Blog Post #4

    I have used social media since I was very young, meaning it has grown with me as a source of learning, inspiration, and entertainment. Social media has supported my ongoing learning as a part of my personal learning network as it has given me free and unwavering access to learning resources, personal testimonies to paths in which I am interested, and supported personal growth. Through social media, I am able to connect with friends and strangers, building upon in-person connections by keeping in-touch with friends that although physically far away, are digitally still present. Across all platforms, social media has been an important part of my personal learning network as it has allowed me insight on potential career paths, future successes, and the endless possibilities to which I have access. By seeing other people's lives as elementary school teachers, I feel social media has garnered a sense of creativity, inspiration, and overall excitement within myself as I venture to begin my career path, giving me ideas for lesson plans, classroom management strategies, and classroom set-up. 

    Each school I attended growing up was incredibly digitally rich and sought to provide technological access to all students, including those who may have less access to the internet at home. In elementary school and beyond, students were given access to personal Chromebooks, computer labs, and digital literacy preparation such as online assignments and coding classes. Because I was given such extensive access to technology during my schooling, transitioning to the technological needs of college was simple and painless. I was taught how to use Microsoft Office, Google applications, Canvas, and a wide variety of other popular learning software, so I ultimately could not have been more prepared for the applications I would need to use for college work. 

    I believe including software in which students can collaborate and make comments on the information they read and write allows them to truly analyze things such as assigned readings, classmate work, and personal writing. In my classroom, I would like to encourage the use of simple annotative platforms which may already be familiar with students. In this way, it will be easy to grow and build upon students' understanding of the usefulness and intention of annotations without overcomplicating the subject. Using familiar softwares such as Google Docs or Hypothesis in the lesson, I would like to assign an essay or creative writing assignment in which students create their own work regarding an assigned topic and have other students give support, corrections, and suggestions using Hypothesis or a Google Doc. I would encourage my students to remain respectful and use the annotations as an opportunity to build community and collaboration in the classroom.