Social Networking Activity

Social Networking Activity

Vocation	Name	Twitter Name	Date Followed
Professor	Dr. Lesesne	@ProfessorNana	8/26/18
Professor	Dr. Perry	@kperry	8/26/18
Elem. Librarian	Stacy Darwin (506 Followers)	@StacyDarwin	8/26/18
Author	Angie Thomas J.K. Rowling John Green	@angiecthomas @jk_rowling @johngreen	8/26/18
Elem. Teacher	Carrie Gelson (2, 033 Followers)	@CarrieGelson	8/26/18
Literacy Organization	YALSA	@yalsa	8/26/18
Publisher	HarperCollins	@HarperCollins	8/26//18

Reflection:

I have only been on Twitter for eleven weeks now.  I have never used Twitter before and I was apprehensive about using it for this assignment.  I prefer only one social media site, and for me that is Facebook.  Eleven weeks ago, I began to follow these assigned people and organizations on Twitter and I found that it was not difficult to keep up with.  I was able to check in periodically and enjoyed reading the short blurb or link they would post.

Authors:

I followed Angie Thomas, J.K. Rowling, and John Green.  Angie Thomas was very exciting to follow due to the fact that her best-selling book “The Hate U Give” has been made into a motion picture and the premiere was approaching in October.  Angie was constantly supporting her movie by posting about the actors and actresses, announcing which cities the film would be opening in, and retweeting what others have shared as well.  Angie posted several movie trailers for followers.  I love reading a book knowing a movie is coming out.  At the time, I had not read the book yet, and the excitement Angie was sharing about the film was contagious.  It was exciting to watch the movie trailers before reading the book to get a better mental picture of characters and the story line.  The trailers were very moving and gave me chills.  Angie also promoted the soundtrack of the film.  I read the article she shared: ow.ly/FCBF30m5m5cSd.  What I really appreciated that Angie did was provide links to give aways of her novel and free screenings to teachers who have studied the novel with their class.  She even shared a link for curriculum to use with a class. 

John Green has been very busy promoting his brother, Hank, and his new book.  John tweets out youtube videos of different interviews and discussions about his brother and/or books.  One video I view was of Hank and how he reacts to interview questions about comparing him to his brother.  John is traveling with his brother and tweets where they will be.  John also promotes himself on Podcasts and shared when he will be on PBS for an interview.  Of course, there is other news as well, including when he saw Taylor Swift and event encouraged followers to vote.

J.K. Rowling was an “extra” for me to follow and it is only because of my obsession with Harry Potter.  Rowling has been busy promoting the film “Fantastic Beasts:  Crimes of Grindelwald”.  She shares about the actors and actresses and events involving the film.  Rowling also recognizes fans of the series.

After following these authors for eleven weeks now, I have realized how beneficial it can be.  Authors are constantly promoting themselves and their works.  As a future librarian, I am able to capitalize on opportunities.  I would be able to apply for free materials or services.  Knowing which books are being made into motion pictures is a huge advantage.  Reluctant readers would be more interested in a novel knowing a movie is right behind it.  Free screenings would promote reading.  Students also love knowing the “now”.  Knowing what an author is currently up to or working on is exciting. 

Elementary Teacher:

I wanted to see how easy or difficult it would be to search and find an elementary teacher who had a lot of followers and I was able to find Carrie Gelson who currently has over 2,000 followers on Twitter.  Carrie was exciting to follow and I enjoyed when her tweets popped up on my newsfeed.  I learned very quickly that Carrie is a dynamic teacher.  Not only does she post about amazing things and activities in her classroom, she is also an advocate for best practices and students.  I found several posts by Carrie where she shared articles about teacher and student interactions.  I read articles Carrie shared over the benefits of play for young children and how “play” is leaving the school setting and the devastation it is taking on development.  Carrie also encourages teachers with materials and ideas.  Carrie shares books she highly recommends and the subjects and themes behind them.  She shared a book titled, “Find Your Marigold” for first year teachers which I actually suggested to our new music teacher this year.  I love what Carrie does in her classroom.  She regularly posts about “classroom book a day” where she reads to her students a couple of books on a common theme and students vote on which one was their favorite.  An activity I did with my fourth grade students was her “Brainstorm the Titles”.  By only looking at the titles of the books, students brainstormed what they meant, dissected the words, and make connections.  After following Carrie, I feel that she has taught me a lot as an educator.  She obviously has incredible ideas and insight with children, but I really learned from Carrie is not be afraid of sharing.  We need a network of supporters and encouragers to be successful in this profession. 

