I try to be an early adopter of new social media. I have a vivid memory of reading a NYTimes article about something called “MYSPACE” and then telling my middle school daughter that she should check this new thing out. A few days later she came back to me and told me that that website scared her. Nice parenting moment! My take away lesson from that experience was that I need to personally be aware of what is out there so that I know what to recommend and what to guard against. But it’s been a challenge trying to keep up. Some of the social media I’ve tried I have fully embraced (Facebook, Twitter), others I could do without (Vine, Pinterest, Instagram) and some I do only because it’s the only way I can keep up with kids (Snapchat).
But Twitter is definitely my new favorite. Let me show not tell on how I use it. Here are the tangible results I got from a few hours on Twitter last Saturday morning:
- Article about a teacher using Twitter to share ideas about teaching (to use at staff meeting as a text discussion and PD) http://www.pressherald.com/news/Teachers_turning_to_Twitter_for_new_ideas_.html?utm_content=buffer8b51c&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer
- Flipped classroom video on youtube (to use as text for discussion) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLLOLZcIE88&feature=youtu.be&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DVLLOLZcIE88%26feature%3Dyoutu.be&app=desktop
- Research on spanking (shared with our SPED teacher) resource for parents https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/141f51988f997251
- Blog discussing how difficult it is for teachers to actually plan for the curriculum and instruction occurring in their classrooms given their time constraints; posted comment on his blog http://mathforum.org/blogs/max/if-instruction-matters-so-much-why-dont-teachers-get-time-to-plan-it/#comment-13744
- Article on research skills forwarded to Science & Humanities teachers http://mathforum.org/blogs/max/if-instruction-matters-so-much-why-dont-teachers-get-time-to-plan-it/#comment-13744
- Blog entry from Tom Vander Ark re 25 Smart #socialMedia Tips for #EdLeaders – will research 5 tools that he suggests
- Common Craft – on-line service for explaining (and having students make videos explaining) concepts http://www.psdblogs.ca/graminiastudent/
- Shared website that has alternative assessments for social studies curriculum shared with Humanities teachers https://beyondthebubble.stanford.edu
- Article from Washington Post on 21st Century Education reforms and poverty – read for own learning http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/26/the-real-21st-century-problem-in-public-education/
- Digital Portfolio resource – inspired to finally make full transition from paper to digital this year http://www.scribd.com/doc/66080547/PSD70-Digital-Portfolio-Project
- Article about Tween Brain – shared on school website for parents; signed up to follow TweenTeacher blog http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-middle-schooler-mind-works-brains-part-one-heather-wolpert-gawron
- Great video about use of Google Forms on George Couros’ blog. Jotted down notes for future blog post I would like to write about the video http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/3553
- Great video of Rick Wormeli talking about standards based grades that will be used to launch our review discussion for standards based grading; used at last Wednesday staff meeting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-QF9Q4gxVM&feature=player_embedded&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dh-QF9Q4gxVM%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded&app=desktop
All free, all open source. So much learning to gain and share – perhaps I’ll buy me some Twitter stock at the IPO next week!
