Instagram in the Classroom: A Communication Tool

We're always asking parents to question their children when they come home from school or when parents get home from work or whatever the scenario may be.

Parent:  "What did  you do today in class?"  The usual response?....

Student:  "nothing"...

Parent:  "Nothing? Your teachers aren't teaching you anything?"

While it would be ideal for us to encourage our students to communicate with their parents (and I still do), sometimes they're wiped by the end of the day and are more concerned about homework or playing.

What's the solution?  Bring the parents INTO the classroom.  Virtually. 

Create a private class Instagram account.  I did it and you can, too!

What's so great about it?

• communication 
• broadcast live about your class routine and expectations, then save the video to your feed or highlights so parents and students can refer to it
• post weekly with highlights of what you taught and what students worked on
• post about upcoming events
• create stories for daily content
• create highlights of specific skills, events, etc.
• student-involvement 
• have them share a new skill they learned or film a short tutorial video
• allow students to create educational content to share on the feed
• documentation 
• keep a running record of ways you've communicated to parents (administrators love this!) 
• add to your portfolio or artifacts for your evaluation
• connection 
• use it as a way to let parents know who you and your students are
• let students connect with you and each other while creating content to share
• privacy 
• Instagram allows you to create private accounts, so you can share all photos, videos, and information exclusively to followers you choose to accept
• always ask parents for permission and have documentation of this to avoid any issues

My favorite experiences this past school year

• Getting direct messages from parents with compliments about what we were doing in the classroom
• Creating a highlight story of our overnight 5th grade class trip - parents loved knowing what was going on
• making expectations clear to parents - I filmed our routine for the beginning of class
• tutorial videos - I clarified some standards we worked on so that parents would understand the math

Want to try it out?

I'll send you an editable permission form that you can provide to parents.  I'll give you exactly what I send to them and you can edit the form to fit your classroom needs.  Click to subscribe to my e-mail list and I'll send it right to you.

Already a subscriber?  Check your e-mail.  I've sent it to you.

Not sure how to create or add another Instagram account?  Click here to get directions right from Instagram.

Let me know how you already use social media in your classroom, how you plan to use it, or what may be holding you back from using it.