I think that when it comes to social media in the classroom it is something that we cannot ignore. It is something that our students are using every day through YouTube, Tick Tok, Instagram, maybe twitter, video games and online gaming sites, to blogging and website creation. Most of our students are, in my opinion, are much more advanced technology wise that we are going to be as teachers and continued professional development is going to be critical in helping us to stay on top of ensuring that our students are staying safe in the online world.
I think that the policy provided by the OCT and the OSSTF are really informative regarding professional boundaries and reminding us that as educators, even though we use the same social media platforms as our students it is not appropriate to conduct ourselves in the class the same as we would on our instagram pages.
I do think that updates need to be made to the policies regarding consideration of newer online platforms to introduce within our classrooms as most of the ones that they talk about are considered outdated by our students. I brought up the use of twitter and Facebook in my classes of grade 9 and 10s and no one said they use either...it is mostly YouTube and Tick Tok and Instagram these days, which are very image based rather then content based so remaining on top of concepts such as mental health awareness and body dysmorphia concepts will help us to ensure that we can educate our students to use these platforms in a healthy manor.
Please see attached my Action Research Proposal on using social media in classes like physical education or drama to help students to improve self esteem and self worth in an attempt to increase retention in these classes and to increase participation in extra curricular activities as well.
I will admit, that as someone who uses social media as a personal branding platform, that I do find it slightly unfair that as an educator I know that I will be scrutinized for the posts that I have chosen to make in relation to my sport of bodybuilding even though it is something I do outside of the classroom and have been able to gain knowledge from to be able to use in my class in terms of discussing the mental components of health and fitness and recognizing the importance of how we feel vs the number on the scale. I recognized that it is something that is put on the internet and will be there forever, however I think that having to remain as a strict professional at all times in my life is a really large expectation and definitely privileges the shareholders of the school rather then the educators when it comes to the 'censoring' of what is deemed appropriate to put on a social media account.
I do agree with what the OCT lists as barriers and things to consider such as the wording and using social media to communicate with our students. I believe that is a crossing of the line and if we are going to connect with our students via social media it should be through a business account rather then a personal one.
Digital Citizenship
I think that, especially given the world we are currently living in, this is one of the most important lessons that we can teach our students!!!!
I very thoroughly believe that the COVID-19 'situation' has been made much more extreme than it needed to be because it is the first pandemic that we are experiencing where social media has such an influence in our lives. When SARS and H1-N1 were pandemics that we were facing there was news coverage and we would hear all the same numbers like we are hearing about with COVID-19, however Facebook was just becoming 'a thing' and myspace was used to post pictures and music videos that we liked. There were no social justice outcries and revolts and wide-spread anti-vaxers and anti-maskers whose voices could reach such a great amount of people. I believe that it is because of the new online presence that we have socially that there has become such a divide between those who are against what is happening and those who are living in fear of what is going on. It has become a very pick a side concept based off of what the government is saying or against what these doctors are saying or against what our friends are saying and it has become really really hard to know and understand what to think because our heads have become so full of everyone else's voices.
I think that being able to take a situation like the pandemic, or a situation as was described in the video about the young girl who was getting bullied due to a picture that she had posted online and teach our students how to properly uncover what truths are the real truths and how to recognize the false truths that they are being told. For example, teaching them how to look into the background on the news stations that are providing the information and seeing who runs them, if they have governmental ties or are they independent companies? All of these background aspects that go overlooked each day are important to teach our students to they can understand the biases in what information is being presented to them.
Taking advantage of constructs and personal experiences that the students have and are experiencing is a great way to teach them how to become better citizens both online and offline. By taking current events and looking at all sides and deciphering all the behind the scenes avenues of the event will help them to become more conscious and honourable when posting and reading things online.
By teaching our students to become global digital citizens we can teach them to have respect in all avenues of their lives. For example, I was talking to my friend the other day who happens to be native, and she was telling me about a time when her and her husband were running a lacrosse camp at a local private school here in Niagara when students from Australia asked her to confirm that they were Native American because they had been taught that they were extinct. Such an innocent question, but such an impactful question at the same time. By ensuring that we are teaching our students about Indigenous people from all around the world we can ensure that our students are prepared for those moments in life when they can meet these people and have true moments instead of feeling uncomfortable and asking questions that they think are innocent but can be quite offensive to the individual.
By teaching students to be able to properly self-reflect and using perspectives of other people we can teach them to be better citizens both on and offline
Childnet International does a really great job in explaining the advantages of teaching our students to have a social media presence and how to build that presence safely. I think that currently there is a lot of fear around things that are unknown so there is a tendency to avoid what we don't know or understand to avoid offending someone. If you are unsure of something ask someone for help or take a PD course, talk to your principle for understanding of what is acceptable in the class if you want to run a lesson but are unsure about it.
Remember that the world is become more and more reliant on life online and we need to ensure that we are properly prepared so that we can teach our students how to use their presence online the same way they would present themselves in public. We can teach them to brand themselves, we can teach them to speak up for what they believe in, we can teach them to uncover the biased voices behind information being presented to them, and we can teach them how to take pictures at face value and not put their self-worth on how many likes they get on their posts.
Resources:
Media Smarts lesson on alcohol in sports advertisements that are intended towards teens
Who am I is a great blog to have the students self-reflect on what their current presence is like on social media vs what they would like it to be likeJust send it is a slideshow presentation with a linked video that I use with the students to address the concepts of sexting, decision making and peer pressure and the after affects of it
I very thoroughly believe that the COVID-19 'situation' has been made much more extreme than it needed to be because it is the first pandemic that we are experiencing where social media has such an influence in our lives. When SARS and H1-N1 were pandemics that we were facing there was news coverage and we would hear all the same numbers like we are hearing about with COVID-19, however Facebook was just becoming 'a thing' and myspace was used to post pictures and music videos that we liked. There were no social justice outcries and revolts and wide-spread anti-vaxers and anti-maskers whose voices could reach such a great amount of people. I believe that it is because of the new online presence that we have socially that there has become such a divide between those who are against what is happening and those who are living in fear of what is going on. It has become a very pick a side concept based off of what the government is saying or against what these doctors are saying or against what our friends are saying and it has become really really hard to know and understand what to think because our heads have become so full of everyone else's voices.
I think that being able to take a situation like the pandemic, or a situation as was described in the video about the young girl who was getting bullied due to a picture that she had posted online and teach our students how to properly uncover what truths are the real truths and how to recognize the false truths that they are being told. For example, teaching them how to look into the background on the news stations that are providing the information and seeing who runs them, if they have governmental ties or are they independent companies? All of these background aspects that go overlooked each day are important to teach our students to they can understand the biases in what information is being presented to them.
Taking advantage of constructs and personal experiences that the students have and are experiencing is a great way to teach them how to become better citizens both online and offline. By taking current events and looking at all sides and deciphering all the behind the scenes avenues of the event will help them to become more conscious and honourable when posting and reading things online.
By teaching our students to become global digital citizens we can teach them to have respect in all avenues of their lives. For example, I was talking to my friend the other day who happens to be native, and she was telling me about a time when her and her husband were running a lacrosse camp at a local private school here in Niagara when students from Australia asked her to confirm that they were Native American because they had been taught that they were extinct. Such an innocent question, but such an impactful question at the same time. By ensuring that we are teaching our students about Indigenous people from all around the world we can ensure that our students are prepared for those moments in life when they can meet these people and have true moments instead of feeling uncomfortable and asking questions that they think are innocent but can be quite offensive to the individual.
By teaching students to be able to properly self-reflect and using perspectives of other people we can teach them to be better citizens both on and offline
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