Blog Journal #5

I have been interacting with the education related twitter accounts that I followed and an education twitter chat. I have found it beneficial because I am learning how to use twitter since I have never used this platform before. I have also found it beneficial because I am finding interesting articles and other resources that people in the field of education share. For example, I recently participated in the #Elemmathchat where I found out that it could be beneficial to use stories or books with pictures to help teach math to elementary students. That was something that I would have probably never thought of, but I learned about it on Twitter. Overall, I think Twitter might be helpful in my future career because it can help me find and implement new teaching strategies or even find worksheets that can help me better teach my future students. It can also help me keep up with education news. 

Digital divide is a term used to describe the gap that exists between people that readily have access to technology and those who do not. The digital divide affects student success in schools because it can affect how comfortable students are when they need to use technology for assignments or in the real world. Some of the causes of the digital divide are socioeconomic status and location. As a classroom teacher I think I may experience the digital divide if some of my students do not have technology access or if the school that I work at does not have technology access. If some of my students do not have access to technology at home and the school is equipped with technology, that would not greatly affect my teaching strategies because we can still complete activities that require technology access at school as a class. However, if some of my students do not have access to technology and the school is not equipped with technology, that would affect my teaching because I would not have the opportunity to teach my students how to use technology. 

Two software tools that I would like to implement in my future classroom are Google Slides and Google Chrome. Google slides is a software tool developed by Google that allows users to create a slideshow on their own or even collaboratively. I would like to use this in my future classroom because I can use it to display objectives on the board or create a lesson on a slideshow. I can also use it more directly with my future students by showing them how to use the software and assigning a group project so that they practice using the software collaboratively. The second software tool that I would like to use in my future classroom is Google Chrome. Google Chrome is a web browser created by Google. I would like to use it in my future classroom because it is convenient that I can download extensions such as diigo to help me annotate and bookmark useful information that I find on the internet such as worksheets and teaching tips. I can also use it more directly with my future students by teaching them how to search on internet web browsers responsibly. Some schools also download extensions on Google Chrome in school computers to prevent students from entering distracting or inappropriate websites which can also make Google Chrome a good web browser for young students.