Education and Social Media

Most everyone participates in some type of social media these days—even my mother-in-law has a Facebook page, and she’s in her 70s!  And I would be willing to say that these people have a love-hate relationship with social media.  Personally, I joined Facebook as a means to keep in touch with friends and family that live in other cities and states.   That’s the “love” aspect of it—being able to talk to people we don’t get to see that often, seeing pictures and funny posts.  Now to the “hate” aspect of social media—and we’ve all been there!    We either read a status update that makes us angry, or post a status to relieve stress.  Either way, it starts a posting frenzy where everyone feels their OPINION is correct.

I could say this is true for almost any post I read about Common Core Standards.  They typically make me angry.  I have many friends that post their frustrations with Common Core due to how their child is being taught math.  Below is a screen shot of a conversation that took place on one of my personal friend's Facebook page.  

I began a reply, but decided not to comment.  There was some strong language used, and I knew that anything they said would only make me angry, which is silly because all of their comments simply come from a lack of understanding.  No one has explained the "Common Core" process to them, so naturally they are frustrated.  The reoccurring complaint seems to be the number of steps and/or ways to complete a math problem.  Parents want to know why they can’t “just solve it”.  I have to constantly remind myself that their frustrations are due to a lack of knowledge about Common Core.  They hear what other people are saying, and haven’t talked to teachers themselves.  I once commented on a post to explain that students are asked to show all the steps of a math problem because we want the students to understand the “WHY” of math, not just the “HOW”.  I continued to explain that they would learn the algorithm—what they refer to as the “traditional way”—eventually.  Just as there are fundamentals in sports, there are fundamentals in math.  You must learn and understand the fundamentals before you can move on.

This school year, I had a parent ask me if we teach Common Core math.  Once I clarified what she was specifically asking about, I explained to her that we are simply teaching them problem solving strategies.  For example, when adding two digit numbers, we break the numbers apart into tens and ones.  Add the tens, add the ones, and then add them back together.  She said, “Well that makes sense!” 

And as for the question of “Why do they teach them 15 different ways to solve the problem?” there is a simple answer.  Education has evolved.  We, as educators, have discovered that students learn in more ways than one, and we do our best to accommodate students’ needs.  I believe I remember the complaint “What difference does it make how they do it, if they get the right answer?” when I was in elementary school. 

Parents simply want what is best for their kids.  As a parent and a teacher I can use social media to help parents understand the “hows and whys” of my teaching style.  As a professional, when I enter a conversation I should “analyze, discern, inform, and participate” (Hicks, 2012, pg. 144).  As stated in chapter 7 of Crafting Digital Writing, “social network posts are often first draft thinking in final draft form” (Hicks, 2012, pg. 147).  One must take care in what words they use, as well as complete any revising and editing before the message is sent.  Hicks also states that social media provides us with opportunities to produce content for wider audiences; therefore, the ability to reach more people (Hicks, 2012, pg. 154).  Perhaps we can find yet another positive method to use social media—as a way to extend our classrooms to the outside world.  

For more information on how to use social media in the classroom, visit edutopia and check out the article A Guidebook for Social Media in the Classroom.  The University of Phoenix also published an article How Teachers Can Use Social Media in the Classroom.  PBS discusses the pros and cons of social media in the classroom in the article Should Teachers be Using Social Media in the Classroom.

References:

Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media and genres.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Audio & Video Texts

This module has brought new meaning to feeling like “a fish out of water”.  I have always thought that people who can film, edit, and mix video to create a “movie” are gifted!  I was beyond intimidated by this assignment!

After reading through the suggestions for crafting audio/video texts using the MAPS heuristic (Hicks, 2012, pg. 111), I had so many ideas about how to edit my introduction video.  I wanted to add music, still photos, and text.  I began sketching out some of my ideas on paper, as also suggested in the text, and I began to worry that the project was becoming more involved than I had originally intended. 

For one, I had difficulty finding a program that would let me “slide in” photos over the video I already had recorded.  I know they exist, but I just do not feel like I have the knowledge to find and operate them.  Audio/Video crafting is new to me, and I know that I need to start slow to avoid becoming overwhelmed and frustrated with the project.  Also, I want to use a program that I could possibly use with my students, and since I teach second grade, I know that I need to keep it simple. 

I decided to use the program Stupeflix.  I chose this program for several reasons.

1.      It’s free!  There are only two free templates to choose from, but there are options to upgrade.

2.      It allows you to create “movies” using a combination of photos and videos.

3.      It allows you to add music and text.  You can browse the music in their library which helps with any copyright issues. 

4.      It puts it all together for you—complete with transitions and effects!

5.      It was amazingly user friendly!  I definitely think my students could use it.

In order to create the effect I wanted with a combination of photos and video, I decided to rerecord my video in segments that I could align with the photos.  They are not shown simultaneously, but I think it makes a unique effect.  When I originally recorded my video segments, I used my iPad and saved them to my documents in order to upload to Stupeflix.  Unfortunately, the files were too large to upload, and I had to rerecord the segments using my webcam.  The quality of the video segments recorded with my webcam was not nearly as clear and bright as those recorded with my iPad.  I was not happy with the lighting of the fourth segment, and the audio was not aligned in the first segment. I also had to edit the music effects.  You simply click the edit button on the music/soundtrack drop-down, and you can tell the music/audio to play lower, so it will play behind your video recording.  You can also loop the music to adjust to your video time.

Although I feel more comfortable with audio/video crafting, I am still learning.  I have used audio apps in my classroom for students to record themselves reading and listen to the playback to practice fluency, but I would like to learn more about other audio/video programs.   The counselor uses the 

imovie app to record our school’s morning program.  She says it is simple to use, and you can also download a pcversion, but I haven’t tried it yet.  Perhaps, next time I will try an app for the students to use.

I hope you enjoy my video!

References: 

Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media and genres.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.