#4 I Tweetin' Love Twitter

   I love Twitter. Simple as that. I've been an avid Twitter user for a couple years now so the app is very familiar to me. For the purposes of this class, Twitter has offered an interesting experience.

   So far, I have interacted with some of my classmates through liking and retweeting some of their tweets. I've also participated in one of the Twitter Challenges posted by @eme2040.

   In a professional setting, I can't see that I would see myself using Twitter much. Unless I become a mainstream civil rights advocate who used Twitter to reach mass audiences, the app doesn't really seem to meet any of the needs of a private attorney. In a personal way though, I can see myself continuing to use Twitter as a resource to stay connected to friends and things happening in the world.

   The digital divide creates a "disparity among students" in a learning environment because not all students have computers/internet access at home. Additionally, not every school is equally equipped to facilitate technological learning for all students.
 
  Causes of divide might be a student's socioeconomic status at home or even the school district for which they are zoned. Some schools have more computers and it is therefore easier for teachers in these environments to encourage technological learning in the classroom.

   As a teacher, I would need to know which students have access to technology at home and which don't. That way, I could plan lessons and at home assignments that don't exclude students who don't have access to computers or the internet at home.
 
  However, meeting state technology standards might be challenging if I work in an underfunded school. While I may want to encourage students to use technology, I may not have the tools to do it in the classroom. It is also important to know that while it's important not to leave any individual students at a disadvantage, it is also important to not leave the class as a whole at a disadvantage by not using technology at all. There is a delicate balance that would be a challenge to find.

   If I were a 7th grade Civics or American Government teacher, I would probably use a couple different types of software to help both me and my students.
 
   Some that I would use frequently would probably be an academic software like Microsoft Publisher in order to create campaign posters, political cartoons, political newspaper articles or other supplemental materials to help teach my students about government. Another might be a reference software like Brittanica that students could use to research things that relate to the formation of American government. These would be important supplemental materials that make things more interesting than just watching a powerpoint or reading a textbook.

   Software that I probably wouldn't use frequently would be things like tutorials drill-and-practice (ex. Math Analogies) because there isn't really anything that would be taught in a Government classroom that needs to be "practiced". It's not like math where there are different problems that can be practiced until the process is understood. The material is mostly history or understanding how the branches of government work together.