Addressing Twitter concerns...

I am often asked about social media’s role in education, Twitter in particular. These questions are often brought about by parent concerns, which often mirror the initial concerns of teachers.

When addressing parent concerns I approach it just as I do with teachers:

1. concerns are normal
2. I’m happy we are discussing concerns as opposed to flat out rejecting the concept
3. concerns are a learning process for me as much as for those bringing them to me, as they help me reflect on my practice as well as see what I do through an external lens

I have written many things in the past about social media in schools but there are always new questions that aren’t addressed by old posts.

This post looks at the two most recent concerns I’ve received:

1. There is a time stamp if you follow it. One can piece together a class schedule.
2. Why are teachers stopping instruction to take photos?

Let me address each of these one at a time…

Tweeters @HeathcoteSchool!

I think it is important to promote, and celebrate colleagues. Especially when they step out of their comfort zone and embrace new challenges.

When I joined the staff at Heathcote Elementary School last year only a handful of teachers had Twitter accounts. And those that had accounts used them mostly for tweeting a picture of the whiteboard with the homework written on it.

When I interviewed for the job I expressed my passion for Twitter in schools and I was given full support by our principal, Ms. Stile, to push it as a school-wide initiative.

And my new colleagues were awesome. They jumped in full force.

A reflection & look ahead

As the 2015-2016 school year rapidly approaches I realize I neglected to post a few things at the end of the year. The first being a Capstone recap, which I am working on. The second, a reflection.

This is a quick look back on 2014-2015 as the sun sets on summer and dawn of a new school year approaches...

Spring Update

It has been many moons since the HeathcoteTech blog has been updated. And that is a good thing!

The lab has been cranking. Students are in most hours of the day. iPads are being checked out, MacBooks are being borrowed, Chromebooks are running full steam. It's been a great few months, students learning and creating amazing things.

Here is a quick rundown of what's been going on in the lab since February:

Updates to HeathcoteTech!

As you can see HeathcoteTech has been updated!

• The page color scheme has changed to better align with the school colors (big thanks to Mrs. Mangan and the Heathcote Herald for visual inspiration)
• HeathcoteTech is now on Google Plus! The content on the Google+ page will mirror this blog, but since some people prefer Google+ as their news and information source, you can now access HeathcoteTech on both platforms
• HeathcoteTech has a YouTube channel! Resource and tutorial vidos will be corss posted here and on the YouTube channel

I hope these updates will help make HeathcoteTech more useful and user-friendly.

Thanks!

Twitter @Heathcote - Embracing social media & addressing concerns

I've written a few posts over the last week about how we will be using Twitter here at Heathcote.

• A primer
• Our hashtag

I also wanted to put up a post addressing the two most obvious sides of the same coin, the benefits and concerns.

Social media at Heathcote

Yesterday at the faculty meeting I mentioned my love of social media in education.

I have written a few blog posts about how we used social media in my previous school. I will be writing new posts here, on HeathcoteTech, about best practices and the great successes of our social media use. In the meantime feel free to read some of the previous things I've written:

• Why tweet in Kindergarten? Ask @mariacamastro
• We tweet @PS10Brooklyn. A lot.
• Social media in our K-5 school
• My students do my tweeting
• Twitter @PS10Brooklyn - our hashtags

All of the above posts and more here: http://thecasalos.blogspot.com/search/label/twitter


Let me know if you have any questions. I'm excited to get all of Heathcote sharing our successes with the world and demystifying social media alongside our students....