The future of teaching

Teachers tend to ignore using social media in the classroom due to their misunderstanding of this amazing tool. Davis (2014) mentions the social media myth in her article. Most teachers believe the myth that social media can’t be used in the classroom because they won’t be able to control what the learners do with social media in their classes. I've learned from personal experience that the more you try to take social media and technology out of the classroom, the more children will try to bring it in. Why not stay on top of things and allow social media to be used in a controlled environment.

In his article Provenzano (2015) mentions various ways he is currently using social media in the classroom. From using Remind to communicate deadlines of homework (I have no idea what this is) to using Blogs for learners to interact with a large community about what they are currently doing in school and what their understanding of the work is. It is therefore clear that using social media in the classroom has a lot of benefits and that we can no longer escape this practice.

Being a teacher in geography I would be able to use social media in various ways in and out of the classroom. Geography is the type of subject that has a lot to do with what is going on in the world and it is impossible to try and teach it in a classroom only. Learners will be able to share their experiences of active geography on social media for example, pictures and short clips of natural disasters or the aftermath of a fire on Instagram or Facebook. Social media would thus be a great tool to use in geography to enhance the learning experience of learners. Learners will be able to learn work by sharing it on social media rather than going on long time consuming field trips. 

Social media in the classroom is inevitable and the sooner teachers realize this fact the sooner they can tap into the world of possibilities that is social media. This should however be done by keeping in mind that the use of social media should be controlled in the classroom, not only to protect the learner but also the teacher.