I have loved the idea of #Booksnaps a concept created by Tara Martin which she shared with me and the world in August (2016) Since then, the idea has taken the Educational world by storm! As a teacher-librarian, I am helping to support teachers to embed literacy instruction and in the past week, I have worked with several teachers who have never heard of them and who are now introducing the idea to their students.
If you are also new to the concept, check out the hashtag #Booksnaps for a ton of ideas about how teachers, students, and scholars are using it!
Why I love them!
Essentially, Booksnaps take a high-yield instructional strategy, close reading, to a fun and creative level. We want students engaging with text–making connections to themselves, to other texts, and to the world around them, which is what #booksnaps allow. As a former Literacy Consultant, I have often emphasized the close-reading strategy and now that so many more students read online, interacting with text is even more essential to helping them to stop frequently to interact with text in order tounderstand what they are reading. Booksnaps can be used for a variety of texts (narrative, informational, graphic) for any subject area in any grade. The teacher can co-construct and model what a quality BookSnap looks like so that the priority is the quality of the comment not just the fun stickers.
Creating #BookSnaps is literacy-rich activity. Literacy is about reading and writing the world and is ever changing. Digital Literacies involve knowing how a tool works and when it is appropriate to use the tool in the correct context. It is also an excellent assessement tool in that it allows students to demonstrate their thinking about what they are reading, and makes that thinking visible to the teacher and others.
You may be wary of Snapchat. After all, isn’t that the disappearing photo-sharing tool that students are using to sharing nudes. Tara also has a ton of resources that use other annotation tools instead of Snapchat. And though I am not saying using some more closed or private tools like SeeSaw and Buncee are not good, I wonder if using a class Snapchat account is a better way to engage in BookSnaps with elementary-aged students.
Here’s why:
- students are beginning to use Snapchat at younger and younger ages and we can’t always guarantee that they are being mentored by parents in terms of how to use it appropriately;
- using the actual tool allows you to embed Digital Citizenship lessons not possible otherwise
- a class Snapchat account shows younger students that any social media tool can also be used for learning (by the time they are tweens, they are pretty set in their ideas about this)
- It’s easy. It’s fun. Snapchat was created for fun annotation. Any child can use the tools without too much direct instruction
- It provides a wonderful opportunity to show parents how to use this tool which is becoming a household name in many North American homes
Here’s how:
You can easily load Snapchat onto a class iPad even in a Kindergarten class, and allow students to create their snaps and save them to the Camera Roll. At the end of the day, the Snapchatter of the Day (or whatever your class has in place) can create a collage or the class can collectively choose a few booksnaps to upload to the class Snapchat account.
If Snapchat is blocked, the images can still be saved onto the camera roll and either tweeted out, shared via the class Instagram account, or via any other means you communicate with parents. (although considering how many useful ways you can use Snapchat, and the fact that many students who can afford to switch to their data plans to use the tool anyway, this may warrant a conversation with your IT Dept).
BUT if students don’t have Snapchat and don’t want it, looking at Instagram or Google Draw is definitely necessary. I don’t necessarily believe that a one-size fits all approach is necessary although I strongly beleive that we need to have students practice with alternative uses of social media.
I may be a little biased because my whole focus as of late has been student Digital Leadership, but I honestly think that if we don’t start using social media in the context of learning, in guided ways in the classroom and in every subject area, we are missing out on such important learning!
For other information about Snapchat, check out Matt Miller’s post, Snapchat 101
Would love to hear your thoughts.
