Blogging about Twitter

I will just come out and say it, “I have never been a fan of Twitter!” Well, now that that is out of the way, I will admit that I was a little surprised at some of the information that I was able to pick up from my Twitter page. I did not follow many actual people so I was spared from irrelevant posts such as, “cleaned the kitchen, now onto the bathroom!” This is what least attracted me to this networking site.

I was able to follow organizations such as NEA and US Department of Education. Following these organizations linked me to interesting articles and developing stories in education. Some were useful, while others were not. I was able to find out that teachers can eat free at Applebee’s on Tuesday May 18th. I was also updated on what the president was doing and saying about education. This is important to me as we enter a very critical period of time in education. I will have to give it a little more time to truly see if I pick up useful information from following these organizations.

On a personal level, I was able to follow ESPN.com. I have to admit this was pretty neat getting instant updates on what is going on in the sports world. As a sports fan, I felt pretty informed when it came to the latest and greatest in the sports world. The negative side to following ESPN is that it overwhelmed my Twitter home page. It seemed like every half of an hour there was a new post. This made it difficult to find some of the other people or organizations that I was following unless I actually clicked on their link.


I will give Twitter a coupled more weeks before I decide to abandon it. I hope to find a few more teaching related “tweeters” that provide useful resources and information. I do not know if this will persuade my feelings on Twitter. I think it is important to give a tool a little time before we discount its effectiveness. I do know that I will not use it as a personal tool, but do see that it may be beneficial professionally.

My thoughts on my PLN

My personal learning network has opened my eyes to a variety of technologies and resources that can, and will be implemented into my classroom. Although it started off as being very overwhelming, it has become much easier to organize the more I have utilized some of these tools. In a day in age where new ideas are at our fingertips via the internet, I now recognize the importance of having a well rounded personal learning network. Along with the variety of resources it connects us to; it also connects us to people around the world that share some of the same interests as me.

As I sort through the new technologies and resources that I have added to my personal learning network; the tool I think I will use the most is Delicious. It’s easy to follow and its user friendly tagging features allows me to maximize the internet and personalize it my professional and personal needs. It also networks me with other individual’s with similar interests or professions. It gives me the ability to hold on to tools that I find, and also expands my ability to find the perfect resource for a specific unit. Delicious is set up in a way that connects me to the web in a way that is useful, efficient, and timely.

Using Web 2.0 tools such as, Pbworks, Googledocs, and Wiki have expanded my ability to work on group projects or planning outside of school. They allow me to share documents with colleagues that need editing or additions. I also enjoy the fact that we can create documents and brainstorm ideas from the comfort of our own home. In my busy schedule this really allows me to work on school related documents and brainstorms in a time period that is convenient to me. In addition, I also have already utilized the survey features of Googledocs and websites such as Survey Monkey. These tools have kept me informed and connected with what is going on in the minds of my students.

Another addition to my personal learning network that I have begun to use regularly is Skype. I have been able to connect with friend and family on a more consistent basis. As many of the tools that I have included in my learning network are for professional use, I also included tools that keep me connected on a personal level. Although I have not yet had the chance to use Skype as a professional tool, I look forward to implementing it into my curriculum over the summer. I hope to plan several virtual field trips that take my classroom to places that are unrealistic for us to physically go. I also want to link up with other classes within our school and better yet throughout the world.

With all of these great tools, I have also been introduced to some tools that I do not think I will use much. I do believe that Twitter can be used for professional development and networking; I just don’t feel that it works that well for me. I also feel that it is a little too much information for me and it can be difficult to sort through what is relevant, and what is not. I do enjoy getting updates from organizations such as NEA, but overall I do not see myself using this tool to stay connected with family, friends or other professionals that share interests with me. In a day and age when instant gratification is front and center, Twitter satisfies this need. So as I may check it once and a while for professional updates, I do not foresee an increase in my use of this tool.

The last tool I want to speak of individually is the use of blogging. I have been using blogging in many of my college classes. For this, I see a great positive benefit. However, with millions of blogs out there, it can be difficult to sort through the good ones and the bad ones. I do include some blogs in my PLN and will continue to follow them. I just do not find it as the best way to get information. I will more so look at it as a way to share ideas and hear what others have to say about education and the world in general. I am not sure at this point if I will continue to write in a blog.


