Sunday, October 16, 2022

ISCI 761-Blog #6 Social Media

Welcome to Readers Middle School! Home of the Tigers! Rawwrrrr! In this class, this will be my imaginary, perfect library.


Instagram is a great platform for a school library as the tweens/teens embrace it and the parents can also follow along with ease. Having the ability to take a picture and/or post text is a bonus in what can take place on the platform.

In the presentation from this week's module, I really appreciated the examples of advocacy on Instagram. In my library, I would love to have a library council made up of students to run the Instagram account. Each day of the week could be a theme and they could even start to collect props for book picture taking. Coming up with a special hashtag for challenges is a great way to involve the student body and community. Showcasing positive Instagram accounts, student reviews of books, and library events is a great way to keep the library as the hub of the school.

I would use Instagram as a tool for instruction/collaboration by staying up to date with ongoing assignments in the school. A big test on fractions coming up, the library could post a cookie recipe that the amounts were changed to accommodate a different servings amount. Then for everyone that checks out a book that day, the get a cookie that was made. Post books and movies that relate to the history curriculum. Post how students can access books online for their English classes or tell them about websites that help with research or how to cite sources. And you could always follow a science experiment from start to finish by having students post it in the stories. Then maybe the end results could be displayed in the library for everyone to check out later. And of course, it could highlight interesting podcasts or books for kids or showcase their reading outside of school. 

Communication is the best part of Instagram. You can answer comments or questions directly and even post about upcoming events and deadlines within the school. You can link to other school sponsored accounts too so that you can direct parents to sporting event information or homecoming week dress up days schedule. You can make it a true community within this social media application.

Instagram is a tool that is fun and informative. I look forward to brainstorming lots of ideas to be used in my own library one day!

Resources:

Wetta, M. (February 2016). Instagram now: engage young users with the image- based social media tool. School Library Journal, pp30-32.


Wilson, J. (December 2017). Make your library more visible. School Library Journal, pp. 16-18.


1 comment:

Ash said...

Hey!

Your Instagram is cute. I enjoy looking at it. I agree that communication is fun and easy on Instagram. I also enjoy how you called it your imaginary perfect library as I hadn't thought of this assignment that way before. I'm excited to see what else you explore. Have a great week!

Ash