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Social Media

  • 1.  Social Media

    Posted 07-11-2019 09:03 AM
    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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  • 2.  RE: Social Media

    Posted 07-11-2019 11:12 AM
    Hi Anne,

    Our school has a Facebook page. This is a way that parents or prospective parents can see upcoming events and interact with our school using a social media outlet. I wish that we had an Instagram page too. Our parents are very visual and very into technology and would love this platform too.

    I think that a school blog featuring posts from a different classroom each week would also retain and bring in potential parents because they could see what is happening in the classroom on a weekly basis.

    Posting newsletters on your website is also an effective way to engage parents and alerts them to what is occurring during specific times of the year.

    A Twitter account could be used for simple, short messages pertaining to school events, closings, etc. 

    Youtube is a wonderful way to create videos or Powerpoint-type presentations to provide a look into school activities, create an on-line school tour, and allows teachers to create class video presentations for specific units and so on. 


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    Jennifer United States
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  • 3.  RE: Social Media

    Posted 07-12-2019 11:39 AM
    Anne, 

    All of these social media outlets can be made into private accounts. You can always create a list of students whose parents do not want to have their children photographed or on social media. Hand these lists to individual teachers and have them make sure that they are not in any of the photos.

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    Jennifer United States
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  • 4.  RE: Social Media

    Posted 07-12-2019 12:31 AM
    Sent from my iPhone




  • 5.  RE: Social Media

    Posted 07-14-2019 08:51 AM
    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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  • 6.  RE: Social Media

    Posted 07-12-2019 08:26 AM
    I feel having a Facebook page is an important marketing tool for private programs.  It allows an opportunity for people to see what you have to offer and it serves as an avenue for prospective parents to contact you with any questions.  Pictures of your program in action also gives them a sneak peak at what they can expect.  You can also use it to advertise open houses and reach a lot more people.  You also might consider forming a closed group for current families to keep them informed of happenings.  I loved sending pictures of kiddos engaged in activities in private messages to parents via FB.  It especially helped anxious parents.

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    Lisa Dumoulin
    Early Childhood Special Education teacher
    Cahokia Unit School District #187
    Granite City IL
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  • 7.  RE: Social Media

    Posted 07-12-2019 08:38 AM
    It's important to be aware of the risks of using social media; anything you post online can be seen by anyone. On Facebook especially, it is easy for someone to find out your information just from a picture. Avoid posting pictures of children and stick to pictures of activities, quotes, and information. Our school is very protective of children's privacy and forbids Facebook use, but we have tablets in the classroom that are used to send pictures of the children to their parents. Before that, I used a blog in which I blurred out any faces of children.

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    Amy Latta
    Lead NC PreK Teacher
    "All that is gold does not glitter; not all who wander are lost." --J.R.R. Tolkien
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  • 8.  RE: Social Media

    Posted 07-12-2019 09:04 AM
    I administer a public FB page for our ECFE program with almost daily posts that can include articles, graphics, humor, activities as well as program information. I also will post pictures with permission from families and room name tags and other identifying information from the photo. For individual classes (mainly my preschool classes) I give parents the option of joining a secret FB group. I hate that it is called a secret group but that is the privacy level where the page can only be viewed by the people in the group. This is where I post a lot of pictures so parents can see what their kids are doing on drop off day. Other preschools in our district use See Saw to share photos with families.

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    Jordan Taylor
    Co-Founder
    On This Day in Play
    Apple Valley MN
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  • 9.  RE: Social Media

    Posted 07-15-2019 09:12 AM
    Hi Anne,

    I am struggling with the use of social media, too.  I do believe that children's privacy should be protected, but my parents crave the pictures of our classroom and activities.  I am in the process of developing a Facebook account for a program as a marketing tool and what parents have requested.  I have learned that a Facebook account can be private for members only.  I have also used Remind as a tool to communicate with parents last year and that was a great success.  Parents did request for more pictures to be sent to them, so my goal this year is to capture more moments to pass on to parents.  I will be passing out information about the use of social media and the effects on our children.  I will be using the article that you posted.  Thank you for posting about this matter.

    Jennifer A Anderson
    Director
    Creative Kids Preschool

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    Jennifer Anderson
    Lead teacher
    Creative Kids Preschool
    Gladstone MI
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  • 10.  RE: Social Media

    Posted 07-15-2019 09:37 AM
    FB has three different pages. Public (anyone can see and comment) Private (anyone can see but can't comment) and Secret (only invited members can see and comment). The Public page works well for promoting a program, remove identifying information from pictures and get permission to post. The secret page works well for individual classes. No need to remove identifying information and photo permission should be obtained. I have been able to post class pictures to a secret page by blurring out children who's parents do not want their children's images used or I crop the picture or shoot around them. Last year I had a very busy set of twins who did not have photo permission so it was difficult to shoot around them and still show what was going on in the classroom but it was still possible.

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    Jordan Taylor
    Co-Founder
    On This Day in Play
    Apple Valley MN
    Parent Educator ISD 191
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  • 11.  RE: Social Media

    Posted 07-16-2019 09:12 AM
    One thing I do is text parents photos of their little ones at play... although I am a small preschool so it is easier for me to do this.

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    Cynthia Lahey
    Tomorrow's Kids Preschool
    Lincoln NE
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  • 12.  RE: Social Media

    Posted 07-16-2019 11:43 AM
    Thank you all for you thoughts!! this has been very helpful

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    Anne Rothe
    Director
    Key Biscayne Presbyterian School
    Key Biscayne FL
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