Spreading the Word

Overview

Digital media is fast becoming THE way for people (especially younger people) to communicate. Using digital media to communicate is a wonderful way to get in touch with people because it is quick, easily accessible and, in most cases, free. It is also the best way for students to share what they’ve created – the sharing being as important as the creation.

Description

We’d like to assure you that it is not a competition to see who can use the most innovative social media platform to keep in touch with their students: if you’re happy posting notices on the school blog – great! But there’ s so much potential out there that we’d urge you to have a go at expanding the array of sites in your teaching toolkit. Simply using a dedicated blog or vlog (as mentioned in station 2) to keep students abreast of the latest developments is a step forward and offers much greater scope and flexibility.

An even easier (and less time consuming) option would be opening a dedicated Twitter account so that you can send short, snappy updates, reminders and messages. You can even ask students to tweet their feelings and feedback following a practice session.

A Facebook page is a great way to document the whole process and it can be used to send notifications and updates. It’s also a good ‘shop window’ for the purposes of recruiting potential new members.

Time needed: Varies. As stated, setting up and using a Twitter account is usually much quicker than setting up and posting on a blog, but none of the ideas here are particularly time-consuming and you should make your decision as to which platform is right for you based on your needs.

Resources

Computers with internet access.
Twitter, Facebook etc.
A blog / vlog.
Website.

Hints and tips

Every school has students that may not be interested in being on stage but would, perhaps, like to write a drama, create posters to advertise productions, interview actors for the school website or get to grips with lighting, costumes, make-up etc. To get as many student helpers on board as possible, advertise these ‘vacancies’ via social media – you may be surprised at the response!

–> IT’S SHOWTIME!