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Diving In On Twitter

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This week on Twitter, I deviated from engaging with the 2016 presidential candidates of last week’s post as it hasn’t panned out for me so far. I will return to that avenue because I still think it would be really cool to get a response from one of them, but in order, to really engage, one must size up all the players in the game.

I sought out active Twitter users with perhaps a little more time in their schedules than Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, and came across a site that listed “People and Companies on Twitter Focused on College Affordability.” That proved to be a valuable starting point and let me to The Campaign for Free College Tuition, US PIRG, and the Wisconsin Hope Lab.

I found that US PIRG, which, in their own words, “is a consumer group that stands up to powerful interests whenever they threaten our health and safety, our financial security, or our right to fully participate in our democratic society.” While they have engaged on college tuition talk in the past, they are quiet on the issue at the moment.

The Wisconsin Hope Lab (@wihopelab) is a research laboratory that focuses on several aspects of higher education and they have some very interesting tweets.

The Campaign For Free College Tuition (@FreeCollegeNow) has their own plans for college tuition and engages with universities and politics on a consistent basis. Out of all of the tweets that I sent out this week, this is the only one that I go a (sort of) response from. CFCT added me to one of their lists, so that’s a hint of progress! I still hope to receive a response from the president as I sent tweets both to the campaign’s page and to his personal page.

nov 2.4

Below are the rest of my interactions from this week and just the tip of the iceberg still for this topic. Will be looking into more ways to receive a response this week and continuing to engage.

nov 2.1nov 2.2

Until next time,

MGH

The post Diving In On Twitter appeared first on Professor In Training.

Made Contact!

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In my last post, I explained how I was trying to make contact with people who are apart of the community I am studying. I am studying the LGBT community in regards to social media. So I made a few comments to see if I could  get anyone to talk to me.

My post included the following, “Hello friends :) I am a university student learning about the magnitude of social media, and I have a question for you all. What does it mean to you as a member and/or ally of the LGBTQ community to be able to connect with others on social media?” I was happy to have a few responses. They are as follows: “It is a lot easier to find people like you and people who share the same views. Plus you honestly learn a lot more from other people’s point of views,” another responded, “I feel more accepted when people accept who I am and not judge me based on my gender or who I like. Sharing experiences makes you feel much happier and less alone too,” another wrote, “It’s comforting to know you are not alone,” another person agreed with the last statement replaying, “Yesss,” still another said “It’s really nice to know that there are others who are like you. You are not alone. They accept you, unlike some members of my sh*^% family,” and the last response was someone who answered my question and the user’s question, “It stopped me from killing myself the other say it honestly means so much to me seeing other people’s journeys and how far they’ve come and being able to connect and question and find out things and discover yourself-Hunter (oh and SKITTLES).”

I thanked all these people, not alone because they commented back, but because they were so honest. What I found out was that social media helps LGBTQ members and/or allies from feeling alone. That is the over arching theme of all the comments I’ve had. One specifically said, “It’s comforting knowing you are not alone.” Aloneness or feeling isolated is highly evident (I don’t want to say proven) in the studying I have done. Social media is used as a gateway to connect these people with others just like them, free of judgement, compassionate, understanding, humorous, and liberating. It is used in the pursuit of self discovery, and answers. It lifts them up and brings them together because sometimes they are not so lucky; and their families don’t support them with who they are, they do feel alone, they do feel hopeless, they do want to kill themselves. That is when social media comes in and they are able to connect, truly connect with others who understand all that they are going through.

Welcome to My Leadership Journey

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After more than 20 years of teaching, I have decided to get a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership.  I am excited to begin this journey at California State University-Channel Islands.

CI

Oct. 31 Monitoring Progress on Diversity

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I love the opening paragraph of this chapter about “projectitus” where in diversity activity is equated with diversity progress. The author  goes on to mention that leaders (and I would add ‘others’) grow tired of “spending time on yet another task force”. Continuing on, the author reiterates, “campus reviews of diversity often consist more of information on activities than on institutional change.” In the same section the author asserts, “it appears that the impetus to reflect on the status of diversity often tends to be reactive, as a response to external requirement, as a response to a call to ‘demonstrate’ (and sometimes prove) the effectiveness of a single program in a highly politicized context, or in response to a campus incident.”

