Technology and Social Media in the Classroom

Guest Blogger: Meaghan Warren

I am currently teaching geometry in Arizona. As a teacher, your always trying to find new ways to reach your students and get them to learn. Since technology has become such a big part of this generations up bringing, I have tried to incorporate it as much as possible into my lessons. I am currently using social medias, such as facebook, a website, cell phones, computers, internet, QR codes, etc.

If you had been there when I first told my students they were going to get to use facebook in class, you would of thought I had just given them a million dollars. I am sure your thinking facebook in school? How is that productive for students? My class has a facebook page and I post daily questions where students can "vote" or submit their answer to daily review questions. I keep track of their posts. I also post critical thinking questions for homework and all the students have to do is get on and respond. If I had asked them to do it on paper, it just wouldnt be as exciting. It also gives me the chance to have them respond to each other, almost like a blog. I also post important reminders, etc. which they can see daily.

Our class also uses tools such as a website, where students can find all the resources we use in class online. It is a great tool when a student is absent and is also a great study tool. We use the internet almost everyday whether it is just looking up pictures or examples of the current content or watching youtube videos. Search for the Quadratic Formula Rap...its a good one! The kids love it because it directly relates to what they are interested in.

If you have ever taken a minute and observed teenagers at a mall, school, or anywhere for that matter there is a cell phone glued to their hand. Last year, I collected over 100 cellphones throughout the year for students texting in class. It hit me at the end of year..why not just incorporate it into the lesson? There are some great websites where you set up questions and students can text their answer. They provide great feedback for teachers. It gives you a graph of correct answers and incorrect answers and is a great tool for check for understanding. Also, there are a thousand websites where you can create QR codes. I created a QR code for a project and kids went nuts because they got to use a new app on their phone and could scan it and find their project. Never in my life have I seen so many kids so excited to do a project. So anytime you can put technology into a lesson, your bound to get some good results.