Infusing Social Media

Using an already established lesson on characters, setting, and major events in a story, I plan to integrate social networking into the assignment. In this revamped lesson, students will be expected to reenact these pieces to the story as a team. They will need to show an understand of characters, setting and major events. Through the use of an app called Days students will take photos of their team, infuse them into the app, tell about the pictures in sequence of events, and provide a reaction to what happened. When they are complete they will share the lesson on Twitter, so other students and parents can view the material.

Here is the original lesson:

Now let’s take a look at Days as I explain some of the features and how I would integrate Social Media into this lesson as an extension activity.

First, you see the sequence of photos taken using the mobile device with day and timestamps. If you were to click on the pictures you have the option of adding comments. This is where students would add text about their character, setting, and major events from the story. They would be expected to have one picture representing characters, a picture of setting, and three major events from the story (beginning, middle and end). In the upper most corner you see the post feature. As I click on it, you will see the result in the photo below. 

Here I have the option of posting to three various Social Media outlets. I've linked our class Twitter to the app, so that I can share the post. This way not only parents, but other students can easily access the learning as they check their Twitter feed. They are encouraged to comment and give feedback on students work at this time.  

This is how the digital story looks when posted to Twitter. Slide 1...

Slide 2...

Slide 3

In this example, you see how clicking on a picture allows you to comment on the post. This is where students have an authentic opportunity to communicatie and collaborate with their peers. 

Days is a great way for teachers to have students tell digital stories or keep a digital journal about their day. The content can be easily added to Twitter and shared with others. I plan to use this tool during literacy time, plus Today's Meet as a way for students to have backchannel communication. While staying to the 10-2 rule, I can ensure students have an opportunity to collaborate with their peers and synthesize their learning. 

Creating a space for your class to communicate is as easy as this. No need for logins or passwords and the information can be kept for 2 hours or up to a month.

Pose a question and students begin typing their responses. A bonus is you can encourage students to stay within the character limit to be clear and to the point in their writing.