As I have reviewed many of the tools that I have grown to love, and others that I have grown to try and understand; I am finding out that many of my colleagues do not utilize any of these tools. I have tried to expand some of these tools to my colleagues and some teachers are just not interested. Over the summer our school district provides many opportunities for professional development. I have put a feeler email out to see if any teachers would like to sit down and share ideas about technology and more specifically some of their favorite resources. This can hopefully start a collaborative effort to stay connected and better utilize some of the great tools the web has to offer. My hope is that this will open some eyes to the vast resources and the great benefit of developing a PLN. I have already shared many documents via Google docs and that has seemed to be catching on as we have several district wide documents being worked on using this tool.

I also have shared the idea of a PLN with my students and some have really jumped aboard, while others have not. If they do not buy into the idea of creating their own, I will still benefit form expanding my curriculum and resources thanks to my PLN. I have already used my network to find great learning tools and handouts. I have found videos tagged in Delicious that I have been able to share. I have given surveys about what the students are interested in to provide myself with feedback needed to better engage them. I have used Polls everywhere to get quick feedback on a book or movie. I have gotten very interesting feedback on presentations via the use of voice threads. As education is changing every day, I am glad to say that I am changing my teaching style and boundaries right along with it.

Web 2.0 in my district

In general our district has been very good about accepting technology and even encouraging its use in the classroom. With the use of tools such as smart boards, moodle, Google docs for sharing, Skype and other web 2.0 tools, I feel pretty comfortable with where are district is at. Just last year they installed big screen projectors in 90% of the classrooms to allow teachers to maximize the use of presentations and smart board activities. Since I came to the district four years ago, I have noticed a large increase in overall technology use in our district.

With all of that positive stuff being said, we still have staff resistance. We have had in-services on the benefit of using technology and also have been introduced to many great resources. I specifically remember being a demonstration on www.polleverywhere.com . Many of you may have heard of this interactive tool that allows participants to take a real-time survey by texting their answers in. While many took this for what it was worth, others used it to rip on encouraging texting in school. This I see as our biggest barrier in using web 2.0 tools in our school.

When I come across new technology that may be beneficial to our school, I often time share it with an administrator, or share a link with the staff by email. Administration and many staff members have been very receptive to these resources and ideas. Many times I just ask the students if they like a tool. As we all know, they will tell us how they feel. If the kids like something I use it as leverage when encouraging others to try, purchase, or implement different technologies in the classroom. I am very happy that our district has been accepting this pattern and can only hope that others jump on board.

Delicious in my words

Delicious is a great organizational tool for someone like myself who tends to struggle with organization. It’s the one stop shop for resources and interesting websites. Even better I can check to see what websites my friends and colleagues are using and “steal” them if I like. Now that I have found Delicious there will be no more forgetting or losing great resources that I have come across (at least that is my hope).

As I look at the tags of my classmates I have found many interesting and useful websites. In the past I may Google certain subjects, and then sift through many websites that are subpar and inaccurate. By using my network, different tag names, and subscriptions I have found great websites such as http://www.teachersfirst.com. This site offers lesson ideas and activities for a wide range of subjects. Just as easy as “stealing this website” I can look at my classmate’s tags and have a more specific approach in collecting my resources.

Tagging websites has made it much easier in sorting through material that is relevant to me. It also makes it easier when trying to find a specific website that I tagged. The fact that a user can use multiple tags is great because many websites are good for more than one reason or idea. The one thing that can get confusing with the tags is using different tag words for the same meaning. For example I may put something in “teaching tools” and later use the tag “teacher resources” for the same type of website. This is not the end of the world, but it can cause a little more work when looking up different bookmarks.

Two features that I have not used, but will likely use in the future is tag bundles and tag annotations. The bundle is a great way to fix my problem that I stated above. When tags are closely related in purpose or meaning, I can bundle them in keep them all in one place. The annotation can be very useful in reminding us more specifically what a website is all about. How many times have I bookmarked something and later forgotten the purpose of the website? Annotations are the way to go to eliminate this “memory loss” that I so often struggle with.

