A few days ago, I came across a heated discussion on X (formerly known as Twitter) on the Alabama governor signing the CHOOSE act into law. This new, controversial law pushes for school choice and provides parents with funding to send their children to a public or private school of their choice. A smaller amount of funds can even pay for certain homeschool expenses. Alabamians seemed to have strong opinions either in favor or against the new law that they wanted to express. One X user responded in support by stating that "it isn't just for the wealthy...This will allow them (parents) more flexibility to get kids who normally couldn't go to private school better opportunity to do so." He provided evidence to support a claim in favor of the law. Many users listed reasons why they opposed the law but not everyone included evidence to support their claim.
In our age of distraction, simply hitting "like" on someone else's post is an endorsement, and act of arguing in the real world. Reading and writing are
never neutral activities, and we must encourage students to be mindful as
they participate in social media. To build on that mantra: read like a writer,
write for a reader and be mindful of both roles as you produce arguments that can be shared on the web. (Turner & Hicks, 2017, p.108)
References
Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web.
Broadview Press.
Turner, K. H., & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to
Brianne, you are spot on with this blog post. I love that you shared "It is important for us to remember that every user is a person. It can be all too easy to forget that the person on the other side is a real human being with feelings and value." (Lawrence, 2022, p.53). That quote from the book is exactly what is forgotten when some people post on social media. There is no regard to other people's feelings and values and that there is truly a person on the other side. Your shared discussion about the Choose act made me think about what Turner and Hicks stated, "Individuals often respond emotionally to what they read in social networks posting or reposting without critically analyzing the argument being made (2017, p.104). In that discussion, people are responding emotionally because they are so passionate about their beliefs and opinions about the CHOOSE act.
ReplyDeleteBrianne, I enjoyed reading your blog post. I love the quote by Lawrence (2022) that you included: “It is important for us to remember that every user is a person. It can be all too easy to forget that the person on the other side is a real human being with feelings and value” (p. 53). Our digital footprint is a topic I remind my granddaughter about often. We must remind our students to be mindful before they post or comment on any platform of social media. In the article, “Navigating Social Media with Foster and Adoptive Teens,” Pat Rhoads (2018) says, “we owe it to our children to do everything we can to prepare them for the world they live in now, and to keep them safe while they learn” (last para.).
ReplyDeleteIn this day and age, mindfulness when engaging in social media discussions is definitely a lost art. Turner and Hicks (2017), give us a guide for analyzing what we read in social media which has us stop and consider things like whether we are looking at facts or opinions. Turner and Hicks (2017), on the Heinemann blog, mention the importance of being mindful when considering thing your read in social media because it influences almost every facet of our lives.
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