Looking to the Future: Social Media and School Counseling (Part I)

One of my biggest takeaways from this class is how social media can be a beneficial and engaging tool in education. Throughout this course, most of the research relating social media to education was focused mainly on high school and college students.
I'm still not sure where my journey will take me, but I have been considering being a school counselor in an elementary school and how social media might play a role in that.

Especially for the lower elementary grades, students are likely not using social media in the same ways we are. Depending on their family's personal relationship with social media, there is likely even varying access between students. Some may have some connection to social media, like watching YouTube videos related to their interests; some may have full access, even creating content and sharing it with others on their own social media account; and some may have no access at all to social media.

I think it is important to start introducing students to the concept of digital citizenship and online safety early, even if they aren't really involved in the online community just yet.  I love the idea of a weekly or monthly school counseling blog. It can be simple, visually appealing, and get content out to students and parents alike. Even for young students, visuals can support the content while exposing them to the digital world. Additionally, videos are a common place to pull engaging educational materials for students. Students probably see their teachers search for videos all the time. What better opportunity to teach about online safety than modeling appropriate and effective search techniques?

What ideas do you have for introducing social media and the online world to elementary-aged students? I really don't have any experience in this area, so I'd love to hear some suggestions!