Welcome to Spotlight on Strategies Challenge! Our S.O.S series provides help, tips, and tricks for integrating DE media into your curriculum.
Instagram-in PDF Version *For a link to all the PDFs in this series click here
Background Instagram is a form of social media that allows users to share pictures with captions. This strategy allows visual learners to represent concepts by drawing a picture and creating a caption. They can explain their picture by writing a comment or using hashtags to make connections. It can be used as a form of assessment, a quick check for understanding, or as a way to summarize and share information.
Example •Introduce the Essential Question, "Why does it get hot in the summer and cold in the winter?" •Ask students to brainstorm why we have seasons •Explain that today students are going to be going into outer space to take a picture of the sun and earth. •Watch the clip The Earth's Tilt on It's Axis (CDN Subscribers) on the reasons for the seasons •Allow students to share responses to the Essential Question. They should have an idea that the earth is tilted towards the sun in the summer and away from the sun in the winter which changes the angle of the sun's rays thus causing seasons •Give students their Instagram account page and explain that they are going to take a picture of the sun and earth during the winter and the summer. They need to use their comment space to write a caption or hashtag that explains their picture.
Challenge •Select a video from Discovery Education that fits your curriculum. •Have students create an Instagram photo to summarize the video. •Do a gallery walk and have students reply/comment on their peers pictures. •Have students reply to at least 3 Instagram photos. •Or read aloud an article or story and have students illustrate what is happening in that scene
Special Thanks • Thank you DEN STAR Kellsye Piper for providing this SOS! • Do you have an idea for an SOS? Please share it with Jannita_Demian@discovery.com
You can take the challenge by: • Implementing this strategy and letting us know how it went by posting a comment below. • Using this strategies in your grade level planning discussions and/or professional development and reporting your events. (Remember we consider an event anytime 3 or more educators gather together... doesn't have to be in a computer lab... could be sitting around the lunch table) • Photocopying the flier and distributing it in your colleague's boxes and/or posting it to your own BulleDEN board.