The face of social media
By looking at our analytics, I have found that posting pictures with more faces has dramatically increased our audience engagement. Pictured here is our Instagram feed from 2019-20 (right) compared to our recent feed (left). The recent feed features a lot more photos of students compared to the older feed which primarily consists of art.
Our recent feed
2019-2020 feed
Looking at these two posts, the one with faces has gained a lot more attention than the one without. I now encourage all staff members to include faces in their social media posts to increase audience engagement, especially those that are about events on campus.
By creating engaging Instagram posts, the traffic on our promotional Instagram posts has significantly increased. I am in charge of editing all social media posts to ensure that our content remains timely, grammatically correct and journalistically sound.
Every word counts
Surprisingly, there's a lot to work with even with Instagram's 2,200-character limit and Twitter's 280-character limit.
While not full-length stories, I find these mini-stories created specifically for social media to be both informative and easy to digest--perfect for those scrolling through their feeds. Attached below are some social media posts that I both created and assisted with creating.
FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT: Ethnic Studies students find their rhythm through step.
This Monday, Ethnic Studies students visited the Paramount theater for a viewing of Step Afrika. Students from all across the district attended the performance.
In the past week, Scott Devereaux, an educator in partnership with Step Afrika visited the class. Step is a form of dance rooted in African tradition.
“It's kind of like a gumbo, like most things in culture are,” Devereaux said. “It's about precision. It's about hard work and dedication. It's about kind of working together for a common goal.”
During the week, Devereaux works for a school's drill team, runs an after-school program, and his own company.
"A lot of girls and guys that come to me don't have other outlets to be able to do stuff like that," Devereaux said. "They don't have other areas where they get celebrated in. They've never had an award ceremony or that kind of thing. So I kind of like what that does for people and you see people blossom."
Students learned how to step in the new theater, stepping out of their comfort zone.
“I was nervous,” senior Naomi Rogers said. “I'm not a dancer. The step stuff was a lot easier than I thought. I loved the community it made. It was so easy and, like, approachable.”
For Rogers, Ethnic Studies is one of her favorite classes. Students participate in discussions about the world and cultures other than their own.
"It makes me feel very in touch with the world and like things that are important," Rogers said. "We had a discussion at the beginning of the year that was a lot about the Uvalde. Not only is it ethnic studies, but we kind of get into a lot about like, human study. That was something that I connected with a lot of my peers."
Step Afrika is the first organization focused on Step in the US. The group has been on Good Morning America, and CBS Good Morning, as well as performed at the White House.
“It's just kind of a full circle moment for me,” Devereaux said. “They kind of have an emphasis on exposure and awareness of step culture. And that's something that's really akin to me.”
This Monday, Ethnic Studies students visited the Paramount theater for a viewing of Step Afrika. Students from all across the district attended the performance.
In the past week, Scott Devereaux, an educator in partnership with Step Afrika visited the class. Step is a form of dance rooted in African tradition.
“It's kind of like a gumbo, like most things in culture are,” Devereaux said. “It's about precision. It's about hard work and dedication. It's about kind of working together for a common goal.”
During the week, Devereaux works for a school's drill team, runs an after-school program, and his own company.
"A lot of girls and guys that come to me don't have other outlets to be able to do stuff like that," Devereaux said. "They don't have other areas where they get celebrated in. They've never had an award ceremony or that kind of thing. So I kind of like what that does for people and you see people blossom."
Students learned how to step in the new theater, stepping out of their comfort zone.
“I was nervous,” senior Naomi Rogers said. “I'm not a dancer. The step stuff was a lot easier than I thought. I loved the community it made. It was so easy and, like, approachable.”
For Rogers, Ethnic Studies is one of her favorite classes. Students participate in discussions about the world and cultures other than their own.
"It makes me feel very in touch with the world and like things that are important," Rogers said. "We had a discussion at the beginning of the year that was a lot about the Uvalde. Not only is it ethnic studies, but we kind of get into a lot about like, human study. That was something that I connected with a lot of my peers."
Step Afrika is the first organization focused on Step in the US. The group has been on Good Morning America, and CBS Good Morning, as well as performed at the White House.
“It's just kind of a full circle moment for me,” Devereaux said. “They kind of have an emphasis on exposure and awareness of step culture. And that's something that's really akin to me.”
