Blog Post #5

     My experience using social media mostly includes Pinterest, with a little bit of Instagram. I haven't been on social media except for Pinterest for very long so I am still learning Instagram, but I have found Pinterest to be very helpful in my personal learning network. I don't interact with specific people on Pinterest other than following close friends, but I have relied on Pinterest for inspiration and ideas for anything and everything. This can definitely be used in my future career to get ideas for things from classroom decor to lesson activities. As far as Instagram, I've followed creators who are teachers and who post about their experience teaching and different activities they do. This is something I could see myself  using as inspiration for teaching styles, because a lot of these videos capture them as they're teaching and I can pick up on their personal teaching styles and implement pieces of theirs into mine depending on if I like it. 

    The digital divide that I witnessed growing up was drastic. I've been to many schools, both digitally "rich" and digitally "poor". A lot of the technology I had access to growing up was only at home, and not used in the classroom aside from smartboards. Getting to high school was the first time I felt technology was immersed in my education. I do think it prepared me for my college technology experience though, at least so far. Even though it was only prevalent in high school, covid forced an environment that was incredibly tech heavy and I was able to use that time to educate myself on any platforms that I wasn't familiar with before. I used the same platforms in high school that I'm using now, and I don't feel as if I have less knowledge than I need in technology to succeed. 

    I love the idea of collaborative writing and social annotation as a tool for learning in the classroom because it's a way for students to hear their peers opinions in a less chaotic way than having everyone talk at once. I think these tools can be super efficient in a lesson that can be based more on forming opinions than on facts, or in a lesson where examples are helpful. Sometimes hearing examples from peers that a student can relate to more is way better for their understanding that me as a teacher giving examples that they may not fully process. Tools like Padlet could be used in a lesson on synonyms. Me giving examples that I feel are clear may not be as clear to them as an example another student can come up with, and it also gives all students the ability to put instruction into practice to further understanding.