Getting Schooled on Social Media
Most educators try to police social media in the classroom by instituting universal bans. CONFISCATE THE PHONES. SMASH THE LAPTOPS. CRUSH THE SMART WATCHES. But Nadia Lopez, principal at Mott Hall Bridges Academy in Brooklyn, realized early on that it was a fool’s errand to try to ban social media from her school. Instead, she decided to integrate it into the very fabric of the school. Students receive social media etiquette training as part of the school curriculum, and Lopez herself engages in near-constant social media use during the school day, marketing her students’ success in tweets, Instagram photos and Facebook posts. It’s an approach that’s earned her nationwide attention and acclaim from the likes of Ellen, Robin Roberts, Humans of New York and President Obama. This winter, MEL Films hit the books with Lopez and spent a day with her at Mott Hall Bridges Academy as she and her students worked to internet better.
Watch our mini-doc about Lopez and her students, Social Media Etiquette School, above.