Well, my recent blog post about Twitter being shared on Twitter created quite a buzz about my Blog and I am rather excited about the growth of my blog, my Twitter followers, and my growth professionally since that post (Is that a record for mentioning "Twitter," "blog," and "post" in ONE sentence?)
Well, here is my first official Tuesday Twitter Focus post. There are quite a few things that I want to touch on relating to Twitter that I have discovered:
The first is a group of teenagers on Twitter that I follow; TechXav. As their website boast, they are "a group of young and zealous teens, ranging from the age of 11-15." They provide some great Twitter post relating to all things technology, but at the same time, they have post that relate to Educational Technology. The kids are from Singapore and the United States...talk about Global Collaboration! What I like about reading their Blog is that I get a dose of humor, as well as information. If you don't follow them, or have not seen their website, I recommend doing so. One recent post is related to Twitter....Flocking.me. I want to give them credit for showcasing an interesting way to follow your friends on Twitter. It Flocking.me could be used to help separate your professional and personal followers on Twitter. I also think these teens are a great example of why we need to promote more technology in the classroom. Learn about them here.
Since I am fairly new to Twitter, I am sure some of you are as well. Shared on Twitter recently by some of the people that I follow: Web20Classroom and NMHS_Principal, is the The Twitter Guidebook. Might be worth checking out to help increase your knowledge about Twitter.
Shared on Twitter by ShellTerrell, a blog post discussing what you might call yourself on Twitter. A great link in the Blog Post is a way to find your Twitter Birthday. Let me know when your birthday is and we can throw a party....on Twitter of course. Mine by the way is October 2nd, 2009. Be sure to put it on your calendar. If you want to get me a gift, I am a sucker for Jelly Belly candies...but not the nasty ones like popcorn and licorice.
But the Blog Post in general brings up an interesting point/question. Do we have titles for Twitter Experts, Novices, or those that distringuish themselves on Twitter because of what they post? Then I thought, surely there is a Twitter Dictionary....and there is! Twictionary can help you give yourself a title, maybe someone you follow, or your tweets.
Maybe we should all create a Twitter Alias based on how we Tweet. Based on our Twitter Alias we can create a Twitter Assassin game. You must Tweet the person you are given before they tweet the person they are given....last one standing wins (prize to be determined later.) Of course I can read the news headline now "Teachers/Educators participate in Twitter Assassin game."
Have fun on Twitter....I sure have been!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Must See Monday #1 - Larry Ferlazzo Links
Larry Ferlazzo is an English and Social Studies teacher from California. Mr. Ferlazzo has had over 140,000 visitors to his webpage and has been nominated and received numerous awards for his work with educational technology. His main focus is ELL, ESL, and EFL, but he has by no means limited himself to just those subject matters.
His main website linked above is so full of information that trying to describe all that is available in this blog post would be virtually impossible...but I will try my best. First and foremost, he links to articles that he has written and that have been published in numerous publications covering a multitude of topics. He also has a Teacher's Page which is filled with links to various resources that are broken down by topic and subject. On this page you can also sign up for a newsletter which comes from resources he shares on his blog (more on his blog later). On the main page are more links based on subject matter (Social Studies, English, Math Science, and ARW) and those links are broken down based on the curriculum being covered. When you get some time, browse through the website and see what you find of interest, something tells me you won't leave not gaining something you liked...I didn't.
Mr. Ferlazzo also has a Blog that has been nominated for multiple Edublog awards, finishing in the top 3. Over 5000 people subscribe to his Blog. His blog has over 8000 links...yes, thats right, 8000!!! What I like about the Blog is he has TONS of categories which makes looking through the links easy. He also has broken them down into a "Best of Series," which include Month, Year, and Subject Specific. The Subject Specific are then broken down into categories under each Subject making it even easier to search through the links. He also has a "My Favorite Posts" and a "Most Popular Posts" sections which are some of the best. They are also not all resources; they are interviews and articles as well. As I said above, something tells me you won't leave this blog without finding something you like.
Mr. Ferlazzo has another blog about Engaging Parents in School. I have not had a thorough opportunity to browse through it very much, but with a future in administration it will definately be one that I maintain interest and keep an eye on. Along with that Blog, Mr. Ferlazzo has also written a book titled "Building Parent Engagement in Schools," which you can purchase from Amazon.com, but you can get more information about the book and a discount on the book here.
