Tannenbaum Tech - 4/20/2022: Have you jumped on the TikTok Bandwagon yet?

I Think I Can, Right?

I pride myself on not only being a lifelong learner, but a reflective learner. So when we talked about TikTok in my Teach Better Edupreneur group, I was naturally curious. But if I have to be honest, I was not only scared of creating videos, but unsure of what to share initially. I tried creating a dozen videos that I deemed unworthy last weekend, asked my 16 year old daughter to help me, and still couldn't get it right. Finally over a week ago, I embraced the messy first draft and put out my first TikTok. It might not have been perfect, but it was out there. I could only get better from there, right?

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What Happened Next?

Getting that messy first draft out of the way, I ended up making seven more TikToks last week. You might wonder what inspired me to keep going. First of all, it was fun! I had a really great week last week and making a quick TikTok was a great way to share some of the highlights out. Second, it provided me a quick reflection to share out with the Teacher TikTok community. Last, I wanted to prove to myself that I could do this- I could be an active TikTok participant.

TikToks #2 and #8: Sharing out the amazing work of my K and 1 Learners

My second and eighth TikTok was sharing out the amazing work that my Kindergarten and First Grade learners were doing for their Team Challenges. After a quick change based on scheduling, I decided to have my students work on collaborative challenges last week, such a Tic Tac Toe, partner T shirt design, etc on Wixie. I loved every minute of it. Yes, it was initially challenging getting my students to work together on the same document, but as they worked together, magic happened. You could truly see the magic happening as they figured out how to work together. Getting our students to collaborate at any early age is essential and much like my TikToks, I needed to embrace the initial messy to get to the true magic.

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TikTok #3 ,#5 and 6: Embracing Gratitude

Being an educator is not easy- there are no and, if, or buts about it. But being an educator can be very rewarding. These three videos focused on that and what are you grateful for today? What do you get the opportunity to do? So many times we get so caught up in the rush of the everyday that we forget the privilege we have every day to help young minds grow. I also shared my gratitude when I received my friend, Jillian DuBois' newest book, Destiny's Amazingly Different Dreams. Definitely check it out!

TikTok #7: When Coding and Literature Partner Up

This spring, I have had the privilege of working on a computer science pilot with my fifth graders called CSforAll. It has been an amazing experience as I helped my fifth grade learners use coding in Scratch to decompose and summarize stories. So when I learned that my second graders were working on beginning, middle and end, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to introduce them to Scratch. They loved this activity where they created an animation in Scratch to summarize a story that they had read by Robert Munsch.

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Have you jumped on the TikTok bandwagon yet?

Now a week and half into this journey, I am really glad that I tried this. It has given me a new and creative way to express myself and reflect. Have you tried TikTok yet? If not, that's okay- but have you challenged yourself to try something new that scares you recently? If not, consider how you can stretch out of your comfort zone to grow. Yes, it can be hard; but the rewards are definitely worth it. If you have joined TikTok, definitely follow me at @TannenbaumTech- I can't wait to learn together.