See this Instagram photo by @picturethisbook • 27 likes
Prompt 8
When searching #picturebooks on Instagram and Facebook, I found many posts of different texts. When using these search engines, I quickly found many images of books being released. When compared with a Google search, they produced varying results. I found on social media platforms, the majority of the images were trying to ‘sell’ the books. I also discovered many articles and opinion pieces for how picture books can be used and are useful for student learning.
Reflecting on the variety of results I had from using the hashtag, I believe it can be a useful tool. The results provided a broad range of information on a picture books. Additionally, the results were given in a contemporary manner; brief, accompanied by a picture and a link to further information. As hashtags and social media are part of modern society, tapping into students everyday social practices can engage them in learning. They also provide opportunity to incorporate multimodal literature. As discussed in ECL310 class and seminar, experiencing multimodal forms of literacy is important as it helps students understand the flexibility of literacy and how it is incorporated into everyday living. However, considering all this, I believe students need to be taught how to appropriately research. As a teacher, I do not believe a hashtag search can take the place of proper research (encyclopaedias etc), instead it should be integrated alongside other research styles. The hashtag could be a fantastic device within the classroom, yet students would need to be in a safe online classroom environment which careful teacher guidance to ensure it is a successful research tool.