Photographs have always been a popular and treasured token, they capture every memory that we wish to remember, whether it be a 1st birthday or a good day on the beach, we love to keep something that we can show others for years to come. Gone are the days of the Polaroid camera and waiting two weeks for your photo's to be developed, today we're able to snap, edit and upload our adventures with the click of a button, for the world to see. The widespread popularity of Instagram is definitely something to consider when incorporating social media into your lessons, obviously there's always going to be concerns in the privacy area, but there are ways around this. Make sure that your account is private, only you as the teacher are in complete control & that your followers (which you accept) are only parents, pupils & school staff. With Instagram becoming a way of telling our life story and sharing our world, here's 10 ways you can document your classroom adventures...

1. Student Work Showcase

Every student creates work that they or you are extremely proud of, so why not show it off to the world? Take photos of their most treasured pieces and upload them daily with a hashtag that includes your school - so that your showcases are easy to find. Not only does this offer a good sense of achievement for your hard-working pupils, but it keeps the parents up to date and they get to see what you're all up to, keeping them in the loop!

2. Student Of The Week

Good behaviour? Great work? Homework completed? Star appraisal very week can help to motivate your students. Feature a photograph of a particular person that has stood out and add a little 'intro' underneath. They then could gain the responsibility of snapping the classroom photos all week, giving them important responsibilities. Make sure you have guidelines for the students so that the content they’re photographing is school-appropriate, it is vital that you make your class understand that these types of tools are a privilege and will be removed at any given time.

3. A Day In Their Shoes

 Take your English or History characters and encourage your students to imagine what a day in the life of Shakespeare would have been like. What would he have worn? What types of pictures would he have taken? If he had 'hashtagged' what would it have been? Or perhaps you could create a bulletin board or poster display showing Abraham Lincoln's Instagram feed and who he may have had as his friends, the world is your oyster!

4. Step By Step

The changes that your pupils will go through in a year will be inspiring, it's fantastic to be able to capture these moments and show everyone what you're constantly up to. Posting weekly updates and photographs of your teaching adventures not only keeps the world outside of the school gates involved, but it lets you remember all that you've achieved in your years of teaching, and the students in all their years of learning.

5. Progression

 We all love a good project, whether it be team work or individually set. Encourage your pupils to document their progress via the Instagram page, including a hashtag such as #MySchoolProject + the school's name, so that the class can swap ideas, spur each other on and show off what they are proud of. Taking things up a notch and adding competitions for the most creative ways of posting work is also a great way to develop a child's love of photography.

Regardless of how you choose to incorporate it, just letting children take pictures for the sake of taking pictures is a wonderful concept. Encourage a love of photography and an appreciation of the world around them that is often forgotten. Let them stop, take it all in and capture it for later....

6. Different Angles

 Take a mathematics lesson to the next level and get the children taking pictures of shapes, angles, parallel lines and pie charts in everyday life. Perhaps the swing in their garden has a vertical line? Or the table, they are eating their dinner off has a large surface area? Asking people to take pictures of objects that display these mathematical concepts not only teaches, but encourages education outside of school.

7. Memory Making

School trip days are always a favourite. The children are excited, the teachers are a (little) flustered and there are packed lunches as far as the eye can see. It's always great to capture these moments, whether it be a trip to the museum or a five-day expedition to an adventure centre, grab the memories whilst you can. PLUS they are always an embarrassing addition to the leaver’s assembly when they hit 16!

8. Film Making

 Whilst Instagram is known for its picture edits, you can also create video too. Being able to clip, edit and post in a matter of minutes makes it a fast and beautiful way to share drama pieces, school plays and even sports days or assembly talks.

9. Digital Storytelling

 Create characters, settings and plots and let the children tell stories through pictures and captions. Or have each individual depict an emotion through a photograph and encourage your class to guess which it is. These types of activities are great for a rainy day or for a five-minute lesson break!

10. Art

 We love to paint, draw or even doodle. Yet, we rarely take the time to post these kind of drawings to Instagram. Take famous pieces of artwork and ask your pupils to recreate them via Instagram. Grab fancy dress clothing, or find a great place and act out the 'Mona Lisa' or 'The Girl With The Pearl Earring'. It's one thing to appreciate art when you're looking at it, but it's another when you're real subject.