Empower Learners' Voice through Social Media!

Student voice and choice has been the buzz word going around in school these days. And although many of us try to create democratic space for students to be able to choose the way they'd like to learn, it still remains a challenge when you are being chased down by strict timelines.

One space where we all spend significant amount of our day despite many attempts of digital detoxing and austerity measures is without a doubt our popular social media sites. Our students alike. Aside personal consumption, i was always apprehensive of using social media to make my work visible because i never imagined the impact of the same. Having experienced success after many failed attempts at connecting with the Professional Learning Network (PLN). My ideas were reinforced further when as a PLN initiative i read book "Pure Genius : by Don Wettrick" https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Pure_Genius.html.

I mustered up the courage to take the risk of amplifying students' voice through social media. My first project was Year 8 students who worked towards "Black History Month" throughout the month of February. And my second project was with Year 9 students on "Women Empowerment".

Instagram is far easy for them to operate than Twitter, is what you'd probably think. Wrong! Well they started with posts with much thought but gradually they started to understand the importance of meticulous planning of posts, create drafts and choose captions and words that can make an impact. They gradually learnt relevant tags and hashtags to use. Through all this, i was learnt, argued, collaborated with them to facilitate their voice as a community.

In no time my year 8 and 9 took 98% charge of what , where , when would they use the social media for activism. What i realized through all this was the change in the lexicon of the students around social media revolving as their work got recognized by international organizations and youth activist groups. This has not only helped my students to further their cause but instilled a confidence in all of them that if the heart and intention is in the right place then they can be the agents of change. This in turn instills confidence in me as a learn-cator. Their successes and failures however big or small always fill me with such joy and pride.

From one risk-take to the other, i'd say take a step to amplify the voices of the future.

To follow the work of my year 9 "Women Empowerment" project click on: https://twitter.com/westandforwomen

#studentvoice#studentchoice# empoweredlearners