Introduction to Myself and My Experience with Technology

Hi! My name is Kailey. I’m currently a Graduate student at The University of Akron. I am working on my Masters of Science in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Life Science and Earth Science. My goal is to become a Junior High/ High School Science teacher. I am passionate about science and I hope to pass my love of the field down to my future students. My background is in Exercise Science, so my teaching experience is limited. I am a very open-minded individual, and enjoy hearing others’ viewpoints on different topics. I enjoy meeting new people and having good conversation. As for my worldview, that is something that is constantly changing. I’m learning new information every single day. I haven’t traveled much outside of the United States, which is one of my major goals in life. I think by doing so, I can expand my view of the world that we live in even more.

I currently use Facebook and I have a LinkedIn account. I also recently joined Twitter as well. I try to represent myself as a young professional with my social media. I also use social media for picture sharing and for communication purposes. I think as a future educator, it is important to portray ourselves as professionals when using public social media.

I read two different articles in order to see how teenagers feel about social media in the classroom. The first, “My Favorite Teachers Use Social Media: A Student Perspective”, gives the perspective of a new high school Freshman. One major point he brings up is that social media and school are two completely separate topics. Students are very interested in social media, while not so interested in school. By combining the two, we can hopefully engage students more. By doing things such as posting homework assignments to Instagram, having students create a Facebook page for a character in a story, etc. we can attempt to make social media a part of students education.

The second article that I read, “A Teenager’s View on Social Media”, broadened my horizons on the technology used by the younger generation. If you aren’t familiar with all of the social media that is available these days, I would definitely recommend visiting the link given below to brush up on new technology available. Staying current on social media is important for me, as I hope to incorporate it into my classroom. Reading articles written by students and just talking to students about new social media can help us to stay current.

I think that technology, when used correctly, can be very useful in the classroom. Social media is something that almost all kids use nowadays. By connecting with them on social media, we can have a more open line of communication as well as open many doors for additional learning. I feel that kids feel more comfortable asking questions on social media than they do over e-mail. With the help of this blog, my goal is to learn additional ways to incorporate social media and technology into my classroom.

I hope to learn and also to help educate others by using this blog. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post or to e-mail me at kailey.kyser@gmail.com.