SnapChat in the Classroom?

#1: What is your initial reaction to SnapChat?

            I have been a SnapChat user for a little over a year now and I can say it is my most used social media. When first learning what SnapChat was a year ago, I was not that interested and figured it was just like all the other social medias and did not see why I should add another social media platform into my life. After some convincing from my friends, I decided to really check it out. Sounds a bit ridiculous, but I quickly fell in love with it and use it on a daily basis. I liked how different it was from Instagram and Facebook in that everything disappeared after 24 hours. I felt I could post various events throughout my day without being “that annoying person” blowing up someones feed. SnapChat gives everyone a choice to view your story, where you are forced to see everyones' posts from Instagram and Facebook. 

#2 What is the application to education?

            SnapChat can be motivational, engaging, personalized, and informative if applied in the right way. I think the idea of using current tools that our students are using in their everyday life is a great idea, but also must be done correctly. I think if I did ever use SnapChat as an educational tool, it would be something I only allow students to use outside of the classroom as it can be a distraction in the classroom. It is also a social media that I do not think has a lot restrictions and if not taught correctly, can be used for the wrong reasons. 

#3 How might you use SnapChat in teaching?

            I will not use SnapChat in my 5^th grade classroom next school year, with the biggest reason being, that the Privacy Policy clearly states you must be 13 years of age. Also, while majority of 5^th grade students have phones, I can’t expect that they all have one and would be allowed to use SnapChat.

I can see some ways in which using SnapChat can be beneficial in the secondary and college level classroom, but don’t see many benefits for it in the younger levels. If I were teaching at the secondary level I may use it to send some morning motivation. I think it can be a great tool to build rapport and let your students know you are thinking about them and want them to do well. For example: During testing week or finals, sending your students some morning motivation and words of encouragement can inspire them. Not only sending them words of encouragement, but even letting them into your morning routine. Perhaps showing them what you are eating for breakfast, or that your human and are running late too, but will get to school and make it a good day. It can also be a platform for students to ask us questions outside of the classroom, play trivia type games, ask extra credit questions, and address current social issues going on in the world.

Another way I could see myself using SnapChat is with my girls I coach. I coach 2 girl soccer teams and think it would be fun to send my older girls words of motivation before games. It could also be beneficial in that I can stay in touch with them during the off season and share individual drills they can be working on to build their skills. In my personal opinion there are educational ways to use SnapChat, but think I would chose to use it as a tool to become more personal with my students and make those strong student-teacher connections.

#4 How might you use SnapChat in your life?

            I use SnapChat on a daily basis and most often am documenting various events throughout my day. It may be something as simple as a picture of what I am eating to videos of my travel adventures. I also love using it to send close friends inside jokes and silly filters or faces. I can say that I only use it for social aspects and do not review the SnapChat stories they post of pop-culture gossip or events from the news. While I love SnapChat, I also think it can take up too much of my time and can be a distraction during times of working, but when used with digital citizenship it can have some positive impacts on you and your classroom.