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The Social Networks - Contributions to Classmate Learning

Throughout the semester, I have been pretty meticulous about staying up to date on commenting on my classmates posts and trying to stay connected on Twitter. One of the great things that I've reflected on about this course is the fact that these online spaces have created a sense of community between me and my fellow teachers (or future teachers). Although this was one of the requirements for this course, I did enjoy the process of seeing the different learning projects that people were working on and trying to monitor their progress along the way. Speaking from my own experience, it is quite incredible how much you can get done in a few months, and I felt like seeing other students challenge themselves to go outside their comfort zone was motivating for me to stay on top of my learning project. The main ways that I tried to stay engaged with my classmates was through commenting on their blog posts, engaging in class discussions during our Zoom meetings and commenting on classmates posts on Twitter, and in a few rare moments, even providing some unsolicited advice or feedback! I will discuss these occurrences and share some screenshots below!


Personal Contributions

One of the things that I was conscious of throughout the semester and reading my classmates blog posts was when I could make contributions or try to help with their journey. Unfortunately, my array of talents and skills are somewhat limited so I felt like these opportunities were few and far between. However, early in the semester, when people began working on their projects, I attempted to give a few tidbits of advice to help them along their journey. In the post below, I provided Faith with an online tuning website that I had learned about through a previous course I took while working on my degree. My lack of musical experience was very different from Faith's, but I found the website that I shared in the image was super helpful if you didn't have a physical tuner in hand. For me, I was conscious about this in being able to use it if ever teaching an instrument in the classroom as it may be difficult for the teacher to tune 29 ukuleles, so I figured this may be something that she was interested in learning about!

The picture posted below is also another music related tidbit. As I mentioned, I am not experienced at all in this realm and felt like I could only contribute as I had recently gone through the journey of learning to play the ukulele, the first instrument I'd ever really played. In this case, I shared a neat resource that I had also learned about through my old course as a way to learn about music theory and to practice different notes. One of the great things about this site was that it actually allowed you to play a keyboard to practice determining which notes were which. I'm not sure if Jerico ever took my advice, but I tried to help with my limited knowledge and experience!


Posting on Blogs

As I mentioned before, I have been meticulous with posting on people's blogs as it is an aspect of this course that I have really enjoyed. Being able to see what people have learned over a short period of time and to see their growth is inspiring and encouraging. I feel as though the learning process can feel difficult and challenging as you get later in life and sometimes we feel as though you can't teach old dogs new tricks, but seeing all of my classmates pick up a variety of skills and tasks helped to make me reflect on the importance of lifelong learning. Although I didn't always feel that I had much to contribute in terms of feedback or advice, I did consistently try to post my thoughts and reflections after reading my classmates posts or just provide general encouragement. Sometimes positive feedback and encouragement are all someone needs on their learning journey, an important reflection to consider as I transition into my teaching career! Here are just a few of many examples of me commenting on my classmates posts.


Engaging on Twitter

As you can see above, my efforts to engage with my classmates on Twitter had a range of purposes. The examples I've shared give a glimpse into how I attempted to engage with my classmates. At times, I simply aimed to thank them or express appreciation for what they've shared and to share my feeling of solidarity in what they posted. However, at times I also attempted to provide my knowledge or understanding to help answer their questions as evidenced in my response to Jozelle. In the case of the tweet by Kaelynn above, I felt the need to express my strong opinions related to the controversial article and statements made by Danielle Smith. At times, I feel like it is important to speak up about issues that you feel passionately about and although the pandemic and vaccination is not a passion of mine, the undermining of other peoples experience of discrimination really hit home for me in that article. I feel, as many people have stated over the years, that staying silent can often mean being complicit with a point of view. I think this is an important reflection as a future teacher - we must advocate and defend our beliefs, especially in standing up for the most vulnerable people in our society. Ultimately though, the benefit of Twitter has been this shared understanding of the experience of teachers - the challenges, the joys, the resources, and all the other aspects that come into effect.


Final Thoughts

My final thoughts about this experience are this: the community of fellow future teachers both within our class and in the larger realm of Twitter and society has been tremendously important in my growth, understanding, and knowledge of the intricacies of teaching. I have a large group of friends, family, and acquaintances whom are teachers and I truly value these people and will lean on them for advice, suggestions, and encouragement as I begin this journey in the field of education. I do however, have joy in knowing that I am not just limited to these people and have a breadth of resources and connections in the online community that I can rely on for encouragement, uplifting, and a vast array of resources to use in my own classroom. One of the things I have greatly appreciated in this course is the mix of future teachers and current teachers. I have been encouraged by my fellow classmates who are implementing best practices in their classrooms as teachers, while I consider carrying these practices over into my future practice. Ultimately, although I did not feel as though I always had that much to offer to my classmates, I do feel as though what I gained from them was incredibly invaluable and have appreciated the experience!

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