Week 12 Blog

There are many benefits of being involved with social media. Making connections with those outside your circle can be very beneficial to you in many ways. From personal experience, I have made many positive connections with educators and professionals through Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. 

Creating a professional Twitter can be confusing and challenging, but that takes time. It takes patience to build a network of professionals. I created a professional Twitter over a year ago and have participated in numerous Twitter chats about ways in improving education.

The benefits of being socially involved through the media and technology sources are endless. Getting connected with the right crowd can help you with a potential interview, with bettering your job duties, reference letters, and confidence in your work. There is no negative reason to get yourself out in the social media world and get involved. 

Educational Twitter

The Twitter world has many different sides. It has the social media side where all age ranges tweet comments, life changes, connections, and photographs. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Twitter is used for professional development as well. Businesses use Twitter to promote, advertise, and inform. Professionals use Twitter to communicate, recognize, and inform. Schools use twitter to communicate, educate, and reward.

Creating a professional Twitter has many advantages. By creating a professional Twitter for myself, I am now able to follow multiple Twitter chats, professional tweeters, and I am able to access an abundance of educational tools and materials.

The educators and accounts I have decided to follow will be very helpful for my future classroom. Through a few days of scrolling through tweets, accounts, and live chats, I have learned so much. I have taken notes on things that I need to bring to my future classroom as well as notes to give my cooperating teachers to better their classroom.

I plan to use my professional Twitter account to connect with other educators world wide. I plan to collaborate with them about classroom plans and lessons. I also plan to use Twitter to connect my students with students across the world.

Week 10- Blog

In class this week, I learned about some tech tools that I have never heard of before. I was so intrigued to have my eyes opened to all of the tools out there that can assist myself as a future teacher. Osmo caught my eye because it involves the iPad. Before even playing with the tool, I knew kids would love it for that reason. Osmo has a mirror that allows you to write, draw, use shapes, and so many other features to assist in learning. Students can easily learn to write letters, numbers, and words by tracing what they need to write. This tool is great for students learning how to read and write. I think that this tool is definitely worth investing in for each classroom.

As a class we took a 'field trip' to the CTLT to view some more tools that could be used in the classroom. The tool that I was most interested in was the 3D printer. I have heard a lot about 3D printers, but have never really seen one in action. I watched a chain link being made out of plastic fibers, and it only took around 20 minutes and it was so interesting. It was fun to watch the machine add a layer each time until the product was finished. This tool would be great in the classroom! Students can use the 3D printer to make visual representations for projects, create specific tools, etc. 

I learned so many things about tools that I never knew existed. It is good to know that there is most likely a tool that can cover any lesson that needs to be taught to aid students. I love learning about new tools and what they can do to better education.