One of the biggest of the challenges I face when using social media platforms for enhancing the learning for my new entrant students are that they are not yet self-managing in using applications that require steps to be followed, eg. posting to blogs. So a considerable amount of adult input is required. In the past, I have had a class blog which ends up being a space that I as the class teacher initiate and contribute most of the content to. Which is not how I envisioned it to work. I also have struggled with engaging parents to contribute to our blog. I have tried many strategies to share the blog and encouraged children to share their work at home via the blog. Ideally, I would like parents and other children and schools to contribute to our blog so that my students can see how global networks can connect with them. A big part of my work with children and using social media platforms is in educating them how to be safe. As a school we use Hector's World to support this learning, I find the stories helpful for the students and that they need to be revisited frequently to remind the children of safe practices. I also model with the children how to be safe online and I talk through what I am doing at times with students to individualise this learning if specific students need further support. As a teacher of new entrants,I am acutely aware that I am setting the foundation for our students as they move through our school and the world of connected learning.
I use a number of different platforms of social media to enhance my own professional development. One of the platforms I use is the teacher's facebook page which is an interesting social media platform with a highly variable degrees of quality and quantity of professional learning. I find that I constantly have to delve further into some of the content posted to this page as much of it can end up being opinion and not backed up with any relevant research or facts. There are times when you can stumble upon some quality learning or threads of discussions that lead you to people who can support your own inquiry and professional learning. The VLN is a platform that I dived into probably not long after it was created and I found it rather clunky and hard to navigate. Since then improvements have been made and it is a platform that I need to re-engage with to connect with New Zealand educators in a more purposeful way due to the specific nature of the threads created on this platform. I was interested to see how Kathy Cassidy (tvoparents, 2013) used twitter with her class and how connected they were with the world as I have struggled with this concept with the 5 year olds I teach. I myself struggle with using twitter for professional learning yet I can see how easy it is for these children to connect. I wonder if my circles are not yet big enough for me to see the benefits of twitter as a tool for professional learning. My work completing this mindlab course has given me a renewed energy for professional learning. The online component has worked well for me as an educator with a busy work life and family. It has shown me how I can learn and connect with fellow mindlabers using google+ and via blogs. Now to work on the time management side of life so online interactions don’t consume me.
References
Tvoparents. (2013, May 21). Using Social Media in the Classroom.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZStaz8Rno
I am also a new entrant teacher and I can relate to your comments about "that they are not yet self-managing in using applications that require steps to be followed". With younger children I find it a struggle to get them to independently manage such applications, especially when they arrive at school with such a range in skill sets. Therefore, I too, direct many of the IT applications and activities. I agree that at this age, it is important to set these children up to be safe online users. We too, have used Hector's world and think it is appropriate for this age group.
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