The Socials Trap

I think social media is great.

Social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest are great for inspiration. There are thousands of accounts out there with beautiful posts of areas of learning, activities, and displays. There are accounts promoting approaches, styles of classrooms, or ways of doing things. Social media is an efficient tool that can be used to find new ideas or new ways of doing things - especially useful over the past few years as we have not been able to visit each other’s settings due to the pandemic. Social media can also be used to connect with practitioners and settings across the country and beyond, and share practice. I think it can also be used as a tool to support new practitioners to develop their practice as you are able to view lots of different classroom set-ups, styles, and activities that you may not otherwise be able to.

However, while social media can be supportive and provide bite-sized information, like most things, you need to proceed with caution and balance!

I want to warn you of ‘The Socials Trap.’

The Socials Trap is a phrase I use to describe the phenomenon I have noticed appearing over the past few years. It describes seeing a post on social media and then implementing it within your classroom with little regard to the ‘why.’ I do not have a problem with using social media for inspiration but I think it is imperative to think carefully about whether the content meets the needs and next steps of your children, and if they would be engaged with it.

Ofsted talk about the three I’s - Intent, Implementation, and Impact. Keeping this in mind, use social media as your inspiration if you wish, but always think ‘why this, why now?’

I have put together a set of questions you can ask yourself before implementing something you have seen on social media.

Activities

• What is the intent behind this activity or set up?

• What skill(s) does this develop?

• How will this support the children in my setting?

• Do I need to tweak this?

• Is this challenging enough/ too challenging for this stage of their development? 

Pedagogical Approach

• Does this fit in with my school ethos?

• Do we already follow an approach?

• Does all this approach apply to my setting/ cohort?

• Is there part of it that I would like to implement?

• Do I have enough knowledge of the approach?

Classroom Design - classroom design is not solely based on what looks aesthetically pleasing.

• Does it work for the children in my setting?

• Is the classroom designed in a way that is enabling for them?

• Does it support all the areas of learning?

• Can they access the resources and classroom independently?

Displays

• Is the display relevant to the children?

• Does it present their work/ voice/ creations?

• If it is a working wall type display, has the content been created with the children?

• Do they know what is displayed and how to access it?

These are just a few prompts to support you in providing the children in your setting exactly what they need. The main take-away I would like you to keep in mind is to always ask yourself ‘why’? I use social media and I am often inspired by posts, but I always think ‘why this, why now,’ before I implement something as without that golden link, the learning is not tailored to exactly what my children need.

As always, I would love to hear your views! Let me know what you think by dropping me a comment below.