Changing Technology

As I continue to use technology in my classes, along with social media, I have realized that like with the actual technology my students' interests have also changed. 

When I began my journey of advocating the use of social media for class assignments, Facebook was not really used (even though most of my students have an account), they did not use it daily. They had it from when it was "cool," but once mom, dad, and even grandma got in...they got off. 

Today they are using Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter daily. I am now developing ways to incorporate the use of these apps in my lesson planning. Social media is about sharing and as my students continue to share their lives on social media with their friends, I want them to see how much their education is also a factor and should also be shown in their snaps, IG, and tweets. 

Example:

I now assign video homework. Students must show 30 or more seconds of them practicing the dance outside of class. The have to use the appropriate hashtags and for those that are private on social media they just have to show a recording on their phone. 

Luckily, all my students have smartphones this year. All 186 of them! That's insane but it is what it is. 

Let's find meaningful ways to make use of the little computers in their pockets while also encouraging them to do their best work to post online.