Elementary Librarian:

I decided to follow an elementary librarian who lives in North Carolina, Stacy Darwin.  Stacy has over 500 followers.  I have never met Stacy personally, however we have a mutual friend who is responsible for connecting us.  I wanted to follow Stacy because not only is she a librarian whom I feel I know from a distance, I have been told that we are very much alike.  I was excited to see what a real-life, every day librarian does.  Stacy is an enthusiastic librarian which fun and creative ideas.  She shares activities going on in her library such as students using the research process and learning about technology.  I loved her activity with “Makers with a cause…” where students were sending books to hurricane victims but adding bookmarks with words of encouragement.  She also shared a great idea to use in the beginning of the year with the book titled “Wishtree” which I have never read.  It was exciting for me as a Library Science student to read her posts about “access to information” and students looking through “mirrors and windows” with novels.  I was encouraged to see empathy being promoted in the library through reading.  I really enjoyed following Stacy.  It was excited to what we are learning in class used in the library.  I did learn she does not post as frequently as one who has many followers.  I was encouraged to follow more librarians in order to connect and gain knowledge from.  (I discovered Stacy Darwin also follows @ProfessorNana).

Literacy Organization and Publisher:

These two were my least favorite to follow on Twitter.  YALSA and Harper Collins give excellent and reliable information, but I found I am more connected to a person I am following rather a company.  YALSA shared booklists that is beneficial to know and use as a future librarian.  I would open the links to book lists and view the material.  I am thankful to know of another place I can find that resource when I am ordering books or recommending them.  I also learned one can apply to blog for YALSA or do other services for the organization.  The main thing I found interesting was learning there were grants I could apply for.  Budgets seem to be an issue in libraries so knowing where I could go for a grant is very beneficial.  Harper Collins mainly promoted books the company publishes.  The company tweets out promotions with selling books and shares about its authors.  I came across a post about the “Top 20 Best Thriller” novels and read the recommendations.  I have decided to read one over Christmas break and torn between “We Were Mothers” or “Under My Skin”.  I have learned that it is important to follow organizations and companies to gain the insight and knowledge of the materials I will be using. 

Professors:

 I was very excited to see we were asked to follow Dr. Lesesne and Dr. Perry for this assignment.  I love looking at what others are reading when Dr. Perry asks, “…what are you reading tonight?”  A response that made me laugh out loud when I began to follow Dr. Perry was the answer of someone with “the syllabus”.  I love the sketchnoting Dr. Perry shares.  I am proud to say I have used this concept in my fourth grade classroom.  It is not digital, but the students have loved it.  We studied Native Americans and I asked my students to create a sketchnote of what they learned about each tribe.  I used Dr. Perry’s sketchnote pictures as a reference for them and they loved it.  Students were able to share what they learned in a creative way.  I have also enjoyed reading Dr. Lesesne and Dr. Perry’s book suggestions.  Through the online textbook for our course and the video lectures, I feel like I know who these two professors are.  I highly respect their criteria for book recommendations and their insight for children and young adult literature.  There was a post Dr. Perry tweeted that really stood out to me.  What drew me to the post is it included, “…I usually don’t do this but…” so I just had to read it.  Her post was about books involving the usually diversity topics of race, religion, and so on, however there are few books with overweight characters that don’t lose the weight during the story.  She explains that many overweight characters will lose the weight and then maybe the boy ends up liking them.  That is what I enjoy about these two professors.  I have had my eyes opened on literature this semester.  I also really enjoyed the causal posts about life.  In particular the post about Dr. Perry forgetting one of her bags on a trip and when she thought she had colorful post it notes but they were only the boring yellow ones.  I cannot express enough how much I enjoy Dr. Lesesne and Dr. Perry’s insight.  I am excited to continue to learn and grow.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I am very pleased with my social networking activity.  I was apprehensive to get on Twitter before this assignment and now I view it as a useful tool as a future librarian.  I am able to connect with others and get great ideas.  I am also able to access more resources and information to use and recommend to others.  On a personal note, I was also encouraged through this assignment to share more about what I am doing in the classroom and how I am using what I am learning in my courses.  Networking is an important tool and may be used for professional growth.