CJ Reynolds is a high-school teacher in West Philadelphia with an active YouTube and Instagram channel where he documents the meaningful learning experiences in his classroom with the goal to inspire, engage, and motivate new and veteran teachers to be the teacher they always wanted to be. Reynolds uses "real rap" to share teaching tips and strategies and to give an authentic look at what it means to be a teacher in inner city Philadelphia.
In this episode, we discuss:
- how being on social media led to an opportunity for his students to meet with Gary Vaynerchuk; a massive name in social media marketing, and how it changed the lives of some of his students
- how he grew his online community of nearly 30k YouTube subscribers and 7k Instagram followers
- how his content differs from platform to platform
- the impact creating content has had on his relationship with his students and their parents
- how he manages to balance time as an educator, content creator, father, and husband
- what other teachers should think through as they begin to create content for social media
This is part 1 of a 2-part series. In part 2, I will be chatting with a couple educators who are having their students create social media content as part of the class curriculum.
CONNECT WITH CJ REYNOLDS
- Website - realrapwithreynolds.com
- YouTube - /realrapwiththereynolds
- Instagram - @realrapwithreynolds
CONNECT WITH THOM GIBSON
My video "Why I Use Social Media In My Classroom"
- Website - thomgibson.com
- YouTube - /gibsonedu
- Twitter - @gibsonedu
- Instagram - @gibsoneducation
SUPPORT THE PODCAST
- My course on creating & managing a classroom economy - thomgibson.com/classroomeconomy
- Subscribe to the podcast (new episodes every month)
- Leave a rating & review
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