Wiki Wednesday - A Great Idea

Recently while viewing the wonderful tweets by people that I follow on Twitter I came across a tweet by Andrew Marcinek (Here is a link to his Blog).  He was sharing a Wiki that he created for his staff and students.  The Boys Latin School Ed-Tech Resource Wiki serves as a home for all the links that he shares with his staff broken down by content level.

I really like this idea.  Take a Wiki for your school and create a place for you to house links, resources, videos, lesson plans, publications, etc., organized by content area.  By creating the Wiki, you are also allowing faculty and staff to add to it as well, therefore the burden does not always fall on you to update the site.  Teachers can do that as well.  You will probably still have to maintain it, and have a Professional Development on how to use the Wiki, but it makes for a great way to organize the information for your staff.

Every time that I received a great link or resource from a blog, I would just email it to the teachers who teach the subject matter that it related too.  What if they delete that email?  How will they be able to use that resource later when they finally do have time?  What are the chances that I kept the email to send to them again (probably slim)?

I asked Andy for permission to copy the idea.  I have not gotten around to it.  We are busy with changing Email Servers among other things going on in our district.  But writing this blog post has motivated me to get started.  I will be working on a Wiki for my teachers in the coming weeks.  Once I have started it and included some links, I will share it with you all.

Thanks for the inspiration Andy!

Web 2.0 Teacher Tools Glog

I created a Glog for organizing some Web 2.0 Teacher Tools that I thought teachers in my building should start utilizing.  I linked to several videos explaining what they were and how they worked.  I also linked to several other presentations, websites, publications, etc. that listed several Web 2.0 tools that teachers should and could be using to make life easier.  Feel free to pass it along to your staff.  It is embedded below and then I linked to it as well. 


Web 2.0 Glog

Must See Monday - Pay It Forward and Pass It On

I was delighted to open up Tweetdeck this morning and see a Tweet from Vanessa Cassie saying that she had mentioned me in her blog.  I was intrigued to see what she had said about me.  I was unaware that there was a movement to share other Blogs you follow as a form of Paying it Forward to get the word out.  Vanessa had a great post mentioning not only my blog, but others as well.

So, in keeping with the pace of others who are paying it forward, here is a list of ten blogs that I follow (although there are plenty more) and a brief description.  For those who receive this award, there are a few rules that I ask you follow:

1. Copy and Display the picture of the award given to you.
2. Link back to the blog that nominated you.
3. Nominate 10 different blogs..
4. Inform the people you have nominated so they can continue this 'pay it forward' chain of blog appreciation!

The Educational Technology Guy - By David Andrade - A great Educational Technology Blog with useful links and resources as well as reflections on education.

iLearn Technology Blog - By @ktenkely - A great blog that shares resources and ideas.  Helped start a Blog Alliance that introduced me to a ton of new blogs and resources.  She is actually working on a new Alliance.  Are you going to join?

iTeach Blog - By Andrew Marcinek - A blog that discusses education, technology, as well as personal experiences at his own school and how technology is changing there.

This Week's Education Humor is a funny educational humor site.  Cartoons, jokes, lists, etc.  I really like this blog on a daily basis.  Gives me a good laugh when things are down. 

Blogging About the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom by Steven Anderson is considered by many to be a poineer in the social education network.  His blog shares resources and personal insights into the state of education and technology in education.

Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne is another staple among educators and technology personnel when it comes to technology integration.  Shares several resources as well as digital publications that should be a staple for schools to share with staff.

The Innovative Educator by Lisa Nielson is a blog about education. Also included in this blog, are post about technology in education. Either way, you find yourself thinking about the post after you have read them. Very informative and thought provoking.

Education Stormfront is a blog that helps "forecast the coming storm in education."  Some is technology, some is not, but the post are informational and give you a look at the future of education.

Kyle Pace has a great blog about education, technology, and social media.  Great discussions of how education is changing and how people should be paying attention to these changes.  Can also be found on Twitter @KylePace

My Island View by Tom Whitby is a blog that will leave you thinking about education and how education is changing.  Great thoughts about the impact of technology on education and teaching.

I need to give a shout out to the Nerdy Teacher for including me in his list.  Thanks for the comparison to Sinatra, although there truly is no comparison.  Keep up the great work!

The Power of Social Media

I have been thinking about this Post for a while, not knowing that when I finally got around to it, that it would be my 150th post.  This past weekend, my area of the country (Tennessee and Kentucky) got some of the worst flooding in recent memory.  The entire city of Nashville was flooded.  The Grand Ole Opry, a national landmark, flooded as well.

