Madison Media distributes social media content to school and community

This year, Madison High School welcomed Madison Media, a new course focusing on the use of social media. The idea of the course is to utilize technology and social media platforms to facilitate student engagement and school spirit, as well as creating engaging content to distribute to the Madison community at large. The class is taught by Hannah Murphy and Ryan Gross, two of Madison’s history teachers. 

“The class initially had a pretty open-ended description and I was told I could do what I wanted with it,” says Ms. Murphy. “I know how important the successful use of technology and social media is in today’s world for people, brands, and companies alike. I wanted to make this class enjoyable and give students skills they need to be successful in our technology-laden world.” 

After brainstorming with Mr. Gross, the class came together easily. “We want to build a relationship between the school and our township and make everyone feel a part of the experience here,” adds Ms. Murphy. “This class is a perfect way to do that.” 

So far, the students have broken off into groups to take on various projects. They are described by Ms. Murphy below: 

• The largest group is the "Mohawk News" crew that plans, films, acts, edits, and produces a 10 minute video segment that highlights whatever the students want to highlight about school for the week. They cover sports, the arts, school activities, important information, "skills of the week", and some of the most hilarious, creative skits I've ever seen. The videos are then posted to our Madison Media website. 
• The second group is much smaller and focuses on the Madison Media Instagram. The students do a great job with figuring out what their fellow students want to see in our videos and how they want to contribute, as well as running their own thing such as weekly scavenger hunts and polls. This platform is the one I see getting the most engagement from current students in the building as it seems to be their preferred social media app. 
• Our third group runs a Madison Media TikTok where they can engage (with comments turned off) the younger people in our community who utilize TikTok more than other sites; their content is like the 60 second versions of some of our Mohawk News segments. Often it uses current music that really draws the viewer in. 
• We have one group dedicated to running the Madison Media Twitter account and making sure they are pushing out information and engaging the community that way. 
• Our final group has been working on creating a Madison Media podcast. This allows them to have more of a conversation than the other forms of media do and also allows a few of our students who are not comfortable being in front of a camera the opportunity to still speak, use their voices, and be creative. 

“I truly think this has been one of my favorite courses I’ve been a part of as a student or teacher in my education career. The hard work, creativity, and effort our students put in to make this class successful and the feedback we have gotten from people who watch our content has made this process a true joy,” Ms. Murphy describes. “Students, staff, and community alike are always willing to pitch in with skits or ideas to make the videos and other content enjoyable. I can't thank the Madison school district enough for giving me this opportunity and also my coworker Mr. Gross for being a constant source of inspiration and help in running the class.”