I’m nervous about it. Like, really REALLY nervous about it.
I was nervous about it before it began, and I’m STILL nervous about it. Here’s why I didn’t/don’t/am still nervous about how it might/isn’t/not ever going to work (don’t you love lists where you can write about everything that could go wrong?):
- I’ll post a student who isn’t allowed to be posted by a teacher on social media.
How I avoid this: I color coded my seating chart with colors that only make sense to me (trust me, my team thinks I’m coocoo for cocoa puffs with all the colors on my seating chart that mean various things to me). I have a color code for the kiddos who aren’t allowed to be posted on social media. I need to eat a big slice of Calm Down Cake and follow directions.
- The kids are going to say that music was boring and we did nothing.
How I avoid this: I created a framework script for them to use that’s posted in our Stout Nation Studio nook. They get to say what their favorite part of music was, and so far it’s all been a-okay. - Parents will say that I’m only choosing the kids to be student reporters who are popular. Or who are good at music (I don’t even agree with myself on this statement, because I think everybody’s awesome at music). Or who are children of parents who volunteer all the time. Or who are kids who need all the attention at school (um, they all need attention).
How I avoid this: I randomly pick the students. Seriously. I need to eat another slice of Calm Down Cake and follow directions. - People on Twitter will hate following me because I’m posting so many student reporter videos.
How I avoid this: I bake a Calm Down Cake and think about how cool this is for the student reporters. And if people don’t like adorable children, they shouldn’t look at anything from my school at all, because that’s the only kinds of kids we teach. Adorable ones. Even if they don’t know it yet; they’re adorable.
- The smiles on the student reporter’s faces when we show the student report on Twitter at the end of class, and the class erupts in applause. I did not expect that, and it makes me choke up a bit every time.
- The huge level of interest the students have in being a student reporter. There are students who are genuinely bummed that they didn’t get to be the reporter that day, and have their fingers crossed for next time!
- Grade level teachers are retweeting the student reports from their classrooms, and from students that they know from years ago. It’s neat to see the community connect (hello, advertisement material for Twitter).
- Getting to see the “Well of course that makes sense” faces of the students when I tell them why we’re called Stout Nation: because everyone has a place in this room and it’s not just my room or the room where all the music happens. It’s everyone’s room. Countries and Nations are big and made up of many people, and so is Stout Nation.