If you turned on the news, whether network or cable, you would have noticed VERY LITTLE coverage of the flooding in Nashville, Tennessee, or Kentucky.  It appeared to be more important to tell the same story about the Oil Spill or the FAILED terrorist attempt in New York City.  I am not trying to down play the importance of those issues, but it seemed that all I saw was the SAME information over and over again.  Nothing new. 

Meanwhile, over 30 people had died in Tennessee and Kentucky and flooding damage estimates were coming in at over $1 Billion dollars (in just Nashville).  Of course, you would not have heard that on the regular news stations.  If you wanted information about the flooding, your best source should have been and should be Social Media.  I have quickly come to the realization that I get the best, most important, and broad range of news from Social Media.  Both the right and left wing views as well.

I got pictures, videos, articles, all from Twitter and Facebook.  I was learning more about the flooding via Social Media than ever was provided on network or cable news.  YouTube (7 pages worth) had more videos of the flooding than news stations.  One has to wonder why their was a lack of coverage. 

Many say because their wasn't really a story to it.  It was just rain.  One Blog Post (Shared on Facebook) I read talked about how the news stations weren't interested because there wasn't any looting going on.  Another article (Found via Digg) talked about the fact that there was no negative effect from a "federal government" response to the issue yet.

What is also great about Social Media as a news source is that the information I was getting was first hand accounts, not some edited media piece.  People who were living in it.  People I know, friends and family, all were sharing the impact the flood had on them.  Real news as I call it.

So the next time a major event happens, don't rely on the national media for information.  They are to worried about their own image, instead of telling the story of the images we see through Social Media.

Think Twice Thursday - Twitter/PLN Professional Development

Yesterday I had the opportunity to introduce Twitter and PLN's to a small group of teachers at my school.  For me it was a great opportunity to share what I have been experiencing for the past 5 months.  First, I started out explaining how I came to get involved with Twitter and how my perception of Twitter was the same as theirs.  I explained that I had to first remove the self-doubt that I had about Twitter in order to learn how to use it and engage with others educators on Twitter.

I then shared a Glog that I created to collect resources related to Twitter.  We watched the two videos contained in the Glog so they could see a comparison of how Twitter is used in Society and how Twitter is used in Education.  You can see my Glog below.  Feel free to share with colleagues.



After we watched the videos I shared with them all the replies that I got from my PLN when I asked them on Twitter to share their locations with me, as well as how Twitter impacted their education lives.  I had over 35 replies and was able to showcase how Twitter connected me to Educators around the world.  They were impressed with that.  It helped them to realize that education is not just an issue in our county or state, but in other states and other countries as well.  It also helped them to realize how resources could be shared with people from all over the globe.

I then shared with them a list of common Twitter Terminology that I typed up so that they would always have that if they ever get stuck.  You can see an image of that terminology below.  Feel free to use and share.  I also provided a handout that described how to set up an account in case we weren't able to do so during the Professional Development.

Luckily, My DTC provided access after school (it is currently blocked until we get a Social Networking Policy adopted).  We created accounts for all that attended the meeting.  We then found each other on Twitter and started following each other.  I even had them Tweet to #edchat that they were new to Twitter so they could see a Hashtag at work.

It was fun to see them find other people and start following them.  I shared Twitter 4 Teachers and helped them find teachers who teach the same subjects that they could connect with.  The Librarian looked for authors, The English Teacher looked for friends in the community.  The AD found our local athletic association, KHSAA Twitter accounts.  Our Spanish Teacher was finding other foreign language teachers (she had an account, but never thought of using it for education).  My Health/P.E. teacher started searching for other teachers as well.  It was a great experience for me to see them realize how the power of connecting with others through Twitter could be beneficial to their professional life. 

This morning, the English teacher sent an email out to the staff telling of her Twitter "Tale."  I could never put something like this together.  Kudos to her.  You can see an image of the email below.  Click on the image and it will enlarge it to where you can read it.







So what is the true point of this post: 
What is keeping you from having a Twitter/PLN Professional Development with your staff? 

I highly recommend that if you are on Twitter and are part of a great PLN, share that with your staff.  Share how your PLN has encouraged you to try something in your classroom.  Share how your PLN has open your mind and heart to an increased passion for education.  If you don't think any of them will be receptive, all it takes is one to share how it has helped them to feel like you did something good.  You won't know if anyone is interested in Twitter unless you ask.  That is all I had to do.