Social media comes with pros & cons just like everything else. Educators are constantly being told to teach the way students learn. If that is what we are to do, then we should use social media as a tool in our classrooms. Allowing them to use social media, provides us with all sorts of teachable moments. For example, being responsible & not bullying people on the internet can be taught. We seem to be pass the age of only teaching students knowledge. We must also teach them positive behavior such as respect, responsibility, etc. Educators have always taught positive behaviors but I think there is a more pressing need to teach these behaviors more now than ever before. What better way to do this, than to use the very technology that the students’ lives revolve around?
I think some districts are too afraid of the liability. No one can completely control the social media & that’s scary. The only thing we can do is to teach our students to respect others & be responsible. My hope is that the districts who encourage the use of social media will have more well rounded students who can demonstrate respect & responsibility. In order to do this, the districts should be supplying professional development opportunities for staff to engage and instruct students on the proper way to use social media.