How Can Educators Use Snapchat to Enhance Their Classroom?

Welcome back! I wanted to share a neat activity I did in class the other day with my preservice teachers. This activity is a cousin to the #booksnaps created by @TaraMartinEDU. If you have not heard of #booksnaps, check out her video from ISTE's ignite session in 2017. 

What is a snap?

Snapchat allows users to annotate images or videos with text, graphics, and pictures. This can help users make connections between content and everyday life.

Snapchat Activity Example

In the subsequent class period, the students created a #istesnap of a substandard they chose as a warm-up activity. However, they were not allowed to choose a substandard they had already worked on. For instance, the group that created the slides for the teacher substandard had to create an #istesnap about an ISTE substandard for students. This enabled them to read and discover new ideas from their peers in other class sections.

I have posted our #istesnaps below in a Sway document. Please check them out and let us know what you think. This was a great activity that helped us review the ISTE standards and created a visual representation of the information presented. Additionally, using Snapchat for good reached students where they were at. Furthermore, by teaching this strategy to preservice teachers, they can use something like this with students in their field or student teaching placements.

Overall, this was an engaging and fun activity for my students, and I encourage you to try it sometime, too. Recently, we did another activity based on this idea and created some #danielsonsnaps, which were snaps based on the Danielson framework for teaching.

Enjoy, and happy snapping!