Exciting Blog Post Name #2

https://www.writeabout.com/2017/03/should-everyone-get-a-trophy/#comment-192630

Today, it was really eye-opening to see just how greatly social media can enhance the learning experience for kids. It seems like common sense to meet kids in the space that they are already spending the most time, but for some reason it didn't occur to me until just earlier today. It's crazy to think that just by simply creating a hashtag, you can create an entire community that your kids can actively contribute to! Not only that, but it is self monitoring! Like Jeff mentioned in class, when kids post to social media, 95% of the time they are going to have their real name and a picture of themselves attached to it. Because of this, coupled with the fact that the students I will work with in secondary are already self conscious, kids will only post stuff that is "good" for the community in one way or another.

I think exploring ways to use visual aids was really good as well. We talked about how effective this strategy can be in one of our other classes, but to explore websites and resources that we have (for FREE) that allow us to get great visual aids is so cool! There are such an unbelievable number of photographers and artists out there who would love to just have their stuff used in any capacity! I know because some of my friends are aspiring photographers themselves (see below)!

Another interesting thing that we learned about during the second half of the day was the creative commons. While using the photos talked about above are in fact free, it is important to give the photographers/artists credit (especially if they are requesting it, because you are required to by law...). But more than just that it is RAD to see how easy it is for people to have their content shared and used by random people all the way around the world. Like Jeff said, there is a certain sense of pride and accomplishment when you have something of yours on the internet commented on/shared/whatever. Social media is more powerful than I thought, and I thought it was pretty powerful to start with!!

Photographer friends!!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/125465757@N05
https://www.flickr.com/photos/143631930@N04