Blog Journal #5

     The digital divide is a considerably involved issue that deeply affects our education system and the opportunity and success of students across the United States.  Technology has permeated our daily lives, such that its presence is hardly avoidable. In turn, the use of personal devices, computers, and laptops have become integrated into lesson plans, group assignments, homework. Even under ordinary circumstances, children without access to a computer or internet at home find themselves at more of a disadvantage than their peers. Particularly during a time like COVID, when schools were put online almost entirely, a child's access to technology, or lack thereof greatly impacted their ability to keep up their personal academic progress and stay on par with peers. Furthermore, depending on how well funded a school district is, students who may be looking to their school to help provide them with the electronic devices they need to complete their work, actually find themselves entirely on their own. As a future teacher, this may look like having students who cannot print things out at home, have access to a computer, or even home internet. As a result, it will be important for myself to ensure that I know my students and what they have access to at the start of the school year. This way, when there are online assignments and projects, I can provide appropriate time in class to get them completed. 

  Twitter has been simultaneously what I thought it would be like, and yet very different. Mainly, I never thought of Twitter as being a forum for professionals and those pursuing their education. I assumed that it was more for buzz-word news stories and celebrity updates. This has certainly shaped my view on how I can use Twitter. I can now see myself using this platform as future teacher to get connected to resources and other professionals in my field. 

    Looking to implementing academic software in my classroom, two in particular stood out to me: Google Classroom and Kahoot. Google Classroom provides students with a platform to view assignments, communicate with peers, and reach out to their teacher. It is free for K-12 use in schools, making it one of the few free softwares that I found. When I was a student in Alachua County, we all had a school provided gmail account, and thus, Google Classroom automatically linked itself to our Google Docs, Slides, and Drive. This made turning in assignments and collaborating with classmates that much more efficient and straight-forward. To supplement a classroom platform, I want to utilize Kahoot. Personally, I love the healthy, competitive spirit that it encourages in students, and the way that students are then motivated wit really do their best. Additionally, though this can also be a disadvantage, the time sensitive nature of Kahoot means that students do not really have the time to spend over analyzing the options or second-guessing. Also, I want to use this software as a way to have fun quizzing students before a test, and where, regardless of their placement, they receive credit for participating, and get to see which questions they got wrong, to help them best prepare.