Welcome back to this week’s segment of After School Tea Time! Get your tea cups ready because we have more to spill this week! Keep your questions coming because you could be helping someone who has similar questions!

Question from Fairfield County- Students have not been engaged with the learning material or activities lately. They are feeling burned out and unmotivated. We asked what would help them stay focused and motivated and they suggested that we incorporate social media into the lessons and activities. I’m hesitant but my staff and I are willing to try. How can we get started?

Hey Fairfield, thank you for asking this question. Social media can be a wonderful resource to use in the classroom. Before you start you want to make sure that the rules and expectations are very clear. What would the content look like? Who would be filming the content? Will parents or guardians have an issue with social media being used in the program? There are many things to consider before starting and it’s important to go over everything before making a decision. I would start by having a group discussion with the students and ask them how the use of social media would be beneficial to them. What areas are they struggling in and how would social media help in that situation? Write down all of their ideas and also ask them to send appropriate examples of content that they’ve seen. After gathering their ideas, it is very important to have discussions with parents and guardians about social media use. Which social media platform do they want to use? Who would be managing the account? Who would be featured in the content? Some parents may not feel comfortable knowing that social media is going to be incorporated into their child’s program. Get feedback from parents and guardians while also providing the feedback from the students in the program. Here is an article on 20 ways social media can benefit students. We hope this is helpful!

We’ll see you next week for another segment of After School Tea Time! Don’t forget to submit your anonymous questions here.