By Jim Asher
“Do you have a Twitter account? Do you use Instagram?” I ask those questions of all teacher applicants at Jackson P. Burley Middle School, and Im surprised by how many people answer, “No.” Or, “Well, I set up an account a while ago, but I dont really use it.”
I dont expect every person to be a tech expert with every type of social media. I doubt, for example, that most regular users of Microsoft Word know how many features that program actually has. However, social media is integrated throughout my school. I want all of the teachers at my school to know at least the basics of social media — ideally, theyre more than proficient.
When I started at Burley four years ago, the school had a Twitter account for informational purposes, and few teachers had accounts. I then opened an Instagram account for the school and went “paperless” for school and administrative communications. I started a Blackboard account for faculty and staff, and began using that for weekly communications, faculty meetings, staff professional development, and more.