Social Media in the Elementary Classroom

As quoted by Godin, "In the connected age, reading and writing remain the two skills that are most likely to pay off with exponential results. Reading leads to more reading. Writing leads to better writing.  Better writing leads to a bigger audience and more value creation. And the process repeats" (Hicks, 2013). In my opinion, not only does more writing lead to better writing, but more authentic, engaging writing leads to better writing. When students are enjoying what they write, I find they do a better job than if they are writing about something that does not interest them. The use of social media tools in the classroom is a great way to encourage students to create authentic writing pieces. Above is a video about using social media, specifically blogs, in the classrooms.

There are three ways students can engage in online activities: hanging out, messing around, and geeking out. "Hanging out is participating in social media, watching videos, and casual web surfing. Messing around is playing games informally and designing websites or other online materials. Geeking out is creating high-quality remixes, full participating in online gaming" (Hicks, 2013). I use examples of each of these in my classroom.

Hanging Out:

I use this method when engaging my students when we are about to start a new topic, mainly in science and social studies. They use the site Discovery Education to search and view videos on specific topics. I like Discovery Ed because the videos are appropriate for my students, I can assign specific videos for them to view, and a lot of the videos are accompanied by digital quizzes students can complete after watching the video.

Messing Around:

One way I encourage authentic writing in my classroom is by using KidBlog. This is an online blogging site that is both safe and suitable for students of all ages. I incorporate KidBlog into my morning work weekly. On Wednesdays my students work on writing; so they log in to their KidBlog account and write a post about the topic I have posted for that day. They love being able to express their thoughts and ideas with their peers. Since this does not feel like an educational writing activity (because it's actually fun), the students thoroughly enjoy this and take pride in their work. These blogs are some of the best writing pieces my students create. This site, Assessment the Web 2.0 Way, provides a detailed description of KidBlog, as well as a video describing what blogs are and how they can be beneficial in the classroom.
Below is an image of an example of a KidBlog post. I could not post a picture of my personal blog or link to it because it is password protected. I liked this example because it shows the title, the student's writing, and other student's comment (which is exactly how my KidBlog is set up.)

 

Geeking Out:

My students enjoy playing and creating their own games using the site Zondle. Zondle is free for teachers and students, and they can create, play and share games to support teaching, learning and assessment. My students LOVE creating games and sharing them with their peers; and I love that fact that they are implementing new ways to learn new material, and they don't even know it. I was always told that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else. Using Zondle, my students create games about topics we are studying and use these games to help classmates learn the material that they have already mastered. It's a great way to get students actively engaged in the learning process!



Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media and genres. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.