Social Media for Toddlers

Edutopia has an article on using social media, like Twitter and other similar sources, with toddlers and young elementary students.  My immediate thoughts when I began to read this article were "kids need to get outside and play instead of spending so much time on computers." and "Why in the world would a toddler need social media?".  However, after reading further I started to change my mind set. The author suggests that when I was young I was taught proper social etiquette - how to write a friendly letter, a thank you note, and how to speak to someone on the phone properly. It really is the same type of thing, just a different format.  Kids do need to learn how to use social media correctly.  I skype with my 6 year old nieces all the time.  I watch my sister teach them proper socialization skills, even via skype.  Yesterday I even got an e-mail with videos of one of my nieces who has been creating video tutorials.  I am amazed at how much they know how to do.  They are going into 1st grade and can almost do everything that I am teaching my 7th graders how to do in computers class.  If their teachers don't keep up on using technology in their classrooms, I worry that my nieces will become bored.

Teaching Toddlers to Tweet? Introducing Social Media to Elementary Students.

QR for quick reference

On the World History Teachers blog that I follow on my Google Reader, there is a tutorial on how to use QR codes for the classroom.  I think this is awesome!  My students would love this!  And, it seems pretty easy to use. Websites, YouTube videos, Google Maps, and more can be given a QR code to be downloaded and used on any document handed out in class.  My 7th grade computers class creates a school newspaper so I immediately thought about how we could incorporate QR codes into our printed newspaper.  I love the idea that the school newspaper is interactive. I am excited to use this next year in my classroom, both for my students on assignments and for my computers class to create their own.

Here is the tutorial:

Braves in DC

This past week was spent with 28 8th graders from my school touring Washington, D.C. I started a blog for parents to follow and linked it to our schools web page. I figured some of you may be interested in viewing what I have been up to! I had a wonderful experience and am so thankful I had this opportunity.
Our school mascot is a "Brave" so it is called "Being Brave in Washington, D.C."

bravesindc.blogspot.com

Fact Pyramid

My school has been working hard to switch to the common core standards for the past year or so. For social studies we really need to focus on primary source documents and non-fiction reading. I am lucky that my textbook includes a lot of primary source documents, but I am always looking for more to use in my classroom. Sometimes it can be difficult to know how to analyze these documents and really stress the importance.  This week one of my favorite blogs, History Tech, posted something that I can see is extremely useful for primary source and non-fiction reading sources. It's called "Fact Pyramid, Because Box" and asks students to evaluate, analyze, and rank 4 pieces within the document in the form of a pyramid. Then students are required to use the "because box" to back up their opinion. I am super excited to use this next year. If you are interested as well, check out this post:
Fact Pyramid, Because Box

United States Capitol

Twitterverse

After reading chapter 6, going on a technology tour to neighboring school districts, and reading articles about how twitter can be useful in the classroom, I am starting to brainstorm some ideas for my own room.  I have these little sheets of paper that I printed at the beginning of the year that were for "twitter" posts. I used these as tickets out the door. The kids had to write something they learned that day in class in 140 characters. None of my students even knew what twitter was so I actually had to teach them about it. Since my kids are so young and unaware of different types of social media, I worry about incorporating it into my classroom.

Rant of the day....

Ok, I have to rant a bit.....I love technology and I love having my students use it in the classroom, but today something happened that really irked me.  I have my students in the computer lab creating a Glogster on the Inca civilization.  I have two student computers right next to my teacher computer and today one student, who was sitting directly next to me, e-mailed me a question she had about her project!  I couldn't believe it!  She really couldn't have even raised her hand or turned to me and asked?  It blew my mind! Are the days of oral communication over?  I am concerned about these kids being able to properly socialize with one another. Sometimes I just want to take a break from teaching social studies and teach my students some social skills.