By Ciera Rice, i3 at Shorehaven Elementary
Hey Hey! It’s your most fun i3 Mrs. Rice from Shorehaven Elementary! I have enjoyed using different technology tools in the classroom and continuing to learn how useful each application is to our daily lives as educators, students, parents and more. I am excited to present to you an unconventional training on TikTok. I know it’s a buzzword around home and probably with your students at school. But don’t write it off as nonsense or just a distraction but change your perspective on how it can be used as a tool at your school and strangely for your classroom.
Topic overview
TikTok took the world by storm in 2020. It was a tool in which many people could now become content creators or share their perspectives with the world. It is one of the tools that I personally use the most to enhance my instruction within my classroom. Although we aren’t allowed to access TikTok on the school server, I would still encourage you on your personal device to use TikTok’s powerful algorithm to your advantage. Please be advised that TikTok must be used responsibly to get the most out of the app. With that being said, I would like to introduce different ways TikTok can be advantageous for you, your students and your school.
Enhance Instruction
I know you are an excellent educator, so kudos to you, you are doing wonderful! But, one of the best ways we learn is from others. Thankfully TikTok is world wide so we are able to see how others also enhance their instruction to fit the curriculum and meet student needs more effectively. I have personally added many items to my own classroom based on what I found on TikTok, and boy has it helped my students a ton! It is a huge tool of resources. I included a picture from, “Mrs. M’s Reading Resources”, because I use this in my classroom and it has been a huge help for learning the direction we write letters, letter recognition, letter names, and what begins with that letter. She also has more resources that fit more than one grade level. If you need more ideas to fit the diverse needs of your students search in the search bar: #teachertok. #fifthgradetok #thirdgradetok #learntowrite
The options are endless. Here are some great creators for each elementary grade level to look up.
| Pre-K: @preschoolvibes @pocketofpreschool @CraftyMsMondoza (Bilingual) | 3rd Grade: @trendyinthirdgrade @shelby_thatsme |
| Kindergarten: @smilesamy70 #kindersmiles @missmkindergarten @KindergatenChaos | 4th Grade: @teachwithsarahc @tropicalteachings |
| 1st Grade: @mayleenbrianne @mrslarsenslittles @droppingknowledgewheidi | 5th Grade: @peanutbutterandkelly3 mrs.woolley 5th |
| 2nd Grade: @thatextraeducator @myclassroomdiaries | Science of Teaching Reading: @droppingknowledgewheidi @farmerlovesphonics |
| Music: @darianas_life |
Student Collaboration
Education is swirling with students having the opportunity to create their learning. Utilize the appeal of TikTok and create your own version of TikTok for the classroom. Have students create a dance that is less than 2 minutes long with a topic of your choice. This an opportunity for student collaboration, creativity, the chance to generate their own knowledge.
Here is a fun video of a third grade teacher doing the PEMDAS dance. What a fun way to remember the order of operations. If you would like to see her content her handle is @thattrendyteacher.
Link to Video: PEMDAS Dance
School Culture
Sometimes school culture can take a back burner, but if there is unity within the teachers, this can translate to the students their school is a family. Here at Shorehaven I started a school TikTok account to enhance our school culture.
Here are the links to view our school TikTok videos that were so much fun to create!
Conclusion
TikTok is a great tool if you use it correctly. It is a wonderful place to see ideas for your classroom, learn how to get students more engaged and wonderful for creating culture. Although we can’t use TikTok at school, we can take what we see and implement it in our own way, to meet the diverse needs of our students and teachers. If you would like help in navigating #teachertok, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
HEY GISD TEACHERS, earn CPE credit for learning from this blog post!
Complete the Feedback form linked below:
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For the presenter name, type “Ciera Rice”!
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