I Opened the Phone Floodgates - P. Januszewski

Social media and phones have changed my classroom environment. Maybe they have changed yours? The double-edged sword of being allowed to examine and ponder a boat-load of information at any given moment can lead to getting answers and classroom support in an instant;  yet we can become so distracted with worthless/meaningless information in the very next moment (though I do love me a good snapchat filter where the person’s mouth is magnified 5X while their voice is sounding like a chipmunk...it’s the little things.). With this yin and yang, I still choose to fully embrace phone use in my classroom…open those floodgates...and let these young adults figure out where and when to use their phones as a powerful and supportive tool….though I certainly don’t blame you if choose not to.

From day one in any of my classes, I start to inject the idea of family. Welcome to a new year with a clean slate and welcome to a new set of brothers and sisters...and an awkward Physics Step-Dad?...or strange Chemistry Uncle? I don’t ever ask their opinion on if they would like to be a part of our Physics Family or Chemistry family...they are just simply included...whether they like the idea at first or not.

As we all know, families share.  We share our ideas, opinions, pictures, personal stories, and complaints.  I find that attempting to create an open atmosphere where students can be comfortable and themselves lends itself to “buy-in” in my class.  So whether or not they are actually loving the subject of Physics or Chemistry isn’t completely relevant inside the physical walls of my classroom. As long as they feel that they belong inside those walls for 48 minutes, 4-5 days a week, I feel that they are more than likely to be successful and enjoy the subject as well.

With social media and classroom hashtags, I attempt to further support this family atmosphere 24/7.  My go-to hashtags include #JayPhysics, #JayChem, #PhysicsPham, and #JayAdvisory. Whether it is a silly picture with a student of mine on twitter, a quick video post of a lab on Instagram, a link to one of my class lectures on YouTube, or a shoutout to my student acting in a Theatre Fest production; my students feel validated as an important human in my life and are included as part of my Physics or Chemistry family.  Something as simple as retweeting something positive from Sandburg’s twitter feed, not only demonstrates how a positive, educated, professional human can interact online with the world, but it also demonstrates my interest, buy-in, and passion for my Sandburg Families. I personally feel that I am influencing some of my students to act in a similar manner, encouraging strictly positive social support.

With my science blood, it is a bit contradicting that I lead my class with my “gut” or “heart” instead of hard data for my classroom environment.  In turn, this means I have absolutely no quantitative proof that my approach increases success in the classroom. The only thing I do know is that majority of the days I am in this building or online, I feel grateful, excited, energized, supported, and loved by my Physics and Chemistry families.  They cheer me on when I am feeling like a rock star teacher and show concern and empathy on those occasional days when I show struggle, pain, or frustration. So if consistently supporting, informing, and loving my classroom families through twitter and instagram is what helps me feel that way, then how can that gratitude, excitement, energy, support, and love not eventually rub off on my students as well?

The biggest compliment that I think I can receive from a student is when they ask me to take a picture of something they are doing (proud of) or ask me to be in their picture/snapchat story (family).  It shows they value me, trust me, and want to include me in their “family” at the moment as well. I understand that this is corny or might make some of us feel a bit nauseous….but I don’t necessarily care.  We all have a gift in how we teach to our students. My style just tends to focus on the social-emotional side of things for buy-in to the class subject.  This is what I love about Sandburg and its size.  Students get to experience all of us, with our different styles and quirks. How is that not a blessing?  

Thank you for your style of teaching and for you being the best version of yourself!  Feel free to show the world of social media and your students just what great things go on in your room daily!  I’m already proud of what you do, and I know your students are too.

Phil Januszewski

Carl Sandburg High School

Chemistry/Physics Teacher

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