Anne, I so appreciate and applaud your willingness to stretch beyond your comfort zone and consider using tools like Instagram. Using social media isn't just a great marketing tool. You can use it to help parents or other family members interact with their children. For example, you could use tweets or text messages to send each parent a note that says Today we ________. Ask your child about _______.
More importantly, it's a great opportunity to prepare children for the world they actually live in by modelling how to use social media safely, effectively, and ethically. Involve children in choosing what to post (e.g., ending a section of the day with a discussion about what they think is important for parents or other family members to know about what they did or learned and then helping them record their thoughts and send them as a tweet or a text message home).
Help children practice asking for permission to take and post pictures and/or discuss whether there are ways to show what's happening during the day without revealing children's faces or using their names (and what does that feel like for them?). Perhaps one of the class jobs can be picture taker for the day. Discuss how a particular picture would or wouldn't be a good way to communicate the essence of a particular experience. Does every picture have to include everyone? Is it okay to exclude some children from pictures (and what does that feel like?).
Once you get started, you're likely to find that this can be a source of rich learning experiences for children, families, staff, and you! Good luck as you experiment!
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Faith Rogow
Media Literacy Education Maven
Insighters Education
Ithaca NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-12-2019 12:30 AM
From: Sharron Krull
Subject: Social Media
Sent from my iPhone
Original Message------
Hello all,
I'm the new director of a small preschool and our parents consume a lot of social media, as I'm sure everyone else's parents do. When I arrived, there was an Instagram for the school which I have hesitantly gone along with but am really wondering if there is any benefit to this. A new parent sent me this article which has now given me even more food for thought. I would love to know what other schools do in this regard. We have a website so I'm not convinced that we need to have Instagram as well but then again, I'm from a different generation.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessicabaron/2018/12/16/parents-who-post-about-their-kids-online-could-be-damaging-their-futures/#45b5f36b27b7
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Anne Rothe
Director
Key Biscayne Presbyterian School
Key Biscayne FL
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