Sunday, February 5, 2017

Blog Entry I: Introduction


Welcome reader! You are now reading my first blog entry. I'm Jordan and I am looking forward to both learning about and utilizing technology and networking on social media. I'll start by talking about myself a little bit. I'm 25 years old and from Warren Ohio but I am now a current resident of Willoughby. When I'm not making the hour long commute to UAkron, I am working as a substitute teacher in Lake County schools and I also work in an after school program in Mentor Exempted Village school district. I work with students of all ages and I enjoy working with every age group. I completed my undergraduate studies at Kent State University. I initially entered college as a math major. As I completed my studies I began to realize that I wanted to teach, which is why I am now pursuing a licensure to teach math in grades 7 through 12. Although most of the inspiration for me wanting to teach came from my  11th and 12th grade high school calculus and physics teacher, I can definitely say that all of my math teachers were an inspiration. Every time the topic of math teachers comes up in conversation it usually turns into something along the lines of "I hated my math teacher, they weren't good" or "I didn't learn anything from my teacher". I loved my math teachers, they did an awesome job of presenting content and keeping us (the students) engaged.  
I don't use many types of social media. The social media I do use is Facebook and even though I didn't have a twitter account until now, I occasionally will view tweets on twitter from sports players or a topic or news that may be trending. Despite having a Facebook account I hardly ever post on it. I usually just use it to follow those that I have connected with in person. Even though I do not use social media too often I like to think that I am fully aware of how big of a role it plays in the world. Technology and the use of it is very important and should definitely be implemented into all classrooms. As for social media being used for classroom purposes, I think that it can prove to be quite useful but I also think that teachers might want to tread with caution when using it. 
Now on to discussing the two articles. The articles: My Favorite Teachers Use Social Media: A student Perspective and A Teenager's View on Social Media are very insightful. These articles are interesting since they aren't your average articles. The articles aren't based on a scholar or an analyst conducting research or analyzing the impact of social media with teenagers. The articles are written by teenagers and are their personal experiences and opinions, which makes the articles unique. The authors views and experiences in the articles were pretty standard. They see social media as something that's important and something that is apart of everyday life. Students feel the need to stay connected and, as author Katie Benmar described it in so many words, use social media as a measurement tool for the social ladder. 
The viewed articles prove to be informative, they give a view on to how important social media is to students and how utilizing social media for classroom uses to teach and keep students engaged can prove to be beneficial. The articles also give opinions on how important and useful certain social media sites are. Getting this type of information can help teachers maybe tailor some kind of classroom activity that can be used on social media. Something as simple as sending out a tweet on twitter about a reminder for an assignment or posting homework on Facebook or Instagram can help keep students updated and engaged with school activity.   


Article links: 
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/04/22/my-favorite-teachers-use-social-media-a.html
https://backchannel.com/a-teenagers-view-on-social-media-1df945c09ac6#.id8myoycr

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