Social Butterfly

Hey! Welcome back. I missed you. I hope your week went well. Are you ready to learn about some more tech? 

This week we are going to explore social media! My favorite. As a millennial social media pretty much runs my world. So you could say I was excited to learn more. 

Now I know some people have gotten into trouble with social media either personally or professionally. That is why I want to make a disclaimer. Social media is just that is for everyone to see and is permanent. So please be careful about what your putting out into the world. Lets me good examples for the younger generations. 

Currently my latest obsession is TikTok because its quick and fun. Who doesn't need a bit of a distraction during our current state of the world. I also am mildly obsessed with instagram. I have a personal account and teacher account that I rarely post on and always vow to be better but can't. 

Now if these make your nervous no worries we are going to look at some more classroom friendly social media sites. 

One I've recently learned about is Symbaloo. Isn't that fun to say? What is Symbaloo? Well its a space where teachers can gather web based resources and place them in one area for students to find. Here is the one I created for my drawing 1 students. 

Each little grayed out space is available for me to place another resource. I can organize them in any way I see fit. I've included videos and websites organized by project. I've also added in the middle my Google Site for my drawing 1 class along with Synergy, our grade book and where students turn work in, and office.com. We've been encouraged to get our students using their laptops more I definitely think this will come into play next school year. Oh also its so easy to use! Check out the website here. 

The next social media tool I explore was Flip Grid. I've use Flip Grid for me graduate studies and always found it intriguing. It was nice to get to actually explore it and learn how to use it as a teacher. 

What this video to find out what Flip Grid is...

I think Flip Grid is such a cool space for students to speak their mind, share thoughtful concise information, and support their peers. 

As an art teacher I think I'll be having my students share their artwork "live" on our class Flip Grid. What a great way for students to share about their work and practice their public speaking skills. 

Check out Flip Grid here.

Alright have you caught your breath? Two great social media tools huh? Well, I've got one more for you. It's called, Padlet. I think this one is my favorite. With the way school looked this last spring getting my students to connect was HARD! I wanted them to see that their peers were working and what they were creating. As an artist seeing other art work always inspires me. I was using a digital whiteboard for my students to post images of their work and add a short artist statement but, the website I was using was limiting. And for some reason some of students couldn't gain access to the site. This was frustrating for me I couldn't imagine how they felt. Well Padlet is my answer! 

Padlet is a space for students share thoughts, images, links, etc. Then whoever has access can comment other people posts. I mean where was Padlet a few months ago. 😍

Check out this video about Padlet

As someone who can be a bit shy at time Flip Grid may be a bit overwhelming. But Padlet I think hits a home run! I will for sure be using Padlet even if we aren't distance learning next year.

Go to Padlet here to get started.

Well I hope your inspired to check out some of these great social media tools for your classroom. Have a great week and stay safe!