Instagram and Vines

I don't know about you, but my students constantly talk about Vine. The first time I heard about Vine, I honestly had no idea what they really were. That remained true until an avid Vine watcher constantly urged (and nagged) me to watch certain Vines and even slapped his phone into my face once in a while with the newest Vine that had immensely grabbed his attention. It was then that I finally discovered that Vines are short, six-second video clips that restart over and over again. Perhaps you have seen these around all types of social media. Most are meant to be comical, but they can also serve a great purpose in the classroom. Teachers can use Vines to help students learn key terms or to predict what might happen next in a story. It is a fresh take on the strategies and skills that are constantly reinforced inside the classroom.

Instagram is similar to Facebook and Twitter in the sense that it allows users to share certain facets of their lives with other users. In this case, users can share short videos or images. Text is limited, but not too bad. It is a little more private than Facebook. Instagram can also be used in the classroom as a way for teachers to showcase star work and communicate with students. Teachers can share important dates with both students and parents. They can also remind students about deadlines and homework.

Here are a few examples of how I have used these tools with my writing classes.

In this first shot from my classroom Instagram, I showcased a high quality expository essay written by one of my 1st period students. I did not include the student's name, but he/she is welcome to reveal her identity if she wishes too.



Here's a short Vine I made to help students remember how to use a Funnel as a strategy in their introductions.

By the way, I did use Screencast-O-Matic to help record a video of my Vine and upload it to my blog.