary School in Mansfield, MA. She has taught grades 3-5 and is an Instructional Technology Specialist. She is working on her doctorate through Northeastern as she hopes to change the field of education some day. Rayna is the President-elect of the MassCUE Board of Directors and has been presenting at the annual conference since 2010. She runs creativity workshops for the Reynold’s Center, is a BrainPOP certified educator, and advocate for teaching digital citizenship in the classroom. She served on the DESE Digital Literacy and Computer Science Standards Panel and was the North Attleboro Chamber of Commerce Teacher of the Year in 2011. Connect with her on Twitter @rlfreedm or at raynafreedman.blogspot.com.
This blog post was relaunched on mbea-ma.org with permission from the blogger. You may find the original post HERE.