These comments hit directly on the head of the question I have often held. This is a problem beyond the higher education realm. It’s the problem, in P-12 education, and our society at large. There are a lot of people, organizations, and causes throwing a lot of ‘fixes’ at the issues of diversity, underrepresented, oppressed, less-abled, you name it. This is a particularly onerous problem in the schools. Plans, programs, policies, are instituted and implemented, before careful examination of the effectiveness of the current plans, programs, and policies. The new plans, programs, policies, are begun before carefully considering their potential effectiveness, or problems which would render them ineffective. In an effort to be politically correct, in line with policy, within the standards, complying with the requirements, poor thinking and evaluation goes on. When this happens change is implemented that never really addresses the problem. Hence, the same issues are revised year after year with little change.

To quote the author again, “numbers do not exist in a vacuum.” Further, “…caution must be used to make sure that data do not become removed from context or used to make the issues so complex that no meaning can be developed. Data and data requests can also get out of control and proliferate to the point of meaninglessness.” The data needs to be carefully and thoughtfully reviewed before it can be used to address the strengths or weaknesses of the institution. I found the section called Orienting the Data to be especially helpful in the process of reflecting on data and the nature of change before decision-making. I also found the webs on 264-268 to be helpful guidelines which could easily be adapted for P-12 use. I dog-eared those pages for possible future reference.

Oct. 31 Inclusive Leadership and Religion

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As a teacher, I’ve been nervous when students ask questions, or mention “God”, “Jesus”, or such in my classroom. I find myself walking on eggshells during the holidays. For ELD it’s important to teach vocabulary for the holidays that students experience in our country. I occasionally have students who do not celebrate holidays at all. Sometimes parents are adamant about what students can/cannot do. Sometimes this can be done without changing much and other times it requires greater shifts. I remember my son coming home from 3rd grade and announcing that EVERY kid in his class was Christian, because they all celebrated Christmas. This prompted a discussion about holidays, and how they have changed. I know many families who celebrate holidays, and traditions from more than one religion due to marriages within their family.

As an individual, I’ve experienced prejudice due to religion. As a child, I attended a few different churches. At age 9 when I decided to join a church, I was ostracized. I was no longer allowed to attend church activities with my friends, some of my friends were no longer allowed to play with me, and I was denied the awards I had earned in another church’s youth program. I remember thinking that surely God wouldn’t want people to act that way towards a child. I shrugged it off and continued with my decision. That was 1969. Ironically, in 1994, I taught a children’s summer program for one of the churches I had been excluded from as a child. I was asked to teach although I was still a member of the church I had joined at 9 years old.  As an adult, in 2000 there was an group in our school district who was actively trying to limit employees from my religion from getting hired because they thought there were ‘too many of them’ on staff and in higher-level district positions. Some of these people were friends and acquaintances who were not aware of my religious affiliation. Again, in 2012, there were verbal threats from an employer to fire myself and 3 other persons due to religious affiliation. The early members of my church fled for their lives due to an ‘extermination order’ which was issued by our government. They fled to a Mexican territory for safety to establish their religious practices.

As a leader, I believe comparative religious education in schools would be a benefit for tolerance and acceptance, but also for the simple reason of becoming educated in religious literacy and becoming more informed citizens. There is a need for prior training, and reputable curriculum so that this is done with respect, accuracy, and as objectively as possible so that students and families do not feel spiritually threatened by it. At the lower grades I like the ‘morning messages’ which focus on character-building traits such as kindness, cooperation, responsibility, hard-work, etc. As the author of this section mentions that many things fall under the category of ‘spirituality’ irrespective of religion, and that individuals do have a ‘spiritual’ cycle of development which is often neglected in our schools. Some aspects of it can and should be taught if we are going to prepare good citizens and students who are ready for all aspects of success in college and/or workplace after graduating from high school.

I found it interesting that religious school institutions were found to have greater instance of comparative religion education, and did an equal, or better job of producing religiously tolerant students. Although I attended a religious university, there were many student organizations for various religious, gender, minority, foreign, and political students. Ironically, there was also an ‘atheist’ student organization. In recent years there has also been much media produced form the school in efforts to support these groups of students within the context of the university. I mention this because earlier in the year the question was raised about how these issues were addressed in such environments. I believe education and access to education truly is the key to effecting change from the inside out.

