Blog Journal 4

The one with Twitter talk…

         Twitter is a form of social media that is known as a micro-blog as it allows people to publish “tweets”, these tweets can only be 140 characters long hence the word micro blog. Twitter is a popular networking site that allows people to post messages and interact with other people in a digital environment. My early Twitter experience began about 6 months ago when I first created a twitter. The origin of my Twitter was mainly funny pictures and memes as opposed to what we do now in my EME 2040 class. Thus far I have interacted with my peers in my education classes by retweeting their posts or commenting under a tweet of theirs that I found to be educational or enjoyed the content. I have found Twitter beneficial as it has a friendly environment and provides a great deal of informational regarding my interests in special education. Twitter can be helpful in my future career as it allows me to interact with fellow educators in special education who can help guide me in interacting with my students and creating activities regarding the lesson plans. I believe in learning from my peers and other people’s experiences which is why I do believe that Twitter can aid me in becoming a fun and engaging teacher.

       Digital divide is the gap among people who have full and complete access to internet and computers as opposed to those who do not have this complete access. Digital divide does have an affect on student’s success in schools as it restrains them from expending their educational tools and limits them. Students who do not have internet access are at a disadvantage as they cannot complete assignments that require internet, unless they go to a local library but even then, what if the students cannot find transportation there, creating a burden for the student. Causes of digital divide can be a financial strain on the parents or caretakers of the student who cannot afford a computer or able to pay for internet. As a classroom teacher I may experience a digital divide within my classroom, however, to properly identify if my students do have trouble accessing internet, I can allow an anonymous survey of all students to complete that tells me if they do belong to a digital divide. Having a digital divide in my classroom will affect my teaching strategies as I will try to avoid sending homework home that requires internet use or provide “computer time” inside my classroom to allow students who do not have internet access at home to use a computer in class. I will also provide a flier to every student informing them of other computer/internet resources for them to go to if they need internet access.

         Academic software will be used inside my future classrooms as it tends to engage the students in a fun and interactive way of explaining the lesson. Two software tools I would use in my future classroom are: Ticket-to-Read.com and Digital-Chalk.com. Ticket to Read is a fun interactive reading site that allows the students to read short articles about topics that vary and the students take a quiz after the reading to see if they retained the information and for every question answered correct they earn tickets and are able to buy digital toys for their character! Digital Chalk is a software that aids students to better organize themselves and notes as it aims to better teach technological enhancement and technology. I would like to use these softwares with my future students because I want my students to have fun while learning. I want to involve my students in entertaining academic websites that encourage them to learn.