Week 3 Review: Telling the Truth about Teens - Everything is Social Media by Carl Hooker
Carl Hooker, Director of Innovation and Digital Learning in the Eanes Independent School District, writes insightful posts about classroom technology integration on his blog HookED on INNOVATION. In a post on April 5, 2016, he addressed the idea of social media through a post titles Telling the Truth About Teens- Everything is Social Media. He goes through the detailed steps of how he approached this topic in his own classroom through three "challenges" and encourages other teachers to have similar conversations with their students.
2-minute challenge
Through challenging his students to name as many social media platforms as they could in two minutes, Mr. Hooker observed that even with such a short amount of time, the students are capable of rationalizing what makes something "social media." Even things like Amazon could possibly be considered social due to the nature of the comment section and ability to interact with companies and customers. Based on the definition of social media....
...technically anything with a comments section could be social media. In his post, Mr. Hooker included the following satirical video shared by Wesley Fry (author of my Week 2 Review). While it is made as a joke, the logic behind the video is founded in truth. See what you think!
If you are interested in reading about a more factual reason teens are moving away from using Facebook, you can find a Guardian article here that talks about this trend.
Agree/Disagree Challenge
Students revealed a lot about the difference between their perceptions and reality when judging whether they agreed or disagreed with four statements regarding technology. Their results give important insight as to how our students feel about technology.
Google Yourself Challenge
The third and final challenge was to have the students "google themselves" to see what kind of media presence they really have on the internet. Many students admitted to Google searching their teachers and even their parents. With all of this information at our fingertips, Mr. Hooker challenged his students to think of ways to improve their online profile and "use social media for good."
Here is a good USA Today article on why you should Google yourself if you haven't already.
Here is a good USA Today article on why you should Google yourself if you haven't already.
What should I do as a teacher?
Social media is an inescapable part of our students' lives (and ours too!). We have to be conscious of the challenges that they face as technology advances and it is our responsibility to equip them with the tools and knowledge to make the best decisions for their future. HookED on INNOVATION has some great resources about innovation in the classroom that can be used by teachers and administrators. It is important for schools to have these conversations with students and parents, as they move together to understand the ways that technology changes our interactions and communication.
Don't tell kids what they should be doing...ask kids what they think they should be doing." |
If you would like to see more from
Mr. Hooker and HookED on INNOVATION: |