Media Studies Blog Post

An excellent resource I have found on the cool cat teacher website is called 10 Cool Ways Teachers Can Use Social Media to Enhance Learning. The resource goes on to give ten examples that teachers can use social media both inside and outside of the classroom to get their students motivated and interested in their learning experience. The article describes how students are no longer working for the teacher’s wastebasket but rather connecting and sharing like never before. Social media does not have to be a negative aspect of learning but can be seen as safe and a means of enhancing student’s learning. http://www.coolcatteacher.com/10-amazing-ways-teachers-have-used-social-media-to-enhance-learning/

Retrieved from: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/10-amazing-ways-teachers-have-used-social-media-to-enhance-learning/

The resource relates to the principles for Media Studies outlined in the curriculum by including media texts containing images, words, and sounds in electronic form to communicate ideas and information to an audience. Media studies explores the impact and influence of mass media and popular culture by examining texts such as film, songs, tweets, and online posts. Students have the opportunity to share information online and create graphics through these resources.

Retrieved from: www.dribble.com

Some of the examples of great ideas that teachers have shared on the resource are Michael Haye’s 9’oclock Science Challenge on Facebook where he challenges his students every night with a science question and the students comment with their solutions. The next day the teacher gives out prizes to the students who answered correctly.

Another example is Lake Brantley High school’s To Be Kind movement they have started on Instagram. The school has come up with a program to encourage kindness in response to bullying that may be occurring not only at school but in the community as well. The movement is seen as a way to stop bullying out of schools and teaching them to spread the kindness.    

Lastly is Kevin Jarett’s STEM Lab Projects and Capstones where the teacher encourages the students to use design thinking and combine it with empathy.  The students have a teacher named Miss Cindy in their school who uses a guide dog to get around and they challenged themselves to look for ways they can use design thinking to get Miss Cindy around more easily at school. Not only do the students learn more about her condition but also they become more empathetic. What a great idea to combine math and science with socio-emotional learning.

In my teaching placement school, my grade eight class has come up with a great way to use social media in the classroom to enhance learning. The students are in a French immersion classroom and learning about culture is important. The students have a scare crow named Gaston who is visiting from France and each week one student takes Gaston home and lets him experience the culture of Canada more specifically Toronto and the GTA. The students tweet in French for example the students post a picture of Gaston at Tim Hortons with the caption “My first time trying Donuts and Tim Hortons, I think I prefer these to the croissants we have back home”. The project is a great way for students to practice their French and get excited about their learning.

Social Media does not have to be as negative as it is perceived but in fact an excellent tool that students and teachers can use to get students encouraged about their learning. Students no longer want to sit in a class room and listen to a teacher read straight from a textbook for eight hours of the day. Students want to get connected and share their bright ideas with their classmates and the rest of the world. Social media is the tool of the future for the students of today.