I have a few different articles that I've read recently that all talk about the same thing: Instagram and how different educators are using it to create positive learning experiences for students. I'm also working on creating an Instagram Project that is in a similar vein with these articles that I will share once I have a larger gallery to share. The first article is about a pair of teachers who are using Instagram as a way to get their students to collaborate from one continent to another. Their activity is similar to many different vocabulary activities where students are challenged to match a visual image with the new vocabulary except in this case students are taking the photos, putting them up on Instagram and then tagging them |
with hashtags that correspond to the word, the month and the class. The simple use of Instagram transforms a fairly basic teaching strategy into something that is innately collaborative, creative, and fun. This also turns the student's phones from something that is often unwelcome in the classroom into a valuable teaching tool. What I feel is truly great about this idea is that it is tapping into something that students already love to do. Students enjoy taking pictures and using Instagram in this manner helps create a streamlined way to get students thinking about content, actively learning, sharing with a global community and get the photos somewhere the teacher can see them and assess.
The next article I came across was an Instagram Scavenger Hunt where a teacher who was planning on sending students on a field trip used Instagram in order to document the students' participation in the field trip. The students were visiting Chinatown following a unit spent reading Joy Luck Club. I won't be likely to have students reading literature and visiting pertinent locales in my content area. However, one place where I currently struggle in my subject area is getting students to recognize that chemistry is all around them. I think that it would be awesome to have students take pictures during a unit on phase change of various liquids, solids and gases or during a unit on ionic, covalent and metallic bonding to have students take pictures of substances that have those types of bonding.
The last article that I recently read through that was Instagram-related was the article 3 Ways Colleges Use Instagram. My biggest takeaway from this article was that Colleges are using Instagram to get students excited about coming to their campus (by showing pictures of campus and campus life) and using Instagram to reach out to past students to keep them involved. I think it might be neat to use Instagram as a way to start building interest and rapport with students by having them follow me before they start summer vacation and then using Instagram to continue to challenge and interest past students.
The next article I came across was an Instagram Scavenger Hunt where a teacher who was planning on sending students on a field trip used Instagram in order to document the students' participation in the field trip. The students were visiting Chinatown following a unit spent reading Joy Luck Club. I won't be likely to have students reading literature and visiting pertinent locales in my content area. However, one place where I currently struggle in my subject area is getting students to recognize that chemistry is all around them. I think that it would be awesome to have students take pictures during a unit on phase change of various liquids, solids and gases or during a unit on ionic, covalent and metallic bonding to have students take pictures of substances that have those types of bonding.
The last article that I recently read through that was Instagram-related was the article 3 Ways Colleges Use Instagram. My biggest takeaway from this article was that Colleges are using Instagram to get students excited about coming to their campus (by showing pictures of campus and campus life) and using Instagram to reach out to past students to keep them involved. I think it might be neat to use Instagram as a way to start building interest and rapport with students by having them follow me before they start summer vacation and then using Instagram to continue to challenge and interest past students.