Tear Down This Firewall: Using Social Media To Engage Students & Parents

Mercer Hall & Patricia RussacBuckley Country Day School

theASIDEblog.blogspot.com [email protected]

@theASIDEblog

Tear Down This Firewall:

Using Social Media To Engage Students & Parents

NYSCATE 2015

Monday, November 23, 2015

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The contemporary world is flooded with social interfaces

Sources: http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/files/2013/01/social-world.png http://www.digithun.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/the-world-of-social-media-2011-to-2012-1.jpg http://dcustom.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/d-custom-friday-five-visual-world.jpg

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Conversation:

Do you use social media

with students?

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Media interactions are relevant & constantly changing

Source: http://www.fredcavazza.net/files/2015/05/Social-media-landscape-2015.png

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Social media & devices: A “Them vs. Us” mentality?• Make

• Share• Respond

Source: http://blog.iavm.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/social-media.jpg

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Language and communication have returned to symbolic texts and now to even more writing

Shakespeare, The Bible

Sumer, Cuneiform iPhones, Emoji

600 B.C. 2015 A.D. ? A.D.

Shared writing

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The Social Age is where agility counts:

Source: Julian Stodd; https://julianstodd.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/learning-and-working-in-the-socialage-starting-the-journey/

The ability to create meaning & take transformative action - Julian Stodd

“…this is a time to examine hereditary notions of authority and power, brand and identify and reconsider where we stand.”

Source: Julian Stodd, Learning And Working In The #SocialAge

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What are the “real” lives of our students?

Sources: Alice Keeler; Sylvia Duckworth

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Are schools blocking out the real world?

Source: http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2012/06/13/03bits_privacy.h05.html; http://www.screenagr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/firewall.png

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“Are School Internet Filters the Forgotten Equity Battleground?”

Are school firewalls based on myths? Do they deny access & increase

inequality?Source: Katrina Schwartz: http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/09/30/are-school-internet-filters-the-forgotten-equity-battleground/

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1995 vs. 2015: Technology as input + output

Source: ClassicPics

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The more “school life” feels less like “real life,” the more students will view school as irrelevant and disconnected from their daily lives and their futuresSource: Alan November

Do kids view us as relevant?

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© ASIDE 2015Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/c-m-rubin/the-global-search-for-edu_b_8367918.html

Learning is not hereditary

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Do we honestly believe that social media is not – and should not be – a part of students’ lives?

Source: @theASIDEblog

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How do we as adults want to learn?

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The “middle man” has disappeared

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Are we still in a “Web 2.0” mentality?

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“Ownership” is out

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Thinking, sharing & creating are not linear

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ContextFraming

InformationPerspectiveQuestioning

Problem-solving

Skills from social media:

Image Source: https://huskfw.info/uploads/images/pacman-firewall.png

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Schools are buildings, not constraints

Source: Digital Humanities; http://digitalhumanities.strikingly.com/

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Social media emphasizes genuine skills & practice


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Twitter• Evening chats for essay evidence• Group study sessions• Publishing of work for students & parents• High quality commenting• Pre-teaching predictions• Field trip communication & reflection• Sharing educational resources with

students & parents – transparency of process

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Twitter @BCDS_History_56@BCDS_History_78

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Commenting = feedback, dialogue, & inquiry

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Social Media is a powerful – and natural – tool for differentiation

Source: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-social-media-tools-john-mccarthy

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Social media enhances skills already taught


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Vine

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Wait for it… wait for it… or is it instant?


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Tumblr

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Collaborative consumption is a process


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Padlet

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Everyone is a facilitator & a curator


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Pinterest

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Social media is not the culprit

Thank You!

Education

Tear Down This Firewall: Using Social Media To Engage Students & Parents