In my years of teaching I have discovered that it is always best to keep an open mind, and a person can really learn a lot from others; even the most minuscule piece of information can have a big impact on students. Recently, I turned to Twitter for help. I have followed the biggest names in educational technology to see what I could learn.I was pleasantly surprised.
Kathy Schrock @kathyschrock
Kathy Schrock tweets about several different types of technology such as Google, coding for Mozilla, links to infographics, information on how to create infographics, and the list goes on. I especially enjoyed the following link which she marked as "what every teacher opening day faculty meeting should be like!" (Spoiler Alert: Flash Mob Ahead!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGMlPDlY094&feature=youtu.be
Linda Braun @lbraun2000
Braun appears to tweet about anything that is educationally related; what are people doing in order to reach out to students. There are several interesting articles on her Twitter feed such as why secondary school librarians should pay close attention to YALSA core professional values and how middle school students created "smart cities of the future." I was most excited to read an article about ways that college tuition could be free for high school graduates. I love how the promise to provide free college tuition to students motivated them to work harder in high school. One city even saw an increase in the percentage of graduates who obtained a post-secondary degree; from 36 to 48 percent! That's awesome! Click on the following link to get the full details.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/educators-share-lesson-plans-on-making-college-free/?utm_content=buffere0aac&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=owned_buffer
Tony Vincent @tonyvincent
Vincent tweets about Chromebook and promotes his seminars. This was one of my favorite links. It was an infographic on why it is important to raise happy kids; their brains are larger, and they are smarter; they mimic your habits; happy parents equal happy kids. As the mother of two young boys (a preschooler and a toddler), this was definitely insightful for me.
http://www.happify.com/hd/the-science-of-raising-happy-kids/?s=52c94206
Buffy Hamilton @buffyjhamilton
Hamilton is quirky to say the least. I absolutely love when she tweeted, "I need a remote control for my coffee machine." This reminded me of my husband. He says he is too lazy to get up and start the machine in the morning or set it up to auto start at night. I liked her Twitter feed as a whole because she seems so real and not forced or mechanical. I can't quite put my finger on it, but her feed flows smoothly. She engages in conversation with some other Twitter friends. She provides insight. She makes comments and calls it advice. She asks for advice or recommendations.
The Daring Librarian @GwynethJones
Jones' references to authors and quotes from books is absolutely delightful. She as gutsy enough to say she liked Jon Scieszka better than Dr. Seuss. She is a fan of Doctor Who, and my students absolutely love that for some reason - well, last year's students to say the least. The best thing, errr, funniest thing that I looked at off of Jones' Twitter feed was an article titled, "Deez Nuts More Popular Than Hillary? Google Search Volume Says 'Yes'". It spiked my curiosity immediately, and I mentally commented on how her Twitter name is definitely worth of her tweets. Please read this. You will be surprised.
www.socialmediatoday.com/technology-date/adhutchinson/2015-08-22/deez-nuts-more-popular-hillary-google-search-volume-says-yes
Jim Lerman @jimlerman
Lerman appears to be pure business as the vast majority of his tweets are links to articles on different pieces of technology that one can incorporate into the classroom such as Google Classroom, comments on Google Docs, and Mediabreaker. I thought Mediabreaker was interesting enough to try to mess with. Students love technology. This can definitely be a pleasant change in the classroom.
All great finds, and you are right about Gwyneth Jones! It's funny how Deez Nuts is more popular than the real candidates. I wonder what that says about our society~
ReplyDeleteI looked into the free-college tuition link you had included. It was interesting to note that success spiked in this area. It also noted that group of philanthropists took charge of it, very wealthy ones. Not sure how this would play out through the country, but it was nice to know that Kalamazoo benefitted from it.
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