When you think about social media and your students, I'm guessing most of you probably lean towards the negative. Social media has caught a lot of flack in the media lately for the harm that it's doing to teens. There's no denying that students are using social media in the classroom and that it can be linked to distraction, misinformation (fake news anyone?) and at the extreme, bullying and harassment.

However, social media can also be a really positive tool in the classroom and an effective way of getting your students to become more educated about the world and to begin enacting change in their communities. Since social media isn't going to go away, we might as well start teaching students to use it for good!

How can you use social media for social good? Here's 5 ways that you can get students thinking about how they can use social media in a different way! 

Taking students abroad is a lot of work. You have to become the temporary parents and guardians of hormone crazed teenagers in a foreign country, and essentially  keep them alive and happy for the duration of the trip. After adding in pressure from school boards and parents as well as all the fundraising you have to do, I don't blame any of you for being hesitant to take on the responsibility.

Social justice can be an intimidating subject in the classroom. You might be worried about how to approach sensitive or controversial topics with your students, or you might be struggling with what social justice even is! To try and alleviate some of the fears about introducing social justice topics in the classroom, we've compiled a list of some of the best educational resources about social activism in the form of websites, books and videos.

A lot of students can be hesitant to do co-op. Maybe it’s the costly fees that are preventing you from signing up, or maybe your friend had a really bad placement. I had a lot of the same fears before I registered for co-op at Simon Fraser University. But since enrolling as a co-op student, I’ve had the opportunity to attend invaluable workshops and been given access to jobs that I could never have found on my own.