Module 5 - Social Media Professional Development
Overview
Depending on who you ask, social media is either the greatest thing ever or the reason our country is going downhill.
I think social media is what you make of it. You can use it to connect with friends and family, follow news and important events, and even get in pointless arguments with random people. We can also use social media to help us develop as professionals. Social media allows us to connect with other teachers, educational researchers, organizations, government agencies, curriculum designers, and advocacy groups which can help us grow as educators. Below is a short video of how a teachers and administrators in Albemarle County Public Schools are using Twitter and Social Media to grow as educators.
In this assignment, I want you to find social media pages that you would want to follow that would allow you to connect with educators and grow as a professional. One of the #hashtags I follow on Twitter is #MTBOS which stands for Math Teacher Blogosphere. This is a hashtag used by math teachers across the country to connect with each other. They use the hashtag when asking each other questions, links to interesting articles. Below is the link to the page (I believe you have to have a Twitter account to see the page) and the screen shot from about a year ago.
Link: https://twitter.com/hashtag/MTBoS?src=hash
Don't worry about the left side of the image below, those are recommendations on who I might be interested in following which seems to be a lot of people associated with college football. I basically use twitter for college football news and math.
If you went through this feed, you would see teachers sharing and discussing ideas related to how to teach a particular concept, ideas for starting out the new school year, activities they have used, advice for dealing with difficult situations. For mathematics teachers, this is a fantastic to #hashtag to follow.
Link: https://twitter.com/hashtag/MTBoS?src=hash
Don't worry about the left side of the image below, those are recommendations on who I might be interested in following which seems to be a lot of people associated with college football. I basically use twitter for college football news and math.
If you went through this feed, you would see teachers sharing and discussing ideas related to how to teach a particular concept, ideas for starting out the new school year, activities they have used, advice for dealing with difficult situations. For mathematics teachers, this is a fantastic to #hashtag to follow.
In this assignment, I want you to locate social media pages or #hashtags that would be beneficial for your professional development. You could choose to follow popular educators, education companies, state agencies, or a network of teachers to name a few. All of these would help you grow as a professional.
You are going to locate 4 of these social media pages and write a thorough description of each. Then, you are going to look through your classmates' lists and find 4 additional social media pages or hashtags that you want to follow. I encourage you get a Twitter account if you don't have one already. I had Twitter in mind when I created this assignment, but I think it could work with Facebook and other social media platforms. I want this to be a launching point for you. Social media can really help you develop as a teacher.
You are going to locate 4 of these social media pages and write a thorough description of each. Then, you are going to look through your classmates' lists and find 4 additional social media pages or hashtags that you want to follow. I encourage you get a Twitter account if you don't have one already. I had Twitter in mind when I created this assignment, but I think it could work with Facebook and other social media platforms. I want this to be a launching point for you. Social media can really help you develop as a teacher.
To Do
Step 1:
Create a webpage in your Weebly site called “Social Media PD” within the My PD menu.
Step 2:
Locate four social media accounts or hashtags that you would want to follow as a means to develop professionally as an educator. I would consider focusing on Twitter or Facebook.
Step 3:
For each social media account or #hashtag, you need to do the following:
Step 4:
Examine your classmates’ “Social Media PD” pages. Select 4 other social media accounts or #hashtags that you want to follow. For each of these social media account or #hashtag, you need to do the following:
Step 5:
Insert a divider between each of the social media descriptions
Step 1:
Create a webpage in your Weebly site called “Social Media PD” within the My PD menu.
Step 2:
Locate four social media accounts or hashtags that you would want to follow as a means to develop professionally as an educator. I would consider focusing on Twitter or Facebook.
Step 3:
For each social media account or #hashtag, you need to do the following:
- List the title and provide a link to account or #hashtag page
- Provide a thorough description of the account including how often it is updated (daily, monthly, etc), the topics of discussion, and how you would benefit as an educator by following it.
- Include a screenshot of a recent post that illustrates your description.
Step 4:
Examine your classmates’ “Social Media PD” pages. Select 4 other social media accounts or #hashtags that you want to follow. For each of these social media account or #hashtag, you need to do the following:
- List the title and provide a link to the account or #hashtag page
- State why you want to follow this account or #hashtag
Step 5:
Insert a divider between each of the social media descriptions