by Sherry Neal, May 2021

As educators, our challenge is to use students' authentic experiences to engage them with content learning and disciplinary skills. Research suggests that students are more engaged when learning is connected to their everyday lives and when they become co-constructors of meaning within the educational context and their wider world (Spiering 2019). As teacher librarians, we have the additional mission of preparing students for "community readiness" (AASL 2016). In collaboration with our fellow content-area teachers, we must prepare learners to use what they learn skillfully and responsibly in a digitally linked world (Kuhlthau 2009).

As we consider providing our students with skills to effectively and appropriately manage, create, and share content in a way that connects with their authentic lives, we must consider how to do so in ways that address concerns over online safety. Certainly older kids may be directly taught about using social media responsibly and safely through the actual platforms, but younger kids (who may be on such platforms regardless) are technically subject to terms of use that exclude their approved use. Even for young people whose age meets terms of use for social media, parents and guardians may be uncomfortable with direct access to such platforms, even in a school setting. Even as a staunch advocate of classroom use of familiar technologies, I understand that there are practical limits.

So, how do we juggle these concerns? Thankfully, we can engage students with content AND teach them digital literacy skills in an authentic way—without being on the actual social media platforms. We can also provide students with a realistic audience experience and provide real opportunities for students to share their creations safely with broader audiences. And, we can do it using technology and instructional tools already in use in many schools! Here are a few suggestions for "in-house" learning experiences inspired by popular social media platforms, using common educational apps and instructional tools.

Inspiration: TikTok & YouTube

Whether for shorter format videos (TikTok) or full-length vlogs (YouTube), video sharing apps are immensely popular with kids. Even younger students often watch videos on these platforms, and if you are in a middle school or high school and have not witnessed students recording (and watching) TikToks, you are likely in the minority!

Educators can use a video format for students to respond to classroom topics, for classroom communications, and for project creation. Video use supports both learners who may have physical or developmental difficulties with writing and those with verbal presentation strengths. Captions (including hashtags) and captioning can be used to add a text element, when needed. For example, I am planning for social studies students to engage in a TikTok style "battle" over raising the minimum wage. Students will have to use evidence from their primary sources to take a position; create hashtags to cite their evidence and key points; script, record, and share their "MockTok" videos; then respond to other students' work.

In other areas, students could use hand motions or dance moves to demonstrate a process in science or a math formula. Students in an English language arts or drama class could pull key lines from a text and perform them with annotations via hashtags. For music classes, students could share short performance videos.

To recreate the video-sharing app experience using school-safe technology, Flipgrid (https://info.flipgrid.com/) and Marco Polo (https://www.marcopolo.me/) are great options for students who are willing to show their faces, though Marco Polo also allows text-only posts. I like Flipgrid for longer video assignments and Marco Polo for check-ins and formative assessments. Here are key features to note:

• Both are free apps, accessible on various devices.
• Flipgrid allows users to upload videos recorded outside the app. It also allows users to comment on videos. Flipgrid has a YouTube channel with helpful videos (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaE_edn77lDzCxI3pinKvHg), and there are further tips on its website (https://help.flipgrid.com/hc/en-us/categories/360004320294).
• On Marco Polo, viewers of videos can respond with comments and reactions like on TikTok. Marco Polo also has a YouTube channel with a useful getting-started video (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSdTpj08hJfo_xSfUpO7npA).

Have students who are camera shy? Let them use Google Slides or PowerPoint and convert the slide presentation to a video! Students can add text, images, voiceover narration, music, videos, and more to create a short TikTok style video or a longer YouTube style presentation.

Inspiration: Instagram

Instagram is heavily used by young people not only to share photos and images but also to chat. I personally love Instagram, connecting with students, other librarians, and authors there, and believe it offers great potential for teaching about content curation using visual literacy. Image use supports learners who may have difficulties communicating with text and those with strengths in the visual arts (like drawing, photography, and graphic design). While beyond the scope of this article, I will note that using Instagram-style projects also provides an opportunity to educate students about copyright, fair use, and Creative Commons!

For my social studies unit, students can choose a visual presentation option and create a "Finstagram" (faux Instagram—a term already in many students' vocabularies, though used in a slightly different sense) campaign on the minimum wage issue. Students will again have to use evidence from their primary sources to take a position; create their own hashtags; collect, format, and share their Finstagram images; then respond to other students' work.

Discovery Education offers a great Spotlight on Strategies challenge for using Instagram-style instruction with no app required (https://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2014/06/02/sos-instagram-in/). While their specific plan uses Discovery Education source materials, this strategy can be modified for use in many subject areas using a variety of source materials.

Students can create Instagram-style posts for class assignments using a variety of common tools that are free and readily available online:

• Word or Google Docs can easily be used to create a Finstagram by having students insert images and caption them within the document.
• Google Slides and PowerPoint offer more built-in functionality as both provide access to a variety of stock images that can be used and edited. Students can create a series of Finstagram posts using a new slide for each.
• Padlet (https://padlet.com/) and Wakelet (https://wakelet.com/) provide great forums for multiple students to share, label, curate, and comment on images within the safety of a classroom setting without a template. Padlet is one of my favorite apps to use for curation, with a variety of layouts available.

Inspiration: Blogs, Vlogs, FanFiction, & Microblogging

Many of my students read—and even contribute to—blogs, vlogs, and fanfiction and micro-blogging sites. These are creative outlets for learners, and ones that I think can provide inspiration for authentic classroom learning. Instead of having students keep a paper journal to reflect on or respond to classroom readings with their own writing, use Google Sites to create student or classroom blogs where students share their thoughts and engage in peer review. Padlet and Wakelet also offer opportunities for students to "microblog" within the classroom, a la Twitter. Discovery Education suggests the Tweet Tweet strategy for "analog Tweets," using the Twitter format for class commentary (http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2013/10/14/sos-tweet-tweet/). While this strategy envisions using sticky notes in-person, Jamboard (https://jamboard.google.com/) is a free Google app that allows students to create and share virtual sticky notes.

Inspiration: Sharing with the World

Don't stop with creation of authentic social media-based projects solely for your eyes (and grading). The AASL standards emphasize providing students with opportunities to access authentic audiences (AASL 2018). Students love seeing their work shared with the wider world, even if that wider world is just the school community. I note above that several apps (like Padlet) provide the opportunity for in-class sharing, but these and apps like Google Sites can provide students with a forum to share their work across a grade level, within a school, and beyond. Look for opportunities like school district media and tech fairs or even KQED Learn's media challenges (https://learn.kqed.org/) for students to share their work more broadly.

As a parting comment, I will reiterate that I support the use of the actual social media platform whenever possible. This can be done safely by utilizing the library or school social media. At the conclusion of a project, give students the opportunity to have their work shared via a library or classroom Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube account or on the library website. Be sure to have a permission slip to get parent/guardian permission if faces are visible, share work anonymously if students prefer, and give a virtual shout-out to your students for a great job done!

Works Cited

AASL. "Definition of an Effective School Library Program." June 15, 2016. https://essa.aasl.org/aasl-position-statements/

AASL. National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. ALA Editions, 2018.

Kuhlthau, Carol C. "Guided inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century." IASL 38th Annual Conference: Preparing Pupils and Students for the Future - School Libraries in the Picture, 2-4 September 2009, Abano Terme, Italy.

Spiering, Jenna. "Engaging Adolescent Literacies with the Standards." Knowledge Quest 47, no. 5, (2019): 44-49.