Teaching in Pink

Social media is one of the most used resources for how humans communicate with one another. We use it to share joys and sorrows, our political opinions, what we did this weekend, and the big trip we just went on.  Nonetheless, social media is a way that humans unintentionally “share information that comes from sources they trust without challenging the claims, evidence, or warrants that make up the argument” (Turner & Hicks, 2017, p.94). We share too quickly based on what our close family and friends think about the topic rather than actually looking at the facts and thinking about whether we agree with what is being shared. Although social media can be negative, it also has multiple benefits that are used daily that users don’t even realize. Dan Lawerence said it best in his book, “it’s impossible to say that all effects of social media on humans and society have been negative” (Lawrence, 2022, p.49). Many advantages of social media include making connections with distant fami...

Whether a student is in elementary school, middle school, high school, or college, they are writing and creating images that communicate what they are writing into an image. In elementary and middle school, they might be making a slideshow project for their civics class. In high school, students may be on the yearbook staff where they have to decide which pictures and which quotes go on which page. College students may be writing a blog for a class like this one, where they are choosing an image that enhances their writing in the post. Students who are digital writers “must also, now, be competent graphic designers” (Lawrence, 2022, p. 108). Being able to find or create images that relate to or enhance your writing so that your audience has something else to relate to that keeps them interested in what you wrote. It is important to remember that humans are “visual creators as much as we are textual creatures” (Lawrence, 2022, p. 109) just like ho...