INSTAGRAM AND INSTANT BONDING
How an Instagram of four stuffed animals
warmed the hearts of even my toughest 8th graders.
I am so excited to
have a guest post this month from Robin of Mrs. B's Brainy
Bunch! She is a fantastic ELA teacher from New England she is one of
my favorite people. She has had great success using class pets in her
classroom, so check out how she implements them with her students.
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THE INTRODUCTIONS
a long New England winter, and you get CLASS PETS. I can’t
pinpoint the moment the idea came to me, but I vividly remember my husband’s
reaction as I started ordering stuffed animals from Amazon. “Stuffed animals,
for your 8th graders?” But my students are rarely surprised by my antics, and I
knew they would be on board. Strengthening relationships among the various
cliques in middle school is hard, but possible. Building a sense of community
in my classroom is essential because when students feel like they belong, they
learn!
IT ALL STARTED WITH FLAT STANLEY
I remember when my son
was in the 2nd grade, and we received Flat Stanley in the mail from my nephew
in Florida. For those of you who don’t know Flat Stanley, it’s a children’s
book about a boy who is flattened by a bulletin board, and finds being flat
brings endless possibilities. Our assignment was to show Flat Stanley around
our Rhode Island town and take pictures of his adventures. When Stanley
returned to Florida, he had been on a hayride in a pumpkin patch and out to dinner
at our favorite Chinese restaurant. I hoped this cute childhood project would
translate to my 13-year-old students. My mind began to race with all the
adventures our class pets could go on with my 105 students!
SOCIAL MEDIA AS THE HOOK
When it comes to
social media, I’m what my students call “old school”. I use Facebook to keep in
touch with family and childhood friends, but that’s about it. And as my
students love to point out, only “old” people use Facebook. I knew Instagram would
be the perfect place to share our photos, so I’d need to learn how to use it.
Even though my knowledge of Instagram was sparse, I could take a good photo and
use filters… so the pets had their first photo shoot.
OUR FRIENDS NEEDED NAMES
The students arrived
Monday morning to the plush faces of the Class Pets. I explained that wherever
they took the pets, if they sent me pictures of their adventures, I’d post them
to our Instagram page. For safety reasons, the only rule was there
couldn’t be any people in any of the pictures. But before the pets
could leave school on their first adventures, they needed names. I sent the
students a Google form (attached for you to make your own) with
pictures of each pet and they began listing possible names. When the votes were
tallied, these were the names selected.
Aidan was named after
a favorite student on the team who was lovingly called The Goat. Flash was the
perfect name for the sloth as we were studying irony, and Bubbles and Sprinkles
rounded out the foursome. I didn’t know the ins and outs of Instagram; however,
I stood in front of 105 young adults who did! They taught me how to swipe up,
left, and right, as well as post Instagram Stories.
NEW ENGLAND SPORTS FANS
My students began bringing the pets to all of
their sporting events. They became mascots for every soccer, softball,
basketball, and hockey team, and even their teammates from other schools began
following the pets on Instagram. Each of the pets was invited to a Super Bowl
Party and cheered on Tom Brady and The Patriots as they won their 6th Super
Bowl.
******
DISCOVERING SOMETHING NEW
The pets made the rounds participating in the
students’ hobbies from playing chess to drama club to learning the violin, drums,
and piano. They learned to play cards, cook, and do ballet. And on one
especially cold night, Bubbles was given a sweater just his size. As the pets
learned how to play Minecraft and Fortnite, the conversations among the
different groups of gamers began. Which was better: PS4, XBOX or PC? Before I
knew it, they were exchanging gamer tags to play together after school.
SHOWING THEIR CREATIVITY
I knew my students were imaginative, but I
wasn’t prepared for the student who was doing her homework on The American
Revolution to have Bubbles battle the Red Coats. Bubbles was an immediate
favorite as students used his tusk to play ping pong, fence, and sing along to
“The Narwhal Song”.
