Mapping My Digital Space

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Weekly Update

Hi everyone! I hope your week is going great so far. We are halfway there, keep pushing through. My classroom vibes have been amazing this week. My students have their routines down and are already showing so much growth in completing assignments and learning new concepts! I have parent/teacher conferences tomorrow night until 8:00. Then looking forward to a half day on Friday. 

Topic of the Week

This week I am analyzing my digital space and how I use it in my personal and professional life. To begin this blog, I looked into a concept from David White. In this post, David shares the difference between and online visitor and an online resident. He states, "In visitor mode individuals do not leave any social trace online. Much online activity is undertaken in this mode." In other words, if an individual is a online visitor, they only use it to engage in research. This could be a simple Google search, then once they find their answer or become knowledgable, they would get off the internet. Whereas, an online resident is interacting with others through a digital platform. He expresses, "when in resident mode the individual is going online to connect to, or to be with, other people. This mode is about social presence." What does your digital space look like, are you a visitor or resident?

Life of an Online Resident

I am 100% an online resident. As a 22 year old educator, I engage in many social media platforms in my professional and personal life. I'm usually up-to-date on all the social media trends. Below you will find a map of my digital space. However, I want to share how I use some of my social media accounts. I have had the same Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter accounts since 2013. With that being said, these accounts have shared my experience growing up. These social media accounts allow me to engage with my friends and family and see what they are doing throughout the day. I also watch videos on TikTok. As an educator, I would say I am on Teacher TikTok. I save videos of different teaching strategies for teaching and classroom management. I have recently made an Instagram account for my classroom. This allows parents to follow and see pictures of the kids learning throughout the week (of course with parent-consent). I use Remind in school to communicate with parents daily. This platform is basically like texting, but without using my personal phone number. During the day, I usually do not get on social media when I am working during the day. However, if I need a brain break during lunch or plan periods I often check my Snapchat and Instagram. When I get home from work most days I also scroll through my phone to see what my friends and family are up to. Also, at night I watch TikToks, if I'm not reading or grading. I enjoy sharing funny videos with my friends.

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See you next week!

My highlight this week was during a science lesson about inherited traits. We were discussing that you inherit traits from your parents such as dimples and freckles. Then I had a curious third grader ask me, "Why does my dad have lines on his forehead?" My first thought- WRINKLES. I had to explain to my class as you get older your skin loosens and eventually you may have something called wrinkles. Do you have any highlights from this week?