Journal #5

     

    I began using Twitter around eighth grade as a way to connect and talk to my peers.  Since it's not a social media app that doesn't use photos or videos as a form of entertainment, I didn't really find any value in it, so I actually ended up deleting it from my phone for about a year.  When I did come back to it, I came to the realization that it allows you to totally personalize your feed, based on who you follow, so I got a lot more into following people from my school and big comedy accounts.  Now I have three separate accounts that all serve their own purpose.  I have my main account where I interact with my friends from school; a fan account that I use to follow my favorite band and talk to other fans; and now my EME 2040 Twitter that I use to see what my fellow peers are talking about, as well as scrolling through the educational accounts that I follow.  I think that a Twitter account would be helpful in my future career, especially as an educator because it would allow me to see what other teachers are conversing about, stay in touch with technological changes in the education field, and gather resources that could help me in my own classroom.  

    The digital divide is a prevalent issue in today's education system.  While it may be expected that every household has access to technology and the internet, this is a common misconception.  For students, this divide can create many issues when striving for success in school.  If a student lives in a technology-heavy community but does not have access to their own, then they may struggle to complete assignments that are to be done on the computer.  Since they don't have them in their own homes, students may need to go to local libraries or use computers from the school, but there are not always available.  A student who does not face these external issues would have less of an issue turning in an assignment.  Some causes of the digital divide are lack of income, lack of knowledge, and being in a geographically isolated area.  Much of today's tech can cost thousands of dollars which is not feasible for every student or their family.  On top of this, if people don't even know about what kind of technology is coming out nowadays, they have no way of using it.   There are also certain areas in the country that are so isolated from bigger populations, that these issues combine, making technology less of a priority, especially in schools.  As an educator, these are issues I will have to face.  My teaching strategies will reflect my awareness by ensuring that I am creating and assigning work that is doable for my students and taking into consideration any factors outside of school that can affect a student's ability to complete something.  I will be lenient with how assignments are done as long as I know that the children are still learning the lessons.  

    Academic software is an important part of keeping a classroom fun and creative while also being educational.  Two software tools that I plan to use in my future classroom are Schoology and Google Docs.  I would use Schoology to play fun and informative games with my students to practice and review skills learned in class.  I also like that there is a way to assign tasks to individual students, making this an equitable educational tool.  Google Docs would be used more by me in order to create assignments that would be shared with my students to work on in class or as homework.  

    I think that badges are a great idea.  By rewarding students, it encourages them to go the extra mile causing them to dive deeper into assignments and really understand the tasks and lessons.  I also like that we can earn extra tokens, which takes the pressure off of looming deadlines in cases of emergencies.  I have yet to earn a badge, but I will be putting in any ounce of extra effort I have to collect my "gold star."