A Day Without Technology

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Our class assignment from last week was to attempt to spend a day without the use of technology. For me, this included Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest. Unfortunately, because of my job as a nanny and Communication Chair position in a campus organization, I was unable to turn off my phone a computer completely for the full 24 hours. I did text and email during the day, but only for pertinent circumstances. Everything else I uninstalled from my phone and I’ve spent the last few days without.

I typically don’t spend much time anyway with social media or television, but it was definitely a new experience having no notifications on my phone from all the apps. I’ve kept the apps off my phone and it has been refreshing to not feel obligated to answer every single message, birthday, or update. I’ve found that I’m staying more focused on what I’m doing at any given time, rather than stopping to check something on my phone and then get back to work. I think this will be helpful in the upcoming weeks, when we are finishing up the semester, so that I can be sure that I am completely invested in my studying ans school work.

Generally, I think this is an important exercise for everyone to try every once in a while. It is obvious that many people spend a ridiculous amount of time using electronics, whether it be video games, social media, online shopping, etc, and not enough time focusing on the present. It seems as though we are so absorbed in the lives of others that sometimes we are lacking in the attention to ourselves and to the people around us in our own lives. I hope this becomes a more common realization and people are able to take a step back, leaving the technology aside to truly experience life.

Making Contact!

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This week I was to make contact with the people on my topic which is the LGBT Community.

I was a bit hesitant on what to put and on what site to make contact. I decided on Instagram and made contact through a comment because I notice very different people post there and I wanted to hear the contrast of the two.

So what I commented was essentially, “Hello friends :) I am a student in University studying the magnitude of social media and I have a question for you all. What does social media mean to you as a member or ally of the lgbt community?”

I haven’t had any comments back, but I look forward to the comments that do arise. If no one replays to my comment I think I will post the same question again in hopes that someone will comment.

I must admit I was nervous to ask a question and put it out there. I am very curious as to what members of this community might say, and I am further curious as to what people OUTSIDE of this community (trolls) might say. I wonder if they will even comment at all. Truthfully, I hope not. I don’t understand trolls, how could someone spew hate speech so boldly, and not think about the repercussions that it might entail?  I do look forward, though, to those who have actual insight to the matter. I want to know what they have to say. I want to know what it means to them to be apart of a community that can connect online, and what that might mean to someone who can only connect with someone online.

Active Participation – Engaging in Social Media with Purpose

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right

This week in #UNIV349DC we are looking to truly engage in social issues online by being active participants. With college tuition being a hot topic for the upcoming election but in few other places, I have decided to engage with the politicians who will potentially be making decisions regarding the costs of college in the near future. As previous posts can attest to, this cause is near and dear to my heart and I truly believe that we can make leaps and bounds as a country if we weren’t turning such a profit from education. Some of the most brilliant minds in our history would not have been able to afford further schooling by today’s standards. People often ask what if the cure for cancer is hidden inside the mind of someone who can’t afford college? I think that investing in the minds of students is the absolute best investment that we could ever make. As a tax payer, I would happily watch my tax dollars being spent on our future rather than creating more messes.

I reached out to Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on Twitter because they both have high presences there and are the front runners regarding this issue and in the election as a whole.

feelthebern fightshillnah

As you can see from the number of retweets and favorites, they are capturing the attention of Twitter users. I have been following Bernie Sanders’s campaign from early on, so I have a relatively good idea about his goals, but have disregarded a lot of what Hillary Clinton has said until the statement that she made in the photo above. “…your fights are my fights,” she says and I sought to challenge that because the cost of college is easily one of my biggest struggles. I look forward to hearing from the camps of both candidates and will report back on any progress.

I also sought to engage with all Twitter users by tweeting out a question and creating a hashtag. Fingers crossed that something comes of it, because I truly would like to hear the thoughts of other students or even parents – those that are directly affected by the issue.

 

thoughts

 

Wish me luck!

MGH, Professor in Training

The post Active Participation – Engaging in Social Media with Purpose appeared first on Professor In Training.

