I, Joy Kirr, am a middle school teacher, author, and speaker. My 7th grade ELA (English Language Arts) classes are working to improve their lives through student-directed learning - without marks throughout the year. This is a log of my learning experiences... Want to have me speak with your staff or facilitate a workshop? Here is my PORTFOLIO.

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Day 68 - Instagram

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

I'm thankful for Instagram. I'm so happy I can watch these young people grow up. I can celebrate them and send them care. It's Instagram that helped me figure out where the Seniors were going to college. I was able to personalize their cards that way, and I enjoyed hoping they are able to live the campus life at some point. It was such a huge part of my own life.

I'm thankful for Instagram. If I hadn't been connected to my former 7th graders (many of them now Seniors - they got me ON Instagram), and if we hadn't had a staff meeting where a teacher leaked the information, I wouldn't have been this happy cold wet teacher out in the rain at a non-sanctioned "Senior walk" parade of cars. That half hour of waiting and the five minutes of parade was worth it!
Thank goodness I found this rain coat in a bin in the trunk of my car!
I'm thankful for Instagram. I'm inspired by so many, yet I keep following adult educators to a minimum on this tool. I don't want to see things three times during my day. I also keep my content as "kid-friendly" as possible (as I do with ALL social media, I suppose). I got on Instagram to be a role model for students as to how they can use social media for GOOD. During this quarantine, I've gotten on every school day morning to post a one-minute "story," trying to keep my former students' spirits high. I love when the adults that follow me respond, because that helps me remember that other part of my audience on this tool. I haven't too much lately, but I also post what I'm grateful for - to share that it's okay to post small things that make you (and others?!) happy. I'm on this one for the kids, for sure. It's been somewhat of a lifeline during this crisis.

Added 5/21/20... Instagram has an awesome poll feature... I asked the kids who follow me what school they go to, so I could decide which graduation parade I should attend... It was an easy decision even though I missed some awesome students. Luckily I was able to watch that school's graduation online!

Posted by at
Labels: ,

2 comments:

  1. Denise KrebsMay 20, 2020 at 10:44 AM

    Thank you, Joy, for your faithful support of your students! You are a gem. I love this senior parade you got to be part of. What a joy for your students to see their supporters decked out in rain gear and love. Beautiful! Thanks for the inspiration. I am going to try to start today to write something every day until these Unprecedented Times are past. We'll see how far I get! Thanks again for the inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joy KirrMay 21, 2020 at 6:09 AM

      Oooh, Denise! You'll be a writing fiend once again! I did skip a day (for my own mental health), and I clump weekends together. I don't know what I'll do yet for the summer. It's got to work for us, right? I do want to remember this time - on my own time. I don't want Facebook to remind me! :) Keep going, friend - you've GOT this!

      Delete

Thank you for adding to the conversation!

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)