*****
THE UNEXPECTED
Each week I saw the followers on Instagram
grow as the pets made their way into the lives of my students. The pets
attended birthday parties, movies, and the theater, but I was not expecting the
students’ parents and siblings to follow as well. One morning a student left
Flash in the car, and her mother brought him to her job as a financial planner…
and sent me pictures to post. Another week I got an email from a parent asking
if Flash could come home with her son that weekend because they had a lot of
fun activities planned for St. Joseph’s Day. This little community far exceeded
the walls of Room 210.
#BRINGBUBBLESHOME
The pets traveled all
over the country from vacations to Kentucky and Florida to soccer tournaments
in New Hampshire and Cape Cod. They even accompanied the returning RI State
Science Olympiad Team to nationals in Cornell, NY. So, it was not a surprise when
one went missing, but it warmed my heart to see the students sharing an
assortment of hashtags about Bubbles disappearance.
Come spring, a new
friend came to town. He was Gothic in nature, and the students decided on the
name Midnight. Thankfully, Bubbles was found under a student’s bed by their
cleaning lady. What I thought would be a fun weekend activity began to work its
way into my class. Students began grabbing the pets during a test or a
particularly tough day. They would even face the pets towards the TV during a
movie so they could watch too. I feared the pets might only appeal to the girls
on my team, but it was the boys who showed the most heart. As the year came to
a close, I had to decide what to do with the pets. Although I posted the pictures
to my Instagram page, these were not my pets.
*****
FINDING NEW HOMES
In the end, the pets
were adopted by deserving students. The final Instagram post read:
The pets belong to the
class of 2023, so it’s only right that they follow you to the high school. If
you think you can give one of the pets a good home, send me a message with the
pet you would like to adopt, and why you think you can give it a good home.
The applications were
as sweet as their tender hearts. “I think my home would be a good home for
Bubbles because she will always be busy with my little sister, and she will
always be loved unconditionally.”
Another application
read, “I believe I could provide Flash a good home because I have many stuffed
animals he can become friends with, and everyone in my house will enjoy Flash
very much.”
SENSE OF COMMUNITY
To say the students
had fun with the Class Pets is an understatement. And as teachers know, kids
learn better when they’re having fun. Middle school is a turbulent time for
most teenagers, and they are craving a place where they belong. When students
share their love of Dungeons and Dragons and old school New Kids on the Block,
it’s because they feel comfortable being themselves. When students feel safe,
they are more willing to take chances: raising their hands, sharing their
ideas, reading a new book, writing a poem, DREAMING BIG.
Community happens when
you feel like people see you, hear you, and accept you for your unique ideas
and quirky ways. I feel that in my classroom everyday, and so I know more silly
and creative ideas lie ahead. Years from now, my students may not remember the
correct use of a semicolon or how to correctly cite in MLA format, but as the
old adage goes, they’ll remember how they felt in my classroom. And in my book,
that’s a success!
EVERYTHING TO GET YOU STARTED WITH YOUR OWN CLASS
PETS!
The Letter to Parents
is completely editable so you can make it your own. You can decide how best you
want the pictures sent to you be it school email or DM on Instagram . . . or
both.
Naming the Pets is a
Google Form that will make it easier for you to have the students name the
pets. Simply swap the pictures and you are ready to go.
Request for Adoption
is also a Google Form that will make it easier for you when the school year
ends, and the pets are adopted by your students. Again, swap the picture and
you are ready to go.
#CLASSPETCONNECTIONS
Due to the warm
response of my blog post, I created a hashtag for teachers where we can share
our favorite pet photos with fellow teachers around the world. When you post
your photos on Instagram, use the #classpetconnections so we can see all the
big and small adventures in which the pets embark. Happy Trails!
ACTIVITIES FOR YOUR STUDENTS AND CLASS PETS
If you are
incorporating Class Pets into your classroom, these 12 MONTHLY
ACTIVITIES are for you.
These engaging activities help the students express themselves in new and
creative ways.
