It never fails. No matter how much I hide out from my students on social media, someone inevitably finds me. There’s nothing like having one of your students say they Googled you and now know what the outside of your house looks like.
After numerous Instagram and Facebook friend requests from my students (and even a pet dog?!) I decided to pull some social media into my classroom. The great thing about this kind of social media is it requires no internet connection and my students actually learn something from it instead of just seeing a pretty picture of what I had for breakfast. My solution was to create two permanent, yet ever-changing, bulletin boards for my classroom.
You may have these popular bulletin boards pinned on your Pinterest account. Or, maybe you’ve shared a picture of them on your Facebook profile. Or, perhaps you are still carting around your floppy disks while you wait for some replacement ribbon for your typewriter. Either way, I’m here to show you that setting up a social media bulletin board is easy. Your students will LOVE you for it.
Facebook Bulletin Board
How fabulous would it be to showcase a different artist every month for your students to learn about? Facebook seems to have become the hub for stalking people you don’t know well, so why not let your student get to know an artist they have possibly never heard of before?
Create it!
Before creating my board I wrote out a plan of which artists I would be showcasing for the year. (Bonus: Showcase yourself at the beginning of the year! Better get your selfie stick!) Then, I started collecting any information I could about the artists. Things like self-portraits, quotes, famous artworks, associated art movements, and any other pertinent information will help when creating the artist’s Facebook profile. Creating the actual board is easy! Just staple some dark blue roll paper to your board and add a white border (Tip: Almost all bulletin board borders are white on the back, so use that side.). Use your artistic skills and paint out the words “Facebook” and “Photo Albums”. From there, it is just a matter of writing out all the information you gathered onto pieces of poster board that can be stapled up and then easily removed later.
Instagram Bulletin Board
I love Instagram. I’m a photographer at heart, so any social media site where I can drool over people’s photographs and get the chance to post my own is okay by me! A few years ago, I had accumulated a huge stack of artwork that students created outside of class. Instead of just filing their creativity away, I decided to share the work on an Instagram Board.
Create It!
Staple some white roll paper to your board. Cut a small strip of dark blue roll paper and place it at the top of the white paper and add a black border. Get out some construction paper and collage the iconic Instagram logo together. Afterwards, attach the logo and paint the word “Instagram”. All you have to do is staple new artwork up when it is given to you. Trust me, “If you build it, they will come.” I have no shortage of homemade artwork.
Other Social Media Board Ideas
I’ve seen and imagined even more social media bulletin boards than the ones I’ve shown here. Here are three more ideas to jump start your next bulletin board.
1. Pinterest Board
Let your students write or draw pictures of ideas and artwork they would like to try out in your class on small pieces of paper. Have them literally “pin” them to your bulletin board.
2. Google Board
After learning about a particular artist, movement, technique, or other art-related concept, have your students write down something they want to know more about. Then, they can drop those questions in the “Search Bar” slot on your Google Board. You can easily answer those questions the next class.
3. Twitter Board
Let your students write and #hashtag all the things they learned in art for the day. Students can add these tweets to the board as an exit ticket from class.
We want to know, what social media boards do you have in class? How have you used them differently? (Pictures please!)
Got another suggestion for a social media board? Sound off in the comments!
Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.
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