Blog Journal 4

So far I have mainly used my Twitter account to follow education news more than to interact with my peers. I can understand how using Twitter to reach out to other educators could be helpful because it allows one to share quick tips or stories about what worked and what didn't in their classroom. The ease of communication these days is an important resource for teachers because it provides a forum for easily organizing and discussing topics. As a future history teacher, I would certainly try to implement some form of Twitter use or maybe just understanding about how important social media is. It would make for a cool history lesson to examine people's real-time reactions to events, most notably the Arab Spring of 2011.

The digital divide is another example of the wealth gap in American society, as well as a symptom of the poor excuse for public resources in the education system. In today's world, so much of our lives are centered around using computers for one purpose or another that fair access to the Internet should be a right. We have the public funds to increase access to technology and the Internet for socioeconomically disadvantaged people – children, especially. Depriving students of access to one of the greatest tools of learning in human history is inexcusable and only serves to widen the achievement and wealth gaps. As a teacher, I would try to make sure all my students had access to the type of technology I might consider standard (personal computer, printer, personal phone, to say the least) before requiring a graded assignment based solely on that. I would also do my best to make sure any disadvantaged students were comfortable performing the tasks I asked of them.

I think electronic note-taking on a tablet with a note/drawing program would be one excellent way to implement academic software into the classroom. Developing students' note-taking ability and their study habits is an important way to encourage critical thinking, which is one of the core principles in history classes. I actually believe that PowerPoints are also helpful in teaching but only if used properly. The effectiveness decreases if students feel they have to copy every word down. Rather, I would hope to use them in such a way that encourages students to develop their auditory/visual learning skills and their note-taking skills.