This week we welcomed guest speaker Jesse Miller into our classroom. With his presentation, he brought a very interesting conversation about social media and how it relates to education.

Our discussion began by talking about the role of social media in the classroom. When it comes to integrating social media into the classroom as tools for projects, I think that it’s unnecessary and avoidable. There are plenty of technological tools that could easily replace social media’s potential role in the classroom that are much less risky and reliable for students to use. With that said, I’m not saying social media doesn’t belong in the classroom as a very important topic of conversation. I would say that my generation is very unique in its ability to have grown up at the same time that the internet has. Personally, I remember Instagram coming out just around as I was old enough to use it and using first-generation iPod touch’s to text with my friends on Kik instant messenger towards the end of elementary school. I never really had the problem of social media negatively influencing my life when I was too young because generally, the technology just didn’t exist yet. With that said, I cannot say the same for future generations. I know that social media use is going to be a pressing topic in the young lives of my future students and something that will be frequently discussed with their parents. Though I don’t think I will necessarily integrate social media use in my classroom, I will frequently have discussions about it. I think that it is necessary to talk about the dangers and benefits of social media and how to use it in a healthy way.