Week 3 - Blog Posting #5 -Social Media

I use social media constantly. I personally use different social media assets to keep in touch with friends, family, and colleagues. I find it incredible that I can sign onto a website and instantly know the most important things in hundreds of my friends lives. I still love talking on the phone, but I would be on the phone for hour and hours a day trying to keep up with everyone I am friends with on Facebook. If I only talked to each friend for five minutes, I would still be on the phone for 11 hours a day.

Does social media have a place in education?
I really think it does. All my students talk about Facebook and MySpace and how much time they spend look at others pages. Why couldn’t a teacher have a page for their classroom? The site could have homework and tests posted to remind students. Teacher could also record their lessons and post videos so students could review information talked about in class.

It would also be great to have all my parents as followers on my twitter account. They would be notified about upcoming events and classroom plans. We would save paper by not having to send home notices and the parents would actually get everything.

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2009/09/08/is-this-the-future-of-music-education/

I found this YouTube video teaching students how to play Au Clair de la Lune. This just shows how students can learn numerous things with even being in a classroom.

In my middle school classes, I teach my students piano. With growing class sizes I feel I am becoming less effective. I have often thought of making videos that review each song. The students go at their own pace, so it is very difficult for me to show the whole class important tips for each song. I recently received two student computers in my class, so I plan to start recording these types of videos so the students can go to the computer and watch it before they start so they will not be making simple mistakes.

This last video is a fun explanation of social media. I hope you have thought of some great ideas of using social media in your classroom, I know I have.