Are you a member of Twitter? If so you can follow Mr. Ferlazzo on Twitter. If you don't use Twitter, I suggest you read my previous post about why you should.
His main website linked above is so full of information that trying to describe all that is available in this blog post would be virtually impossible...but I will try my best. First and foremost, he links to articles that he has written and that have been published in numerous publications covering a multitude of topics. He also has a Teacher's Page which is filled with links to various resources that are broken down by topic and subject. On this page you can also sign up for a newsletter which comes from resources he shares on his blog (more on his blog later). On the main page are more links based on subject matter (Social Studies, English, Math Science, and ARW) and those links are broken down based on the curriculum being covered. When you get some time, browse through the website and see what you find of interest, something tells me you won't leave not gaining something you liked...I didn't.
Mr. Ferlazzo also has a Blog that has been nominated for multiple Edublog awards, finishing in the top 3. Over 5000 people subscribe to his Blog. His blog has over 8000 links...yes, thats right, 8000!!! What I like about the Blog is he has TONS of categories which makes looking through the links easy. He also has broken them down into a "Best of Series," which include Month, Year, and Subject Specific. The Subject Specific are then broken down into categories under each Subject making it even easier to search through the links. He also has a "My Favorite Posts" and a "Most Popular Posts" sections which are some of the best. They are also not all resources; they are interviews and articles as well. As I said above, something tells me you won't leave this blog without finding something you like.
Mr. Ferlazzo has another blog about Engaging Parents in School. I have not had a thorough opportunity to browse through it very much, but with a future in administration it will definately be one that I maintain interest and keep an eye on. Along with that Blog, Mr. Ferlazzo has also written a book titled "Building Parent Engagement in Schools," which you can purchase from Amazon.com, but you can get more information about the book and a discount on the book here.
Are you a member of Twitter? If so you can follow Mr. Ferlazzo on Twitter. If you don't use Twitter, I suggest you read my previous post about why you should.
Focusing on a Focus
I decided last night that I wanted to improve the focus of my blog by creating a focus for each day. Below is what I have decided to do for each day.
Must See Monday - Despite what you might be thinking, I did not steal the idea from NBC. Every Monday I will post an article, resource, or Blog that I feel is a Must See.
Twitter Tuesday - Every Tuesday I will post a resource I found on Twitter, Lists to follow, People to follow, or an important Hashtag related to education. It might also mix of all of these, depending on the mood I am in.
Wiki Wednesday - Every Wednesday I will link to a Wiki that I find interesting or helpful to educators. It might even be something from Wikipedia that we might normally not look at unless it happened to be posted to a blog!
Think-Twice Thursday - Every Thursday will be a resource, website, or blog that you should "think twice" and consider how to use it or reconsider why you are not using it.
Friday Focus - I will still be continuing my Friday Focus where I focus on a certain resource. You can visit my Previous Friday Focus Post below:
Online Timelines
Social Bookmarking
Weekend Extra - With time permitting, I will post some extra stuff that I find on the weekends.
These won't be the only post of the day, but they will be the first or the last of the day.
Let me know what you think!
Must See Monday - Despite what you might be thinking, I did not steal the idea from NBC. Every Monday I will post an article, resource, or Blog that I feel is a Must See.
Twitter Tuesday - Every Tuesday I will post a resource I found on Twitter, Lists to follow, People to follow, or an important Hashtag related to education. It might also mix of all of these, depending on the mood I am in.
Wiki Wednesday - Every Wednesday I will link to a Wiki that I find interesting or helpful to educators. It might even be something from Wikipedia that we might normally not look at unless it happened to be posted to a blog!
Think-Twice Thursday - Every Thursday will be a resource, website, or blog that you should "think twice" and consider how to use it or reconsider why you are not using it.
Friday Focus - I will still be continuing my Friday Focus where I focus on a certain resource. You can visit my Previous Friday Focus Post below:
Online Timelines
Social Bookmarking
Weekend Extra - With time permitting, I will post some extra stuff that I find on the weekends.
These won't be the only post of the day, but they will be the first or the last of the day.