VOTING REGISTRATION: During both lunches, Rep. Donna Howard and her co-workers set up a booth to help students register to vote. Students who are at least 17 years and 10 months old and who will be 18 years of age on the Nov. 8, 2022 election are eligible to register.
The voter registration deadline is Oct. 11, 2022. For those who did not attend the event, senior teachers have Texas Voter Registration Applications available for students to fill out and mail in.
“I think it's important to be as prepared as you can, but also not to be intimidated,” Howard said. “And just know that this is the basis of our democracy. If we don't have the vote, we don't have a voice and if we don't have a voice we don’t have power, so it's really important.”
Howard serves on the Texas House of Representatives for District 48. Her duties typically entail voting on or proposing new legislation.
“I certainly remember when I voted for the first time,” Howard said. “I found it to be a real empowering thing to have a say in who's setting the policies for my city, my county, my schools, my state, and my country. And I think that with young people in particular if they start voting early, they’ll get more engaged in the process and realize that they actually do have a say in what happens from the government, and the government is really supposed to be about the people. So this is a way that we can ensure that people actually really do have a voice.”
The voter registration deadline is Oct. 11, 2022. For those who did not attend the event, senior teachers have Texas Voter Registration Applications available for students to fill out and mail in.
“I think it's important to be as prepared as you can, but also not to be intimidated,” Howard said. “And just know that this is the basis of our democracy. If we don't have the vote, we don't have a voice and if we don't have a voice we don’t have power, so it's really important.”
Howard serves on the Texas House of Representatives for District 48. Her duties typically entail voting on or proposing new legislation.
“I certainly remember when I voted for the first time,” Howard said. “I found it to be a real empowering thing to have a say in who's setting the policies for my city, my county, my schools, my state, and my country. And I think that with young people in particular if they start voting early, they’ll get more engaged in the process and realize that they actually do have a say in what happens from the government, and the government is really supposed to be about the people. So this is a way that we can ensure that people actually really do have a voice.”
ELEVATING EXPECTATIONS: Principal Mark Robinson lectures the freshman class on Bowie’s rules, regulations, values. Throughout the week, all grades attended orientation meetings held by Robinson and the counseling team during FIT. At these meetings, Robinson gave an overview of the recently-developed baseline expectations.
Phone-Free learning: Personal technology is only to be used for educational purposes in the classroom.
Limited Hall Passes: No hall passes will be issued the first or last fifteen minutes of a class or during FIT. Bathroom passes are now color-coded to ensure that students remain in the hallways their classes are in.
Cooperate With Reasonable Requests: Students must respectfully comply with reasonable requests issued by teachers and staff. Students can always follow up with a counselor, administrator, or a trusted adult with questions or concerns.
Wear Your ID Badge: ID badges are to be worn at all times on campus, and can only be removed at the direction of authorized staff for instructional purposes.
“I was a teacher,” Robinson said at the freshman meeting this morning. “When I was in the classroom I had one classroom rule, ‘Do the right thing.’ That hasn’t changed just because I'm not in the classroom anymore. This entire campus is my classroom. You know that you belong at Bowie, but you have to do the right thing.”
Phone-Free learning: Personal technology is only to be used for educational purposes in the classroom.
Limited Hall Passes: No hall passes will be issued the first or last fifteen minutes of a class or during FIT. Bathroom passes are now color-coded to ensure that students remain in the hallways their classes are in.
Cooperate With Reasonable Requests: Students must respectfully comply with reasonable requests issued by teachers and staff. Students can always follow up with a counselor, administrator, or a trusted adult with questions or concerns.
Wear Your ID Badge: ID badges are to be worn at all times on campus, and can only be removed at the direction of authorized staff for instructional purposes.
“I was a teacher,” Robinson said at the freshman meeting this morning. “When I was in the classroom I had one classroom rule, ‘Do the right thing.’ That hasn’t changed just because I'm not in the classroom anymore. This entire campus is my classroom. You know that you belong at Bowie, but you have to do the right thing.”
PROMOTING EVENTS
I try to use social media not just as a platform to promote our publication, but a place to promote the many events occurring on our campus.
Football Videos
One of my favorite parts of football season was spending every Friday night on the field. At most football games, I would record and edit a video recap to showcase the game and student section. I found these videos very fun to create and they have received thousands of views on social media. I also utilized these videos as an opportunity to teach new staff members how to shoot and edit videos.