Make wishtv.com your home page

Beech Grove teachers using social media to engage students

BEECH GROVE (WISH) — Teachers at Beech Grove City Schools have taken to social media in an effort to engage their students and parents.

They use social media applications like Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram.

Kelly Agee is a wellness teacher at South Grove Intermediate School. She said social media is the world we live in.

“This is how it’s going to be. We cannot stick our heads in the sand and pretend this is not how kids are behaving. They are online, they have a social media presence and we really need to coach them,” Agee said.

That is why she said it is important to be online and a role model.

“I post shoutouts, brag on my students, my staff, my school. It fosters a really respectful online culture. My hope is that it transfers to their own personal online culture,” Agee added.

She said by using social media they are able to let the parents know what happens during day and it is also something that gets the students excited when they see their picture featured.

“We just do so many great things here and social media is just a great way to get it out there and brag about our kids,” she said.

Ellen Collinsworth is the Intergration Specialist at the school.

“I tell teachers that Twitter will show you things you didn’t know you needed but yet you couldn’t live without,” said Collinsworth.

She helps teachers use social media to develop as professionals.

“There’s a lot of incredible information out there by following different hashtags that teachers can use to get ideas for their classrooms or for projects,” she added.

Agee said she has seen the online behavior in students change over time. They are now more positive about what they post and students are being safer by setting their profiles to private.

“I really think the more teachers are online and modeling this respectful way of behaving online is transferring into more respectful kids,” said Agee.