Social Media in a Middle School classroom....yikes....

 The idea of using social media, let alone cell phones, in my middle school classroom, is a very scary idea. It's just so hard anymore to monitor what they are doing at all times. 6th graders are so easily distracted by technology that if I allowed them to be on their phones for a lesson, using an app etc; I can almost guarantee that half of them would be switching back and forth to other personal things on their phone. This year we have a new monitoring system called Netref. We have used Lightspeed in the past. This allows me to watch my students' screens at any point. If I have students on a program, or doing an assignment, I can watch and make sure they are not switching tabs. I almost always catch students with a game tab open in the background, switching back and forth when they think I'm not looking. If they are tempted to do this with their computer from school, I can almost guarantee they would be doing this with their phones. If they use their computers, at least I can monitor this situation with our NetRef. 

I know I can't fight this forever, so I at least am open to looking into what may work in my classroom with this age student. I do find a lot of benefits for L2 students when it comes to the listening portion. It's important for the students to have access to a recording, or even a screencast, so they can go back for clarification or repetition. "20 benefits of Social Media" talks about using discussion networks such as Reddit or Digg. I've never heard of these or used them, however a discussion network where L2 learners can feel comfortable instead of worrying about their conversational skills seems like a benefit to me. It allows L2 and regular ed students to work together and carry on a discussion with the added benefit of being able to check your work using a computer before sending. Students could also use blogs similarly and post about a topic. There could be a requirement to read and respond to two students. A teacher can work with the English Language Learners to make sure they are correct in their speech before posting anything. This would let them learn social language but in a more comfortable and slower way. 

Some benefits that the article mentioned were sharing information, news updates, global exposure, finding friends with similar interests, distance learning, meeting with experts and mentors, group work, portfolios, and social interaction. I do see all of these benefits, as long as they are well planned and well monitored. 

According to West in "12 ways to Use Social Media for Education," Social media and technology are integral parts of daily life, and integrating the use of these into the classroom is more natural than before, given how acclimated many students are to them." This isn't going away, so I guess it's time to get on board and meet students at a point where they learn best. Social media con connect students, teachers, and parents and allow for open communication in a quicker way. Questions and responses, or even comments, are a natural part of social media.. The article suggests using a class Fcebook page to blast alerts and announcements. This would not be beneficial to me because we use a similar idea in Schoology. We blast announcements and students and parents can comment or ask questions right on this page. I like the idea of using Instagram for photo essays, however I would prefer it be a different platform where students didn't already have a personal account. This could be a fun project for them though, since they are used to the format and would be sharing in a way that they enjoy and are very familiar with. I do like the idea of blog posts as essays as well, however we still need to make sure we're focusing on formal writing as well. One of my favorite ideas is a class Pinterest board. This could be a group project where they create a collage of pictures as they read a novel. I've seen students using manila folders to create a "book jacket" as they read. They find pictures to add to a collage as they read. This could be a fun project which would incorporate much more than pictures. It They could make a ton of connections, and even find recipes, art projects, etc that would relate to their book. As I type this my mind is running with this idea and I think that if I am going to try one type of social media in me ELA classroom, I would try this idea first!

Covenant. (2023, February 23). 20 Benefits Of Social Media For Students In 2023. Kiiky. https://kiiky.com/how-social-media-benefits-students/

West, C. (2021, March 26). 12 Ways to use social media for education. Sprout Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-for-education/