Merriam-Webster defines social
media as “forms of electronic
communication through which users create online communities to share
information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos).” Can
the use of social media in our schools improve the home-school connection? We
think so and took part in the celebration when the district chose February 5th,
the third annual Digital Learning Day, to kick off the use of Twitter in our
schools. This microblogging tool allows administrators and teachers to connect
with the community by posting short, 140-character messages called “tweets.” In
recent years Twitter has expanded to allow photographs (and even videos) to
accompany these tweets which are being used by school communities to share the
following:
- Calendar reminders: The school year is full of important
dates. Twitter can be used to remind parents and students of athletic and
performance schedules, standardized testing dates, end of marking periods,
upcoming holidays, and school closings.
- Celebrations: The school year is also full of accomplishments
and publicly celebrating the successes of students and teachers can be
hard to do in a timely fashion. Twitter allows immediate announcements of
great achievements to the entire community.
- Helpful resources: Most parents would be happy to extend
learning beyond the school day if they had the knowledge and skills needed
to support their children. With Twitter, it’s easy to share links to
valuable web-based resources on parenting, teaching, or the content being
studied in your classrooms.
- Decisions and details: Schools and the organizations that
support them are constantly making decisions with far-reaching
implications. Using Twitter to share these decisions spreads information
quickly and makes the inner workings of your organization transparent to
everyone.
- Emergency updates: Planning communication patterns before
natural disasters or human tragedies strike is a responsible practice.
Because Twitter updates can be posted from mobile devices, they can become
a part of a comprehensive plan for easing community fears and getting
messages out to parents and support professionals in emergency situations.
FTS Superintendent, Dr. Ross Kasun, now "tweets"
regularly about happenings in the district, sharing top educational stories and
providing up-to-date information about delayed openings and/or school closings.
MWES administrators and teachers have created accounts and are sharing events
specific to the Errickson School community.
If you would like to create
an account and follow the conversation, enter the following URL in your
favorite browser http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/blogs/mazza-ptchat-guide.pdf
and view a quick and easy guide for
parents. This guide also includes an explanation of how to use the hashtag (#)
to follow "conversations" specific to topics of interest. Many of
these online personal learning networks "meet" weekly online to
"discuss" topics in depth and/or participate in question and answer
sessions. It is amazing how much you can learn from others online via links
shared or references to other experts on the subjects you find interesting!
If you have already signed up for an account with Twitter, be
sure to follow Dr. Kasun, @FTS_SuptKasun. Twitter
accounts for teachers are optional, but many MWES staff members have chosen
to add a Twitter account to the tools they employ for the home-school
connection. Listed below are some MWE
Twitter accounts you might want to follow:
Mrs. Areman @CathyAreman
Mrs. Capodanno @KinderCap1
Ms. Coronado @mwestech
Mrs. DiStefano @MrsDiStefano1
Mrs. Gassner @tekteech7
Mrs. Giglio @MWEGiglio
Mrs. Henderson
@MWES_VocalMusic
Mrs. Kane @MWESMrsKane
Mrs. Koscuk @kkoscuk
Mrs. Marcantonio @Marc5th
Miss Rohlander @MissRohlander
Mrs. Rollo @MrsRolloMWES
MWE School @MWESchool
Mrs. Pope Tucker @RPopeTucker
Mrs. Tweten @mtkinder
Mrs. Warren @MWE_Speech
Miss Zyskowski @MissZyskowski