A bit about me (Pro Blog Post #2)

I love to read, but writing is definitely something I do more of. Whether it's journaling, writing essays for classes, or poetry, it is something I enjoy doing in my free time (as well as in my school work). I have written many poems, and I love writing slam poetry as well. One day I would love to perform one of them somewhere, although I think it can be scary sharing a voice that is so personal to me. I have published one of my poems a few years back in a magazine for my previous college. If you wanna check it out: https://www.mchenry.edu/voices/pdf/voices2024-old.pdf I don't have a huge amount of experience helping other write other than the occasional peer editing in classes, but it's something that I am very interested in and excited to do as a teacher!

My first REAL post! (Pro Blog Post #1)

I don’t have much experience composing online, other than social media and texting, but I do think it has impacted me in many ways. Social media is a big time waster in my life, yet I am addicted. It has become something I turn to for comfort, through every emotion. No matter how late at night it is, I will make sure to include my down time at the end of the night to scroll on Tik Tok and Instagram. I do post comments at one time or another, but most of the time they lack depth. There have not been many times where I have used the internet to promote social action, but I do like to watch videos and view content that discuss social issues.

Turning this into more on the educator side, using online materials is very important in today’s world. It is nearly impossible to teach students in a classroom setting without allowing them access to the internet and everything it has to offer. It is important for us as educators to understand that although not all students have access, they all should. From the Jenkins reading, we can see that media is not a one size fits all situation. It’s not all about powerpoints and padlets, but many other forms of learning that can come from a few resources. One of the readings we viewed was about Digital Literacies and TikTok. The discussion of how BookTok can be a place where students find new reads is an interesting take. Although I do have mixed feelings about this, specifically because BookTok can sometimes show more "adult" themed books, it can be a great place for students to discover new titles in an easier format. I could even see this taken a step further, by allowing students to pick a book for an assignment and showing you the BookTok that inspired this. Being able to hear the summary and the person's rating in one short video can encourage students to give the book a try!

First, as an educator, it is necessary to teach students the importance of multitasking, and using online resources can help them learn this skill. Although sometimes it is difficult (even for adults), multitasking is a tool that can make or break certain situations in the workplace and during studies. Giving students different tasks (although not overwhelmingly so) can help them build this skill. 

It is also important to have students learn about sources. How do they differentiate a reliable source from an unreliable one? Something that college students normally have nailed down, but takes a while for middle and high schoolers to get the hang of. Checking the authors, the date it was written, and other pieces of a source are crucial for teaching students the simple skill of detecting a bad source or a good source.

Overall, using media is a blessing and a curse, specifically for ELA education. It can be used as such a great tool, allowing students to search what they need and then some and bringing us resources for learning that we never imagined. Although this is true, it can put a damper on education. Allowing students free access to that much content, and allowing them access to tools such as ChatGPT can bring learning to just regurgitating information.

What do you think? 

Well that’s how I see it anyways.