As with any social networking or bookmarking site it is a great way to meet and share ideas with people that are interested in the same thing as you. Working together to find the best resources out there is an extremely effective way to stay on top of the latest and the greatest. As I looked through many of the different tags of our classmates, I found that many of us teach different classes and have different interests. I have also found that we have used many of the same tags such as technology and teaching resources. Delicious is great because I am able to just pluck any of the websites under these tags and save them to my page. Just recently I found a great math work sheet website that I stole from Norm. Thanks Norm!

I often work under the idea that “less is better” and feel that this may be the case with Delicious. Although it is great to pick through all of the different resources out there, it can also get overwhelming very quickly. Just recently I added Douglas Johnson to my network and was able to take a few bookmarks from him. As I looked further into his page and all 485 tags, I began to slowly mentally shut down. All though the network tool is great, I just want to be careful when adding people to assure that I can still effectively sift through all of the information available.

If I were to use a tool like Delicious in the classroom I would use it to share some resources with my students. If I found a great website on nutritional facts and information, Delicious would allow me to share it with the students. Even better they could pick and choose what they wanted to use from all of my bookmarks and resources.

My experience with these new tools

Sometimes I can get a bit overwhelmed with all of the technology being introduced to me. With that being said, if I can just figure out a way to organize it all, it could make my life easier and more functional as a teacher. I tried three different tools this week: The Survey Monkey, Whyville, and picture and video sharing. I will outline my experience with them in the following paragraphs.

First I visited the world of Survey Monkey. This was a very useful activity as it is a simple and quick way to get feedback from students, staff and parents. I found Survey Monkey to be pretty user friendly but I feel that the Google Docs survey that I created (and have been using) was more user friendly and easier to work with. In general these survey tools are great not only because of the feedback you get, but also how the feedback is organized for you. This makes it much easier to utilize the data that you gather, rather than just stuffing it away into a file cabinet.

I was skeptical about Whyville before I visited the site. My first thoughts were reassured as I played with this tool. I do not doubt that there is educational value with this immersive world website; I just do not enjoy using these and do not think my student population (9-12 alternative school) would enjoy these activities. Although it was fairly easy to navigate through, it was a bit confusing as to where to go and what to do next. Faces kept on popping up in front of mine and it became a little frustrating. With all of that negativity, I do see that there could be educational value in a tool like this. With younger students and more time to play with it, I can see this tool engaging students in an educational activity in a creative and technological way.

Last I chose picture and video sharing. I did choose it because I am addicted to YouTube. No, not just to watch entertaining videos of people making fools of themselves; rather I have found that YouTube has endless information and references on it. I do understand there can be copyright issues with using the videos in class (at least that is what our library tech told me); but if I need quick information about a certain topic, I can find it on YouTube. Also, having students post videos on YouTube for a project has been successful for me in the past. The kids really seem to enjoy making a movie and then posting it for the world to see.

Overall, I have added a few more tools to my tool box by participating in this activity. Now I just need to find a way to better organize all of this information.

I never thought that I would actually "Tweet"

I have to admit, I promised myself I would never do the “Twitter” thing. Now that I have joined, I do see some of the positive benefit. It is a great way to follow the latest in areas that I am interested in. I can follow ESPN if I want to know the latest in the sports world. I can follow a celebrity if I want to know their next move. I can also keep tabs on my cousin in Washington just by following him on Twitter. Professionally I can follow educational organizations such as NEA or the US Department of Education. This is a good way to keep tabs on what is going on in the Education world nationally. I also found a great research Tweeter (if that’s what you call it) called Teacher Created. This is just another great place to find teacher resources in abundance.
As a coach I can see Twitter as a great place to keep parents and the community in the loop. It could be used to announce schedule changes, rain outs, or game results. Instead of making numerous phone calls, you could simply make one easy post. The problem I see in this is that there are many people that will not get a Twitter account. So maybe Twitter could be used as an additional informational resource. Many of the things I have mentioned above could be used for a class also. I see it working even better for a college course. Besides being used as an announcement tool, it could be used to implement an actual lesson. It could be used as a scavenger hunt, or even a word association activity. Whatever the use might be, Twitter does have its ups and downs.
With all of those benefits I still miss the day when people could go about their business without letting everybody else know about it. Professionally and educationally, I can see many benefits of using Twitter. It is another tool to reach out to students, parents, the community and the educational world. If Twitter becomes a place where you let everyone know that, “I just ate chicken with gravy and vegetables…yummy” than I can do without it.