Leverage the global communication device in your pocket to promote your class, curriculum and school.

1. Your Smartphone Publicist
2016 GISA Conference – C353
Presenter: Brian Collier – Librarian, Marist School
Aside from texting, taking selfies and, you know, making phone calls, your smartphone can be a
fantastic tool for promoting your work and engaging your students. You have everything you
need, from a high resolution photo studio to a complete marketing system right in the palm of
your hand! Brian Collier will give specific examples of using photos and social networks to
promote the school library program, but the concepts involved apply to almost any classroom or
even school-wide projects.
Content:
Take pictures of everything.
Document student projects, student and faculty use of your space, displays, big changes, and
special events.
Share photos
around campus
Make flyers and signs, use your school’s electronic bulletin board.
on social media
Get the word out on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram or other platforms.
Your materials are automatically archived if you upload them to social media.
Social media like Twitter becomes a venue for turning in short, interactive assignments over
weekends and even holidays. It’s also an always-on channel for communication between
student and teacher as well as student to student.
If you’re adventurous you can take on larger projects.
Make posters promoting events students can look forward to. Involve your students in the
production process so they have ownership of what’s happening. Let them take photos and
send out notifications using their own accounts. Use photos for your annual report. Heck, make
your annual report on a social media platform.
Benefits of Using Social Media to Publicize Your (and your students’) Work
Putting concepts in context. Social media can help take learning out of the classroom so
students see the concepts they're talking about in class as things that are important in their
lives.
Helping instructors keep course content up-to-date. Student input helps curate sources for the
class.
Fostering a sense of community both in and out of the classroom. You start an ongoing
conversation that happens between classes.
My Favorite Teachers Use Social Media: A Student Perspective
By Katie Benmar
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/04/22/my-favorite-teachers-use-social-media-a.html

2. “Learning how to use social media and technology to engage students is potentially very
beneficial for our learning. At my former middle school, one math teacher has her own
Instagram page where she posts homework assignments and things that she taught that day in
class…when kids are checking their feeds, homework assignments and reminders will inevitably
show up on the screen. This is a good way to get students' attention and remind them in a
relatable way about upcoming tests or homework. The best teachers I've ever had have used
technology to enhance learning, including using Facebook pages for upcoming projects or
planned online chats about books we read in class. These teachers were interesting to listen to,
and the projects were fun and challenging. Online discussions using code names replaced book
reports. And the thing is, participating in a discussion with other people didn't require any less
thought about the book than writing a book report would have. It actually made me think about it
and understand it better because I was listening and responding to other people's opinions that
were backed up with evidence, instead of following the same strict book-report format that I had
been required to do for years. I hope that educators will consider experimenting more with
technology and social media in their classrooms in a way that will be intellectually challenging to
students.
Tips:
Have students set up accounts for academic purposes. Students who use personal accounts
usually discover they don’t like mixing school life with personal.
Set up a class hashtag (#maristSTEAM, #ConnScience)
Set up classroom accounts (@AncientCiv1, @AncientCiv3) that you and students can use
together. You open communication with your students, but also have other options such as
competition between classes and group conversations with experts in your subject area.
10 Ideas (for you and your students)
1. Current Events and Community News:
Tell everyone what’s happening in your part of the school. Post breaking news relevant
to the campus or even the neighborhood.
2. Highlight great student work:
Create a channel or board for the best stuff from your class. Students will feel proud
when they’re featured, and parents will love the digital glimpse into the classroom.
3. Backchannel:
Use Twitter in class to get a sense of what students are thinking about during lectures
through backchannel communication.
4. Get Outside the Classroom:
Connect to other classrooms, other schools, and even professionals on projects. Get
peer to peer, and expert feedback on student projects.

3. 5. Go Global!
Arrange exchanges with teachers around the world. Pair kids up with partners in other
classes to exchange pictures of their daily life, teach the other class one thing about your
country each week, etc. Join a group like the Global Classroom Project to build and
promote global collaboration project ideas (assists in finding collaboration partners and
facilitating enriching international exchanges).
6. Class status updates:
Students post pictures of themselves with explanations of what they’re doing so parents
and the rest of the school can see what’s happening in class. Can be on the whole-class
profile or student channels. Promotes your students’ achievements, gives daily updates
on projects and shares class experiences.
7. Telemetry:
Gather and share data collected during field work or travel. Photos, audio, video,
temperature, rainfall, steps walked, celebrity sightings...
8. Lights, Camera…
Host a show on YouTube using smartphone video.
9. Vocabulary:
Assign vocab hashtags to students (#sanguine, #conifer, #pulchritudinous) and ask them
to post photos to go with those tags.
10. Copyright and Digital Rights
When social media recycles so much content, it’s easy for students to believe that all
material on the Internet is free to use as they see fit. This is a good opportunity to
discuss copyright and responsible use of information.
People currentlyusing social media for class/school promotion:
Reba Gordon, Librarian, Trinity Preparatory School, FL
“One of the great things that has come out of using Twitter has been interaction with YA
authors. Students LOVE it when an author likes, comments, or retweets one of my tweets about
them. I've also teamed up with an English teacher to promote events at our school through
Twitter as well.”
@gordon_reba https://twitter.com/gordon_reba, #TPSreads and #TPSlibrary
David Gallin-Parisi, Librarian, St. Anthony Catholic High School, TX
“When I'm working on my library annual report and I need pictures, I use the library's instagram
as a photo resource. I'm able to look back through the year and pick and choose representative
pics. Also many of the pics on my school's instagram are taken by students. That takes away
any "staged" feelings of the photos.”
https://www.instagram.com/sachs_insta/
Mark Sample, “Practical Advice for Teaching with Twitter”, Chronicle of Higher Ed

4. “Social media isn’t social unless people know about it. Your class Twitter list or class hashtag
needs to be highly visible for your students. Provide explicit instructions on accessing the
class’s Twitter activity.”
http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/practical-advice-for-teaching-with-twitter/26416
Hanna Howe, Librarian, Solebury School, PA
“The more I post pictures of students doing things in the library or holding books, the more
followers I get. I love doing book face Friday pictures. I check out the New York Times “On this
Day” page to see if there are any events I can turn into a post. That’s how I ended up taking a
picture of some baseball players holding The Natural on Malamud’s birthday. Those kids, who
would have never followed the library on their own, started following on that day. Magic!”
http://Instagram.com/solebury_library
John Hardison, Studio 113 Classroom, East Hall High School, GA
By creating a flexible class where literature creatively comes to life on a stage with students as
the stars, Studio 113 focuses heavily on creativity, interactive structures, and student choices.
Through original learning structures and a shared classroom concept, students are inspired to
connect literature with their own talents and interests. John Hardison promotes Studio 113
activities on Twitter and the EHHS Youtube channel. (Yeah, he uses actual video cameras, but
you can do this with smartphones.)
https://twitter.com/Studio113_EHHS
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNRwjVRW7iWxlFZxPoCg5yQ
Beth Koon, Awesome Arts Youtube Channel, Ray Marsh Elementary, KS
When my class sizes grew and my students had trouble gathering around the table to see, I
started pre-recording demonstrations. Now every student could clearly see and hear all of the
directions. With the lights low and the kids in their seats it is almost like magic the way that
everyone is pays such close attention. I can also pause or rewind if there is a disruption. I have
continued to develop these instructional video demos to fast-forward though the process so
students could see an entire project produced in a matter of a few minutes. I know that all
students are receiving the same directions, even if they are late or absent I can pull up the
recording and they can get caught up.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwih1AgFULVWhrY5ZF5U4ew