543: Social Networking for Teaching and Learning

While researching ways that educators have been using social media in the classroom, I learned quite a bit.  My tunnel vision of social media in the classroom made me think that other teachers were just using Twitter to tweet with other classrooms.  Teachers are doing this in a creative way, and they are also adding authentic context to activities that would not be possible without the use of social media.  This project has really inspired me to take many of these ideas and implement them in my own classroom.

Twitter is being used for writing lessons, science lessons, geography lessons, math lessons, connecting with other classes, connecting with experts, and connecting with teachers to challenge students.  Skype is being used to connect students with writing groups, author visits, field trips, and interviews.  Facebook is being used to do character studies, communicate with students, and have students collaborate with each other.  Blogs are being used for students to raise awareness of issues and circulate petitions, writing assignments, and sharing student learning with the world.  The possibilities are endless.

Here is my Pearltrees page of the resources that I found.  I added my curation in the comments section.

Social Media in the Classroom, by amymitchell136