Assignment 1: Using Social
Media
The kindergarten teachers at
Kilpatrick Elementary in the Texarkana Arkansas School District (TASD) have
been in the midst of trying times. Most
of the students fit under the poverty label, and need extra help throughout the
day, but all of the classes tend to be maxed out with their student
enrollment. I have worked there for
thirteen years, and have had the benefit of needing an aide/interpreter for certain
students for four out of those thirteen years.
Those four years were the best of my experience, and I think it’s
because of having that extra adult in the classroom. I want to make this happen for every K
teacher, every year, through a policy change.
To do this, I first want to sign up volunteers. Texarkana is populated
with families that have a long history with its traditions. Any time something new and different comes
around, everyone hears about it somehow, and it can be a welcome chance to
many.
I am organizing a “sign up” event
to take place at a local, widely used park in Texarkana. This will be a fun-filled festival type of event,
complete with food, games, and music. At
the center of this event will be opportunities for people to sign up to
volunteer some time with the kindergarten classrooms. Parents, local university students,
grandparents, retired fellow employees, and others will have opportunity to be
recognized as volunteers of the week and the year.
This will take some advertising, and the year-long process will need some opportunities for viewing by the public. I will use a Facebook page for discussion about today’s demands on kindergarten classrooms, and to reach users between the ages of 20 and up, thereby targeting fellow educators and parents with an invested interest in the topic. Youtube and/or Teachertube provide a chance to show video presentations or clips of k classroom dynamics, and small group lessons, which can then be uploaded and saved for future reflection by other educators and policy makers. Another way is through the district class website made apparent to parents, which can include links to registration and sign-up event information, as well as videos/photo clips and on-line educational tools for and resources in support of one-on-one and small group learning. To provide continued discussion about current K standards and the need for increased small group instruction, therefore an additional adult in kindergarten classrooms, I will publish a blog specifically for the kindergarten group at Kilpatrick, dedicated to this effort. It seems that now, with social media on our side, a change for the kindergarten teachers in TASD is possible!
This will take some advertising, and the year-long process will need some opportunities for viewing by the public. I will use a Facebook page for discussion about today’s demands on kindergarten classrooms, and to reach users between the ages of 20 and up, thereby targeting fellow educators and parents with an invested interest in the topic. Youtube and/or Teachertube provide a chance to show video presentations or clips of k classroom dynamics, and small group lessons, which can then be uploaded and saved for future reflection by other educators and policy makers. Another way is through the district class website made apparent to parents, which can include links to registration and sign-up event information, as well as videos/photo clips and on-line educational tools for and resources in support of one-on-one and small group learning. To provide continued discussion about current K standards and the need for increased small group instruction, therefore an additional adult in kindergarten classrooms, I will publish a blog specifically for the kindergarten group at Kilpatrick, dedicated to this effort. It seems that now, with social media on our side, a change for the kindergarten teachers in TASD is possible!
