During some of my classroom-school visits last week, I noticed the following:
A teacher was reading aloud an everybody book to her students, specifically a biography about a key historical figure from the Civil Rights era. This was happening at the end of the day, usually a pack-up-and-get-ready-to-go time.
1st graders visited a local wildlife refuge. They experienced the habitats that they had been talking and reading about for the past couple of weeks.
The entire school engaged in a "read out", where families joined their kids to read together in many common areas on school grounds. The local public library was also on hand, encouraging everyone to sign up for their summer reading challenge.
Families read with their children in the hallway during our school's read out.What do all three activities have in common? That no one beyond our school walls was aware of these learning experiences until someone shared some form of media about them online.
Blogging, social media, and other forms of digital communications are becoming a necessary part of an educator's life. It is pretty easy to do nowadays: Take a picture with a smartphone, add a caption, and post away. My goal is to get one share out a day, although lately I have been able to post only once a week.
Yes, there is risk. Risk in having strangers peer inside your school. Risk in being visible online which might allow someone to post a hurtful comment. Risk in posting content that comes across not as intended to the audience.
But isn't there also risk in allowing noneducators to make assumptions about the daily life in schools? The television shows currently out there that portray teachers, principals and students are usually not flattering, mostly archetypes to get a laugh. Pundits criticize schools as failing, knowing that the educators in those schools will most likely not respond. And if all our families have as artifacts of their child's learning consists of a few conference nights and what's in their backpacks, are we to blame society's sometimes negative views about public education?
Having a presence as a classroom and school on social media is an acceptable risk. The benefits outweigh any negatives. So what's stopping us? In my four years of sharing our school's experiences on social media, I have found any negatives to be minimal, almost nonexistent. There is risk in whatever we choose.
As you make plans for the next school year, put "digital presence" on the top of your list of goals. The minimal risk will lead to many rewards, including improved family communication, teaching students digital citizenship, and having a bevy of artifacts to support our own instruction and leadership. It's worth it.