Social Media Tools-Blog #6

 I want to start with a little bit of a sidebar.  When I was a Montessori teacher many years ago, I had many ways to teach writing to my young students. By far, the most popular choice for my kids was to use a shallow box filled with sand for them to practice drawing letters with their fingers. I have a theory that this method was a favorite due to its ephemeral quality: if the student messed up, all they had to do was shake the box, and the evidence was gone forever, with no paper trail. In Lucas John Jensen’s article, Integrating Social Media into Online Education, he sought to make his online classroom’s discourse more dynamic by putting it on Twitter (2019). However, I believe this is just a different stage for the same performance. In an in-person classroom during discussions, students are allowed to speak off the cuff without the worry of it being recorded,  referenced, and dissected word for word, as can happen when it is written in a post. Responses become more genuine, and because of that, the chain of discussion is more interesting. Granted, there are benefits to an edited response, but I wonder if there is also a way to take the pressure off of having the perfect edited response in order to make online discussions more lively. 

Onward….

The Social Media tool I chose to use was Instagram mainly because I wanted to appeal to the high school students that I hope to work with in the future. As Nikki Robertson points out in her book Connected Librarians, we are working with “a fast-moving, short-attention-spanned demographic” (2017),  which to me means fewer words and more visual cues to impart information as quickly as possible. Instagram also has tools under the “sticker” button that includes polls that you can add to your story to make the experience more interactive.  In Jan Wilson’s article Make Your Library More Visible, she makes the suggestion to involve the students in the decisions that affect their library by creating a poll. She uses the suggestion of having them vote for the chairs for new soft-seating areas, which I love! You could also use the polls to pick a book if the library hosts a book club or a maker space project. 

Starting with the obvious, my library's Instagram page would be used to promote new books or highlight themes in books. For example, for indigenous persons day, the library would post a shelfie of books written by Native Americans. If students work as assistants in the library, they could also take shelfies of their favorite books, ala staff member recommendations sections that are found in bookstores.  Book displays can be organized by hashtags on the page as well. (e.g.# Lizzo-inspired books or #the book was blue).

In the slideshow, Harnessing the Power of Social Media, Carisaa McKinney observes that it's important to “ determine whether you are trying to reach users who currently like your page, or trying to attract new followers to your page. Your content will vary greatly between the two.”

Bookish students will probably automatically like the page but to reach others the page would highlight the other things and events that the library has to offer. Whether promoting the maker space,  game area, or public speaker event, the page is a great place to promote the library's many offerings that appeal to a wide spectrum of students. 

Many of the readings for the week discussed advocacy and how to make the school community aware of the library as an integral part of education and the community. The article Make Your Library More Visible suggests attending extracurricular activities and emailing the coach/teacher in charge with a positive remark about the event. These comments can also be made on the Instagram page. This would illustrate the librarian's support and involvement in the school community outside of the library doors. The page is also a great opportunity to post photos of the education and community-enhancing events that go on inside the library.

When it comes to instruction and collaboration, there are many ways the Instagram page can help. The way the library runs it with respect and positivity is a model of good citizenship. As Nikki Robertson and Vicky Davis point out in their podcast Five Ideas to Tap Social Media, for today’s students, there is no difference between citizenship and digital citizenship. Displaying support and positive thoughts on the page aligns with the personality of the library and models good citizenship

Also, a way that the library could collaborate with an ELA teacher is to welcome the students to read a book and write a review that would be displayed on the page. Maybe the page could even host a contest to find the student who can write the most persuasive review for a book that they like. 

To use the page for communication, we can post school dates and events like homecoming spirit week. To showcase the library's involvement, we can post pictures from previous years of the staff participating in the theme of the day. Besides communicating basic events schedules, the things that are posted on our Instagram page communicate the school’s culture. For example, if diverse books are consistently promoted, then that communicates inclusion. If the page exhibits posts about an innovative creation that was made in the maker space, then that communicates how we foster thinking outside of the box. If a post features students playing a new game, then that communicates that the library can be a fun communal space. 

Thanks for reading :) 

Davis, V. (2022, September 25). ‎10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher on. Apple Podcasts. Retrieved October 16, 2022, from https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/10-minute-teacher-podcast-with-cool-cat-teacher/id1201263130?mt=2

  Jensen, L.J. (2019). Integrating Social Media into Online Education. Library Technology Reports, 55(4), 27–30.

  Robertson, N.D. (2017). Connected librarians : tap social media to enhance professional development and student learning. International Society for Technology in Education.

  Wilson, J. (2017). Make Your Library More Visible. School Library Journal, 63(12), 16–17.