Until recently, using social media in the classroom wasn’t very appealing to me. When I thought about social media, only Facebook or Myspace came to mind. The lack of appeal came from my lack of appropriate resources to use. After much research and reading I discovered the variety of educational social media sights available to me! My biggest concern regarding social media use was the lack of safety and monitoring ability on Facebook. Education based social media sites like Edmodo are safe and effective. Edmodo has some appealing aspects such as a setup similar to Facebook. This provides familiarity for students and links it to something kids are already familiar with. Edmodo is a great way to connect with students and parents about school work. Students can ask questions of the teacher and other classmates. It serves as a central place to post assignments and projects and just collaborate in general.

Here are 20 ways to use Edmodo in the classroom: https://support.edmodo.com/home#entries/21720784-20-ways-to-use-edmodo-teacher

Blogging has multiple benefits to students both in and out of the classroom. One major benefit of student blogging is literacy in reading and writing. As young writers, students have a much larger (and global) audience. This pushes students to clearly articulate their thoughts to appeal to their readers. A second great benefit of starting a class blog is the global connection. Through the internet, students are able to branch out of the classroom to interact with students all over the world. By doing this, they are introduced to different cultures, languages, and people. Internet safety is a third benefit of blogging. Using a classroom blog automatically means students will need to learn safe blogging. Many other subjects and skills are integrated into classroom blogging like math, teamwork, community,  technology skills, social skills, and confidence. My goal is to create a blog for my classroom as a way to teach valuable skills to my students.

Below is a link on how to start a classroom blog:

http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2012/08/09/five-steps-to-starting-a-class-blog/