Let me know what you think!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Do you Tweet? As an Educator..You Should!
I started a Twitter account a while back. I added my brother and some other people/organizations that I wanted to follow, but other than that I did not see any benefit in posting what I am doing on a regular basis (although I was doing that on Facebook, but why somewhere else too?) Then I started reading blogs related to education and technology. I continued to see "Follow me on Twitter" widgets and gadgets. I started wondering....am I missing out on something?
Turns out I was. There are thousands of other educators, professors, administrators, and Technology Integration Specialists on Twitter. There are groups on twitter that are important to follow. In less then a month I went from following 3 Twitter accounts, to over 50 (so far). I went from being followed by my brother to over 50 (so far)
What has Twitter provided me? Resources, information, ideas, concepts, thoughts, knowledge, and colleagues who share all of that with me. While at the same time I am able to provide resources, thoughts, ideas, concepts and knowledge to colleagues as well. Of course receiving the Iphone as a Christmas gift from my wife also helped me to access and use a Twitter account more thoroughly. I find myself checking Twitter at least 5-10 times a day and went from sending maybe a Tweet a week to at least 3-5 a day. Sometimes I read stuff that is funny, sometimes I read stuff that will help me with my job.
What Groups do I follow? There are others, but these are the ones that I find most useful. You can find them using "hashtags" which basically means putting a "#" in front of the group. Everytime you include this, it puts it into a group making it easy to follow.
Edchat
Edtech
Education
Technology
Who am I following? I don't really feel like listing them all, but you can see who I am following by visiting my Twitter Page
Another benefit of Twitter is the "new" feature of List. Its purpose is to allow you to follow someone or groups without actually following them. It is for those Twitter accounts that you only want to check up on occasionally. You can also follow other peoples list, therefore avoiding having to recreate list. It is another way of organizing your Twitter account that makes it easier to follow.
So how do you find people on Twitter? You visit other websites that have created list of people you might be interested in following. Below are some ones that I have used:
1.) 100 Educators to Follow on Twitter
2.) Twitter 4 Teachers Wiki
3.) Educators on Twitter - Google Doc Spreadsheet. You can add yourself by filling out the following form once you create your Twitter account.
4.) Connexions - Directory of Learning Professionals Online
5.) You can get some more ideas at Free Technology 4 Teachers: Seven Ways to find Teachers on Twitter, which is where I got started and got some of the list you see above.
So if you are new to Twitter and an educator, what tips are there out there for you? Here is a great List of Tips from the Don't Waste Your Time Blog by David Hopkins
I would also take a look at The Power of Educational Technology Blog, who created the Google Spreadsheet. Really helpful information, links, and resources.
If you create a Twitter Account and find yourself really enjoying it professionally, then I would look into creating an alternate account for personal use.
Turns out I was. There are thousands of other educators, professors, administrators, and Technology Integration Specialists on Twitter. There are groups on twitter that are important to follow. In less then a month I went from following 3 Twitter accounts, to over 50 (so far). I went from being followed by my brother to over 50 (so far)
What has Twitter provided me? Resources, information, ideas, concepts, thoughts, knowledge, and colleagues who share all of that with me. While at the same time I am able to provide resources, thoughts, ideas, concepts and knowledge to colleagues as well. Of course receiving the Iphone as a Christmas gift from my wife also helped me to access and use a Twitter account more thoroughly. I find myself checking Twitter at least 5-10 times a day and went from sending maybe a Tweet a week to at least 3-5 a day. Sometimes I read stuff that is funny, sometimes I read stuff that will help me with my job.
What Groups do I follow? There are others, but these are the ones that I find most useful. You can find them using "hashtags" which basically means putting a "#" in front of the group. Everytime you include this, it puts it into a group making it easy to follow.
Edchat
Edtech
Education
Technology
Who am I following? I don't really feel like listing them all, but you can see who I am following by visiting my Twitter Page
Another benefit of Twitter is the "new" feature of List. Its purpose is to allow you to follow someone or groups without actually following them. It is for those Twitter accounts that you only want to check up on occasionally. You can also follow other peoples list, therefore avoiding having to recreate list. It is another way of organizing your Twitter account that makes it easier to follow.
