Digital Blog Post #C- Chapter 8

Digital Blog Post #C- Chapter 8- Communicating and Collaborating with Social Media

First, when using the power of social media, teachers can communicate with students, their parents and even other teachers around the world, and they do not always have to use emails,texting or blogs as the chapter explained. Surprisingly, this chapter also explains that twitter can be a source of communication for teachers wanting to talk to other teachers in their community or even around the world. "You can search hashtags (#edchat, #edtech, and #ukedchat) for general conversations about education or instructional technology" (Maloy, et al, 2013, p. 199). This page also says you can look up #scichat and #scitalk for anything about science, and also hashtags for english/language arts, math, and so much more. After reading about how twitter was a place for teachers to talk to other teachers,  it really surprised me. I actually went on my personal twitter account and read many comments teachers have made and are continuing to make on all of these hashtags. When I become a teacher in a few years to come, I am going to start using twitter to talk to different teachers about different subject matter etc. It will be very interesting to know how other teachers teach their students even when they are complete strangers, and the fact that they could live anywhere in the United States, or even outside of the United States is very interesting to know as well. The video below will explain how to use some teacher hashtags. Along with the video, I am providing a ToonDoo comic that relates to what I talked about above.

Second, When children text now a days, they use textspeak or digitalk, According to Maloy, et al, that way of texting is "an abbreviated collection of symbols and letters that are used for quick communication when using cell phones or text messaging on a computer" (Turner, 2010). One of 3 examples from this book is, "Hey, Wuz ^? Nm here. U look gr8 2day Wht R U doing 2morrow?" When I text my friends, I write to them as if I am actually talking to them in person. So for example, I would of wrote that digitalk/textspeak out properly like this: "Hi, what's up? Not much here. You look great today. What are you doing tomorrow?". Many children today are so use to texting in the improper way that they actually start using it in the classroom when doing classwork, and even at home when doing homework. Yes, I am sure I have texted improperly before, and may still do it here and there, but sense I am in college now, I got myself out of that habit, because it is bad to write that way all the time. When I become a teacher and I notice a child writing this way, I will try my absolute best to get them out of this horrible habit.

Photo credit to Krypto on Flickr

Third, Another form of communication teachers can use to get a hold of students, their parents or other teachers is with something called Skype. Skype is a computer program where you can call people and talk to them through a microphone just like you would if you were talking to them on the phone. When talking over the computer, you can video chat and talk/see the person at the same time. Skype also has an option where you can type back and forth to one another if you do not feel like actually talking or seeing the person your on with. With Skype, Teachers can video chat other teachers that could be in the same building as them, different state or town and/or even in a different country and have their classes meet one another through the computer camera. When I become a teacher, I am going to try and video chat another teacher in the same building as me, and see if we can do a big class lecture together and see if it could work. That would be very interesting to find out!

In Conclusion, Their are many ways for teachers to communicate through social media. You can use Twitter, Skype, blogs, teacher websites, and so much more. When it comes to teachers communicating with students, they will not always get proper English out of their students. Many students are so use to texting with improper English that it sometimes shows up in their school work. That is why teachers are here to help, to make an impact in their students lives in a way that is big or even small!

Resources:

D. (2014, January 26). Twitter Hashtags for Education Explained. Retrieved May 24, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5KU7x1ujqw

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Murphy, S (2015, May 24).Teachers use twitter. Created with Toondoo with http://www.toondoo.com/cartoon/10166947