I have learned that a blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A
collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A
collection of links. My own private thoughts. Memos to the world. And,
a means of communicating to students in a way that meets there
educational needs.
While watching the video "In Plain English," I
have come to realize twittering is a great way to find out the latest
news/gossip and it is a microblogging service that allows you to
communicate in a quick and easy manner (140 characters or less). My
personal beliefs about tweeting is that it is a great venue for "noisy"
and "bored" individuals to find out what others are doing. I must admit
I was sucked into the twitter craze about two years ago, but it is
quite time consuming.
We live in the 21st century where our
students "do" social networking. Social networking is a part of who
they are as digital brats. To most of us, getting on Facebook, Twitter,
or Skype is a huge deal and to our students it is their way of life.
Honestly, I think if they didn't have these media outlets, they would
think life would be over! Understanding their connection with these
sites will increase our connection to our students. With this
connection we will be able to talk their language and may even provide
an opportunity to breakthrough to an at-risk student.
Many
educators have students who seem unreachable. Sometimes educators do
not feel comfortable reaching out to their immediate colleagues, so they
reach out to people they follow or to the people who follow them on
Twitter. Many times their Twitter colleagues can provide really
valuable resources that can help them meet the needs of the at-risk
student.
Currently, I follow several networks on Twitter. They
are "20Obama12," "Oprah," "nytimespolitics, "BarackObama," and "13ABC."
Honestly, it has been months since the last time I was on Twitter, but
being in this class has caused me to check my account more often.
I would certainly agree with you on the time consuming aspects of the social media, Twitter in particular. I have been using Twitter for awhile mostly as a tool for professional development in my field. I do at times find many helpful links or resources through using Twitter. I have many professional resources, many of whom I also follow through reading their blogs. I had contemplated using blogs more in my day-to-day classroom communication, but with the number of other "things" that are consuming my day, I don't have the time. I still take some time every couple of days to read other blogs and see what others are posting.
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