Blog Post #4                                                                         9/25/17

Early in the course, I only used twitter as it was assigned to us. Only really interacting with the other FSU main accounts and the few students in the class that I knew. I love to use twitter for social purposes but using it for school purposes was new for me. However, I do see how it can be used as a learning tool especially for members of the 21^st century. Majority of the kids in our class seem to be using and adapting to twitter well. In the future, I could see using twitter as a resource to stay connected with other teachers as well as my students. Keeping them updated with what is going on in the classroom and using it as a discussion post forum for both the parents and students if they have any questions. I do think that Twitter is something that should mainly be used for middle and high school grades and so if I end up teaching one of those grades then I could see using it in the future. Because twitter is a common mean of communication and something that I am familiar with, I found it easy to use and navigate around. I enjoyed using twitter as a part of this class, I think that it added something that a lot of my other class do not include enough of and that is various uses of communication and discussion forums.

Those that are more culturally sound to the digital age tend to do better in schools. Because our school system now a day’s is so set for those that are adapted to the digital age; if you are one of the ones that struggle with using technology there will be issues within the classroom. Classrooms now a day’s use so much more technology and integration than ever before. Students who are not used to this rapid use of technology are falling behind faster than ever and it is beginning to affect their learning. Because a clear majority of students have access to technology outside of the classroom daily they are creating a wider gap for those that do not have access to technology outside of the classroom. Everyone is on a different level of knowledge and ability to use technology that there is a clear divide for those that can use technology outside of the classroom and those that cannot. We are struggling to keep up with the constant increases of technology and the updates that continue to arise. Therefore, we are only widening the gap of the uses of technology because not everyone is aware of what technology is and how it can be used in our daily lives. The digital divide is something that is created and continued out by humans and the use of technology. So the more humans use technology the wider this gap becomes and the same occurs when humans fail to incorporate technology in their daily lives.

 In the future, I would like to teach elementary school more specifically Kindergarten students. Therefore, academic based software, educational games, tutorials, special need and desktop publishing software’s are all things that I could potentially use in my classroom. Desktop publishing software’s are most commonly used to create flyers, posters and any other print outs that I may provide for my students. Special needs software’s could be used if I end up teaching in an ESE or an ESOL classroom for students that may need extra help. Educational games could be used during center time to keep the students engaged in learning and focused on their academics. Any academic software based programs can be used to solidify the information taught during a lesson and help the students if they need any other assistance with what they’re learning. For those that are having trouble, using tutorials and other drill/ practice software could potentially be the best way for them to go. Because I do plan on teaching such young grades, I do not think that simulations or authoring systems will be to of very much use in my future classroom. There is no reason for elementary school aged students to be involved with authoring systems and I think that simulations are above their level of understanding. If required to I could see potentially using integrated learning systems within my classroom, but really only if I choose to do virtual school.