Parents and social media don’t always get along. Your child’s school might be starting to incorporate social media into their homework assignments, the way they access certain readings, or might even be giving them projects to do with social media.
Social media is inevitable in this day and age. Whether you like it or not, your child is going to be introduced to it and asked to encounter it in one way or another.
Schools have come up with ways to show parents that social media can be safe and instrumental to your child’s education. You might realize that on the school website, the district might have a Twitter, Facebook page, or even an Instagram to showcase events and to keep people up-to-date.
Some teachers might even ask students to use social media for academic homework. This allows parents to see productive use of social media platforms. These assignments could be posting on Twitter about a subject using the character limits, or even taking on the persona of a character from a story and posting on Instagram or Twitter from their perspective. This helps with writing, creativity, typing, but also communicating online. This is the digital age and schools know that and want to give students all the skills they need to be successful in life.
As parents, social media can be a scary thing to let your children use. Some schools have started an acceptable-use policy regarding social media to show that they are on top of how social media is used in schools. This is in hopes that students will take those same lessons home.
Teachers might ask parents to use social media to share links with the school and other parents about resources for students regarding academic work, college preparation or other goals. By incorporating parents into social media use for education, it can become easier to allow their children to use.
Parents might be more comfortable with social media if it directly involved their children’s successes. Some teachers have a class Instagram or Facebook page where they update what the class is working on, or to showcase student work. This is a way for parents to interact and get used to the idea of allowing their children to inch their way onto social media platforms so that they can see their accomplishments online, as well.
Schools have begun encouraging two-way communication with schools over social media. Schools announce school closings and delays on social media, sometimes before it even shows up on your TV screen. This is the change in the world. Everyone needs information faster and schools recognize that, which is why they are choosing to incorporate social media into students’ lives the way that they are.
Hopefully this helps you understand the need for children to learn the importance of social media in today’s world.
These tips and tricks come from Ronald Williamson and Howard Johnston’s book “The School Leader’s Guide to Social Media”.