My Contribution to Social Media

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So this week we are supposed to engage in some sort of social media, whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, or what have you. The way we are supposed to engage is by commenting on the topic or commenting on something someone else said on the page of what ever we chose.  We could also share the page on our social media cites to see what our friends say about the topic.

I chose to use the World Health Organization because I have been using this site in my last posts and have come some what familiar with the page. I noticed that they post images of their next project based on the date. For example their last post was polio. Oct 23 is international polio day. So for the last couple of days they put posts about polio and what people can do around the world.

This time I am going to put a post. I asked a question: What can I do to help in the U.S California? (I say this because they are based in Switzerland). Interestingly enough, my post was not visible on their page. Instead what I got was a post up that said “we will review your post”; indicating that I can’t just post something on their web page. My question is who is getting blocked from their page besides just me. So far the only way I can interact with this organization is by commenting on something they already have on their wall. I find this not very interactive at all…

Here’s the link! Try and see if you can see my comment.

https://www.facebook.com/WHO?fref=ts

Oct. 25 Chapter 7

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Because my week is so busy, and the readings are long and complex, I don’t get the chance to read them slowly enough, or with the best circumstances, to absorb and make all the connections. However, there are always statements that stand-out for some reason and make me think a little more deeply, or resonate with my own experiences. I had a thought come up tonight that I had a couple of weeks ago in class when we were talking about pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. I have gained awareness as we’ve discussed all the many sub-groups of people, their disadvantages and challenges. Much of it has been eye-opening. Some of the statistics have been more stark than I realized (although statistics themselves can be biased and I think the real issues are often missed when our eyes are too closely on the statistics). Hearing from the heart of each of our classmates has been enlightening. We (all the sub-groups, advantaged, or disadvantaged) are more alike than we are different. We have all, in very different ways, suffered challenges that require us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps in order to succeed. I read Angie’s comment and the effect of one person who created a break through for her. We (black, latino, asian, male, female, young, old, white, from wealth or poverty, LGBTQ…) are ALL in this Master’s Program…and why…because we have all been able to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. I guarantee that we have each faced challenges that have made us doubt, made us falter, made us feel disadvantaged. However, unlike the person who is not here…we have found the courage, the perseverance, the ability to do hard things, even when odds were stacked against us. I think that is what we need to teach, that’s what got each of us here. Page 213 in Smith struck me and made me think of this again–“If I were to describe a pattern that emerges in special-purpose institutions concerning student success, it is that the faculty, staff, and the institutional ethos convey a belief in students’ ability to succeed and excel, regardless of their background….The strategy involves a strong commitment to support, excellence, and belief in students, even when they might not believe in themselves.” On page 214 the text continues, “…they convey a common message to graduates that education is for a purpose beyond themselves…Thus, students who may not come with all the educational preparation needed to succeed are encouraged to persist and work because their success or failure has implications beyond themselves as individuals.” One other study of successful  programs noted on page 214 said, “…initiatives that incorporate characteristics of high expectations, belief, support, an institutional ethos that suggests that effort and hard work matter.”  I know it’s oversimplified to say, we are more alike as humans than we are different…you can do it…keep working…believe in yourself…it’s hard, but you can do it…it’s about more than just you…we’re all in this together…your success will make a difference…but, sometimes I wonder. The story of hope is powerful. And when one is committed and in motion towards a goal, the miracle happens.

I feel like tonight’s post for me is not as ‘intellectually’ reflective, but this is the thought that keeps coming to mind after reading both chapters along with the book And Still We Rise. I’ve spent a lot of time in my life trying to pick apart why, how some people make it regardless of their circumstances and others don’t.  There’s a lot of ‘outside’ work can be done to fix things…ultimately I feel we need to help all of our students do the ‘inside’ work so they can overcome the obstacles that may never be fully understood, and/or removed. (Please feel free to straighten me out, I’m not trying to just wear rose-colored glasses)

On a humorous, but not so humorous, note about the need for “advising…aggressive advising” on college campuses. I was attending a highly respected 4 year university for 2 1/2 years before I had the courage to ask what people were talking about when they talked about a “bachelor’s “. More than half-way through my classes , paying for my own education and living, 13 hours away from home, making all of my grades, and I didn’t even know what I was in college to get!!! I was too embarrassed to ask, because it seemed like common knowledge to everyone else, and I thought I should know.