How to engage students on social media, tech, & trending topics in any class to build life skills for the modern day
Group chat drama. Inappropriate images generated by artificial intelligence. Reputation-damaging content being shared online. The pressure to look exactly like popular social media influencers. These are common, yet worrisome, challenges students face regularly.
But there are two sides to every story. Did you hear about the students who partnered with the social media account ‘WeRateDogs’ to help increase adoptions at a local animal shelter? Or how about the high school seniors who are teaching introductory technology classes to senior citizens?
Social media and technology are entangled in students’ lives, informing their education, life experience, and well-being. Helping students make high-character decisions online (and offline) can support their health, happiness, and future success. But how can busy educators get real-time insights into students’ experiences to help them make decisions and support a healthier school culture?
At The Social Institute, we believe in huddling with your students, so much so that it’s embedded in every aspect of #WinAtSocial. Huddling with students is how teachers can address burning topics that are exciting or worrying their students. It’s how to bring current events into the class so that topics from Social Studies to English to Science come to life and classroom participation increases.
So how can teachers easily incorporate regular huddling with their students through a comprehensive scope and sequence of lessons on topics that address timely tech, social media, and current events trends? Let’s dive in.
Huddling with #WinAtSocial
Huddling with students on topics that impact their learning and well-being, topics that relate to your class, or simply topics that matter to students can be a powerful way to get students talking and engaged. Huddling also encourages peer-to-peer learning, where students learn from each other to explore their knowledge and experiences in depth. When we huddle with students on topics that they relate to, we can foster an inclusive space where they feel valued and comfortable participating.
According to EdWeek Research Center, teachers work a median of 56 hours per week, and not even half of that time is spent actually teaching. Wow! Instead, they focus on other things like lesson planning, grading, and administrative work. Understandably, many teachers feel like they can’t add another thing to their plates – especially topics related to the latest apps and tech that students know a lot about. Imagine trying to keep up with students as their worlds quickly change, know the latest trends, and also maintain lesson materials that will likely be outdated just a few weeks after they are created.
What if you could accomplish this to help students build important skills that impact learning and their futures?
Since 2016, The Social Institute has developed the most comprehensive, proactive approach to social media and tech education. And the vast majority of educators working with The Social Institute have shared that #WinAtSocial Lessons strengthen student-teacher relationships and 90% of administrators agree that they seamlessly integrate into their unique school schedule.
From exploring the link between how melatonin and dopamine in students’ brains are affected by screen time in science class or debating current events, such as school districts suing social media companies, in debate or social studies classes, this social media and tech education seamlessly integrates throughout a student’s school day, just like it is interwoven throughout a student’s life. Huddling with your students through #WinAtSocial’s gamified, peer-to-peer learning platform equips students with modern life skills, like character development, emotional intelligence, college and career prep, and so much more.
Huddling on timely topics with Trending Lessons
By leveraging #WinAtSocial to enhance huddles with students, instead of lecturing them, we empower students with timeless life skills in meaningful ways. But, what happens when challenges related to social media and tech do arise?
How does your school respond to the latest social media challenge that might encourage students to participate in harmful ways? Or address rising trends like deepfakes and inappropriate content generated through artificial intelligence?
We’ve developed a unique approach for creating #WinAtSocial Trending Lessons to meet the moment and equip educators to huddle with their students on the topics that matter without any of the heavy lifting.
90% of educators agree that Trending Lessons are relevant to students’ current experiences. By understanding these experiences, educators can confidently address polarizing or tough topics with their students. And just like everything The Social Institute does, these lessons are co-created with students, so they are always relevant, always engaging, and never cringe-inducing.
Jon Hamlin, the Director of Technology at Glenlyon Norfolk School, may have said it best: “In this landscape, things change so quickly. Currently, we’re tackling artificial intelligence and how that’s completely redefined the educational landscape. Having a partner (TSI) we can rely on, who stays on top of all the new developments and provides us with real-time lessons is such a huge benefit.”
The more you huddle with students, the better you can support their learning
Here are our tips for huddling with students:
- Start with the student’s voice:
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- Begin each lesson or discussion by creating an open forum where students can express their thoughts and opinions on various topics related to technology, social media, and current events. This can be done through brainstorming sessions, group discussions, or anonymous surveys.
- Encourage students to share personal experiences with technology and social media. This creates a safe space for students to voice their concerns and learn from each other’s experiences.
- Use prompts such as “What are your favorite social media platforms and why?” or “Have you ever encountered misinformation online? How did you handle it?” to spark meaningful discussions and insights.
- Relate to real-world examples:
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- Incorporate real-world case studies and examples into your lessons to demonstrate the practical applications of technology and social media in everyday life. This could include huddling on how social media has been used in recent news, exploring the impact of technology on healthcare advancements, or examining the role of algorithms in shaping online content. Or, provide examples of students using tech for good, such as these kindness eWalls.
- Encourage students to critically analyze news articles, social media trends, or technological innovations by asking questions such as “What are the potential ethical implications of this technology?” or “How does this news story impact your social media and tech use?”
- Incorporate multimedia resources such as videos, podcasts, or guest speakers to provide diverse perspectives and engage students with real-world examples relevant to their interests and experiences.
- Integrate across all subject areas:
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- Collaborate with teachers across different subject areas to integrate discussions about technology, social media, and current events. For example, in an English class, students could analyze how language is used in social media posts or news articles, while in a science class, they could explore the technological advancements driving environmental sustainability efforts.
- Empower students with The Social Institute’s Seven Social Standards:
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- Request access to #WinAtSocial and Trending Lessons that introduce students to The Social Institute’s Seven Social Standards, which provide a framework for responsible behavior and decision-making as they navigate their social media, technology, and well-being.
- Facilitate discussions and activities encouraging students to reflect on their values and beliefs concerning technology and social media. For example, you could ask students to identify examples of the standard, Use Your Mic For Good, in action.
For more ways you can empower your students, join The Huddle, a weekly newsletter with expert summaries on how the latest social media, tech, and current event trends are impacting K-12 students. Plus, discover student-respected huddles that educators just like you are using to understand their students better so they can better equip them to navigate social media and tech in positive and high-character ways.
The Social Institute (TSI) is the leader in empowering students by understanding students. Through #WinAtSocial, our gamified, peer-to-peer learning platform, we equip students, educators, and families to navigate their social world – in the classroom and beyond, online and offline – in healthy, high-character ways. Our unique, student-respected approach empowers and equips, rather than scares and restricts. We incorporate timely topics about social media, tech use, and current events that are impacting student well-being and learning. #WinAtSocial Lessons teach life skills for the modern day, capture student voice, and provide school leaders with actionable insights. Through these insights, students play an essential role in school efforts to support their own health, happiness, and future success as we enable high-impact teaching, meaningful family conversations, and a healthy school culture.