Weekly Tech Tool: Snapchat

Social media poses many threats, but that shouldn't stop teachers from accessing them for educational purposes.  Information is presenting itself faster than ever and students are faced with this every day.  They have to type thoughts in 140 characters or less, watch videos that are 6 seconds long for a good laugh, and with a tool like Snapchat, communicate using pictures they can view for only 10 seconds or less.

When Snapchat was introduced many people started to assume bad things were going to develop and I think that is accurate.  Twitter is the same way, students can abuse it and use it for inappropriate reasons, but they can also use it for good things as well.  I decided to download Snapchat on my phone, and I failed to see a purpose.  I can just text, or tweet, why do I need this.  More of my friends hopped on the Snapchat train and I saw more of a purpose.  Sending humorous photos for a quick laugh, or just something quick to communicate something.  Nothing inappropriate, just fun.  I started to think, "how could I use this in class."  Most of my students were using, and still are, why not access it for class activities?

In one of my classes we do vocabulary.  I started to have the students pick their own vocabulary words from the reading they are doing and then, in turn, master those words.  They can show their mastery in multiple ways, and one of these ways is to utilize Snapchat.  The students act out or find a visual description of the word, snap it me with a sentence using the word (Image on right).  I also had students create a timeline for The Lightning Thief and The Odyssey to argue whether Percy or Odysseus are heroes or not.  One of the options for the students was to create a Snapchat story for me to view.  I had two groups do this and it turned out great.  It was fast, effective, and overall I got an accurate picture of their understanding.

Yes I do give students my Snapchat name, just like I give them my twitter name.  The one question I always have get, what if they snap you something bad?  Well then I block them, but I always have to ask a follow up question, what if they don't?  I trust my students and so far I haven't run into any issues (knock on wood).  A lot of the students will add me on Snapchat the day of the activity and then delete me afterwards, only to re-add me when they use it again.  This prevents them from sending me anything that could be perceived as inappropriate, not that I condone that, but at least they keeping me safe.  I love using the technology that students are using in my classroom.  Snapchat can be a great tool, and I know other teachers have used it as well.  One of the science teachers I work with used it for clam dissections (students would label parts of the clam and snap it to her).  Using Snapchat in class also has the "shock feature" where students can't believe you would use it in class, which transforms into excitement and engagement.