Instagram and Vine...

Instagram

I have been an Instagram user for about a year and a half, and I love it. I joined the site because I was an 8th grade Sunday School teacher, and my girls basically told me I was loser for not being on it! Haha. They were right. :) It is so true that many of the younger generation has left Facebook and moved to other social media sites, like Instagram. I use them together...whenever I want to post a single picture to Facebook, I do it in Instagram so that I can crop it and edit it, and then I share on Facebook simultaneously. I love it! This allows my friends on both sites to see it without twice the work. Here are some recent pics of my family that I have posted....








I had never thought of using Instagram in the classroom, but the articles that we were sent to gave some great ideas! Here are the ideas that I like the most:

1. Providing an image on Instagram as a writing prompt
2. Students posting images of ecosystems for science class
3. Showcase student work/artwork
4. Feature a student of the week
5. Field trip memories
6. Imagine what a favorite character would post
7. Share reading recommendations
8. ABC Scavenger Hunt (or any scavenger hunt for that matter!)

These are all great ideas, and I look forward to trying them! I do think it is important to set up a new Instagram account for the classroom and have students use it only. The privacy settings should be set to very secure and all students and parents should have access to view and post of the feed. There will definitely be some security measures to think through to make Instagram doable for the classroom, but that is a challenge that I am OK with! 

Vine

Here are some fun Vine videos that I made this evening at home...

This about sums up tummy time:


My super star 3 year old:


Sweet brothers:


Here are my favorite ideas of how to use Vine in the classroom:

1. Creating videos for the class to watch and then make inferences based on the videos
2. Recreating scenes from books that the class is reading (or maybe making a book trailer to get classmates to read their favorite book)
3. Helping students to memorize important concepts (repetition is key!)

I think students would LOVE using Vine because they can be creative! And what students doesn't love seeing themself on the screen?! I think this is an excellent way to integrate technology and engage students in the classroom activity.

Loved this assignment. :)