So how do you find people on Twitter? You visit other websites that have created list of people you might be interested in following. Below are some ones that I have used:
1.) 100 Educators to Follow on Twitter
2.) Twitter 4 Teachers Wiki
3.) Educators on Twitter - Google Doc Spreadsheet. You can add yourself by filling out the following form once you create your Twitter account.
4.) Connexions - Directory of Learning Professionals Online
5.) You can get some more ideas at Free Technology 4 Teachers: Seven Ways to find Teachers on Twitter, which is where I got started and got some of the list you see above.
So if you are new to Twitter and an educator, what tips are there out there for you? Here is a great List of Tips from the Don't Waste Your Time Blog by David Hopkins
I would also take a look at The Power of Educational Technology Blog, who created the Google Spreadsheet. Really helpful information, links, and resources.
If you create a Twitter Account and find yourself really enjoying it professionally, then I would look into creating an alternate account for personal use.
Friday, January 1, 2010
2009-2010 - A Year in Review...at Least Half a Year
As teachers we often base our years from August to July because that is how we normally plan our years. Yes, we all celebrate the "New Year" in January, but my "New Year" actually began in August when I was hired as a Technology Integration Specialist for my high school and two feeder middle schools. Prior to the position I was teaching Social Studies. I had 6 years of experience under my belt, but always had a passion for technology and integrating it into my classroom.
As a social studies teacher I was always creating lessons for my students using technology. Whether they were creating Power Point Presentations, completing Webquest, using the Internet for Research, or in some cases creating videos; I was constantly encouraging the use of technology by my students as part of assignments and projects.
Until this new job move I was unaware of all the technology and software that was not only available to me, but also available to my students. I was finding websites like Prezi, WallWisher, GoAnimate, ToonDoo, Blogs, Online Timelines, Wordle, Glogster, just to name a few.
As part of the job, teachers at my high school are responsible for creating a technology project where students must create a final product using technology. English teachers have created Piclits, websites to review novels they are reading, Glogs for book reviews, cartoons, and videos of novels that are created as a movie trailer. Math teachers have created comic strip word problems that will be used as Bellringers, and will soon be creating videos, websites, and digital storytelling for their projects. Later during the Third Trimester I will be working with the Social Studies Department.
So as I look toward the next year and the future of my job as a technology integration specialist one has to ask, "What is/are your News Years Resolution(s)?" Honestly, I don't know, and honestly, I can't remember ever keeping one that I did make previous years. What is funny is that there is a website to help you with that. Free Technology for Teachers posted a link to a News Years Resolution Generator, and I thought I would share that with you all as I try and develop a resolution of my own...in the next few hours.
May the year 2010 (By the way, it is Twenty Ten, not Two Thousand and Ten) provide opportunities for growth both professionally and personally. Hopefully this blog will be one of many to help you achieve that growth.
As a social studies teacher I was always creating lessons for my students using technology. Whether they were creating Power Point Presentations, completing Webquest, using the Internet for Research, or in some cases creating videos; I was constantly encouraging the use of technology by my students as part of assignments and projects.
Until this new job move I was unaware of all the technology and software that was not only available to me, but also available to my students. I was finding websites like Prezi, WallWisher, GoAnimate, ToonDoo, Blogs, Online Timelines, Wordle, Glogster, just to name a few.
As part of the job, teachers at my high school are responsible for creating a technology project where students must create a final product using technology. English teachers have created Piclits, websites to review novels they are reading, Glogs for book reviews, cartoons, and videos of novels that are created as a movie trailer. Math teachers have created comic strip word problems that will be used as Bellringers, and will soon be creating videos, websites, and digital storytelling for their projects. Later during the Third Trimester I will be working with the Social Studies Department.
So as I look toward the next year and the future of my job as a technology integration specialist one has to ask, "What is/are your News Years Resolution(s)?" Honestly, I don't know, and honestly, I can't remember ever keeping one that I did make previous years. What is funny is that there is a website to help you with that. Free Technology for Teachers posted a link to a News Years Resolution Generator, and I thought I would share that with you all as I try and develop a resolution of my own...in the next few hours.
May the year 2010 (By the way, it is Twenty Ten, not Two Thousand and Ten) provide opportunities for growth both professionally and personally. Hopefully this blog will be one of many to help you achieve that growth.
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