Blog 4

It was a slow start for me to keep up with my Twitter account because I wasn't fully aware of what I was supposed to be doing, but once I stayed after one class to clarify and then once I started to actually tweet out and follow people I understood what the assignment was asking us to do. I have been following Education Weekly and responding to their tweets most often, and I have found they have several articles with very interesting points about American education. Twitter would be a good way to get up to date news on education once I become a teacher, as long as I am following a credible source and not just  random accounts (or the Onion).

Digital Divide affects the students who are not able to do their work at home because they do not have computers, this could mean they do not have the same knowledge and computer skills that someone who has full access to up-to-date technology would have. Usually the cause for digital divide is the split between students who come from low-income, sometimes rural families and other students who live in the city and can afford the "latest" technology. I have been trying to come up with ways I can give students access to the school computer labs, and one solution I have thought of is to hold "office hours" where I stay after school to either help students that need extra help (just like we do in college) or I will be waiting either in the classroom (if we have computers there) or I will be in the computer labs, and hopefully the students that need the extra help will be able to stay after to get the extra help, and have me there to guide them instead of trying to learn it all on their own.

As an Elementary teacher I think I will use the following softwares the most, both on my own and with students, are Microsoft Publisher, Encyclopedia Britannica, Math Analogies, Reading Blaster, Virtual Frog, and Success Maker. elementary school teachers typically teach all of he subjects to their students, or are there to oversee while they are learning form another teacher/resource, so I find it to be my job to make sure the students have a way to practice each subject. Some of those I will be using and not my students, and some my students will need but I won't; however, it is important to know what you are giving your students so I still plan to practice with the websites and softwares I give them so if they experience trouble I will have an understanding on why, whether it's technical or a comprehension issue.