Ferguson, H. (2010). Join the flock. Learning and Leading With Technology, 37(8), 12-14. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-june-july-2010.aspx
McClintock Miller, S. (2010). Enhance your twitter experience. Learning and Leading With Technology, 3(8), 14-17. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-june-july-2010.aspx
Join The Flock
Summary: Hadley Ferguson had lots of positive things to say about Twitter and gave readers lots of valuable tips to creating their PLN, professional learning network. She first explained what a PLN exactly means and why it would benefit people. I completely agree with her and the fact that Twitter can become very useful in finding out new information. Twitter can bring people together from all different parts of world and allow these individuals to share their knowledge. It's amazing to me how much technology has advanced and how we can really benefit from putting ourselves out there (in safe ways, of course)! She also explained that having a PLN can make researching a whole lot easier; instead of one person looking for information on their own, there are lots of people that have already found that information on a certain topic. She identified Twitter as being an educational tool and that it helps spread good information. To be honest, I didn't think Twitter was very useful at all until this class. I learned how to utilize social networks so that they can bring information to me. I never thought Twitter could be so legitimate; in that simply posting a sentence or two of information could help others and help spread useful tips. She then went on to explain the steps in getting a Twitter and how to follow people. She talked about how the information will come to you and it made the experience seem really easy and fun. I know some people get uneasy when using computers and I think they would find this article to be very inviting. Ferguson makes the task of getting a Twitter and "joining the flock" not scary at all. Well, until she mentions how to get involved and to start posting. I can totally understand how people could be intimidated to "tweet, because when I first had to post I was really worried about what I had to say and if anyone would care or even criticize me. I like how she put in, though, that you can only post 140 characters, so there isn't a lot of room to make a fool of yourself! Ferguson gives Twitter a new meaning to teachers worldwide and it definitely motivated me to use my PLN more often!
Question #1: How could I use Twitter as a teacher in my classroom?
Well, depending on the rules and regulations of the school I could have my students create Twitter accounts and have them discuss classroom issues and further our discussions on Twitter. We could use hashtags to keep all of the classroom posts together.I think it would be really fun for the students and it will help them to utilize technology.
Question #2: How can I contribute to my PLN?
I can share any information, such as helpful websites or interesting articles, or even resources people can use. When I look for information on the Web, I should try to search on Twitter and see what other people have posted about that topic. Also, I should be retweeting any resources I find helpful, so that my group of followers also have that information.
Enhance Your Twitter Experience
Summary: Shannon McClintock Miller really went into depth about becoming more enhanced with your Twitter. It's amazing how many opportunities can appear when using Twitter. It's like there's this vast portal with tons of information and goodies for teachers! I honestly can't believe how many teachers really use Twitter. Also, I recently downloaded TweetDeck, but I haven't opened the app yet. After reading about what Miller had to say about it, I decided to check it out. I think it's so cool that the app allows me to add my Twitter, Facebook, Buzz, and Foursquare accounts all in the same place! Talk about super easy! Also, the app makes tweeting easy on the go and the organization makes tweeting very simple. There's no excuse, it seems, to not have a Twitter and to begin building a PLN. I'm glad I am hearing about this awesome resource now, so that I can become familiar with it!
Question #1: How can I find other teachers on Twitter?
Well, I could use a hashtag like #education, #teachers, #elementarysch, #learning, etc. I could look to people I am already following, who are teachers and look to their followers and also who they are following.
Question #2: What is the purpose for me to have Twitter?
So, I can learn from other teachers and what worked or what didn't work for them. I can find new ways of doing things in my classroom as well as outside of it. I also like to share what resources I find helpful to contribute to my PLN.
One of the resources that I explored was a website called "Rock Our World". Teachers from all over the world are incorporating music and videos into their lessons. The specific video I watched was a collaboration of schools from all over the world that were singing a song. The song was super inspirational and it was amazing to watch children from all over the world singing together in this video! The website also mentioned that the students are involved in video chats with each other. I think that having the students interact with others from other ends of the world is an awesome experience and gives the children a new idea of friendship. The video shows children from Australia, Peru, China, Canada, the US, and several other countries. I guess as adult, who sees a lot of conflict between different cultures, live styles, and peoples, it's extremely encouraging to see these children singing a song together. It gives hope and connects our world! I really liked looking at this website and it gave me ideas of how I can incorporate creativity in technology in my classroom. I think my future students would really enjoy to have connections with other students from other parts of the world through technology!
