“Empowering Parents with Social Media” Event was a Huge Success!

by Karen McGrath, Technology Department Chair – Sandwich High School

On January 6, 2015 at 6-8pm the Sandwich Technology Team with School Resource Officer Crista Cabral and Social Worker Susan Coutinho hosted a parent workshop titled:”Empowering Parents with Social Media”.

The workshop included Special Guests Deb Martin from the District Attorney’s Office and Shawn Cahill from the Barnstable Sheriff’s Office who joined to lend their knowledge and support as we explored the use of social media by teens.

Many parents of students in grades 7-12 braved the cold to attend. The evening was a huge success with sharing of resources, discussions and demonstrations of social media students currently use. There were eight stations which included legal issues, social/emotional issues, current events, parent chats, as well as stations focusing on social media sites twitter, snapchat, tumbler, yik yak and instagram.

The event took place in the high school library media center. Resources from the event can be found at http://tinyurl.com/k9btkpk .  Enormous thanks to everyone who participated!

The home/school connection is important now more than ever when we work to help our students/sons/daughters navigate the digital world. It was awesome to see educators, parents and community support personnel coming together as we not only cultivated an awareness of the role social media plays in the life of students but also explored how we can best guide them.