The topic above may have crossed the modern-day teacher’s mind since the emergence of Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and several other social media platforms especially as it relates to the effect these platforms have on students’ learning experience. The use of social media began to slowly permeate into the classroom as students began to own connected smartphones. Social media use in education needs to be paid close attention and students fiddling on their phones during a lesson may not be that chaotic if such chaos is managed or organized to yield desirable outcomes. The ever creative creatures called teachers also need to find a way to flip this situation to their advantage. As a result of the growing relevance of social media use, questions begin to arise such as: ‘What is this peculiar thing that attracts students more than the theoretical principles of Present Perfect?’ and ‘How can an English teacher make modal verbs attractive and understandable to students?’
Teachers need to find ways to keep their students’ interest to the lessons raised at all times. Trust me, it’s not easy being a teacher. It makes you question a lot of things, like parenthood and alcoholism, the resentment of the first and the elation that the second brings after a hard day at work; but it also makes you feel alive and challenged because of the people that you get to interact with each day, the ideas they bring and share with you and their peers, and the way they look at you when you teach them something new. Teaching needs to be innovative. You need to be knowledgeable of course, but you need to constantly find new ways to keep your lessons vivid. You need to be full of energy and be on the lookout for the new trends that your student adore using. Sounds familiar? If so, then you are a teacher looking to expand your repertoire by incorporating social media in your teaching routine.
Here are some ways that you can use social media in your classroom to get your students crave your next lesson (I may be exaggerating, but you get my drift!):
As you may have guessed, this article only scratched the surface of what you can do with social media in your classroom. There are so much more to be done like collaborating with other schools both within the community and beyond, classrooms, students, teachers; promoting creative work or a cause that the classroom cares about. Ensure you use it to teach students about the world through authentic material, and more. Above all, be creative!
Image credits
Photo by Santi Vedrí on Unsplash
Emem Etim is an impact-driven research and project coordinator, demonstrating her creative and analytical skills in the implementation of development-focused projects across Africa. She also possesses experience in business development and graphic design, ensuring that all her talents are utilised. When she is not working, you will find her hidden in a book, dancing to good music or living her best life traveling!
