I'm really not into facebook or stuff of that sort. But a few months ago, someone was talking about Twitter as an educational resource. A few of us said we would be interested in learning more once school had ended. Well, it's over. Anyone want to start Twitter for Dummies??
I love Twitter - I get a lot out of my time there. Think of Twitter as as a 24 hour teacher lounge, where all kinds of really smart cool people are talking education all day long. They drift in and out, sometimes just sharing what they are doing, sometimes engaging in conversations. Here is a video explanation called "Twitter in Plain English" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o This is a list of teachers who Tweet by subect area http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com Hope this helps!
AncientCiv got you started, good stuff ... I don't have time to post now, but if you still have questions, I'll try to post later. Alice and MrsC, I will PM you with my Twitter handle so you can follow me if you want.
p.s. I HIGHLY recommend downloading Tweetdeck (or some sort of Twitter manager). Tweetdeck is free. It lets you create columns for your tweets, Twitter.com only lets you see 1 column.
Great idea Alice! I have to admit-I do have a Facebook account, I'm pretty good with technology, but the one time I tried out Twitter I was completely lost . That is on my to-do list this summer-I would love to try and learn from the other teachers.
Great info here to learn about Twitter: http://azk12.org/blog/archives/46-1...now-to-Get-Started-with-Twitter.html#extended A manual (of sorts) here: http://c4lpt.co.uk/140Learning/twitter.html Why all teachers should Twitter: http://lauradoggett.com/2009/03/nine-great-reasons-why-teachers-should-use-twitter/ Twitter Tips: http://www.planbookedu.com/blog/2009/11/10-twitter-tips-for-teachers
I keep on hearing how great it is for teachers and I still don't really get it. I clicked on some of the teachers and I get a list of their answers to other people. How do you find actual teaching ideas that these people have, not just their responses to others?
I'm in. I have wanted to learn too, but have never taken the time. For some reason, I can't get my blackberry to do twitter. Is there a BB app, or do you have to use the browser?
Ask a question about something (smartboards, getting a student teacher, silent reading ... whatever you are wanting to learn). Part of it is about building an active PLN so you have at your disposal a group of teachers that are there to help you and share with you. So, it probably does seem like you are just finding personal responses ... no one knows what you need if you don't tweet about it. In saying that, a lot of my tweets are about Internet finds (I just tweeted about an online Jamestown adventure for the history classroom, an interview with the author of To Kill a Mockingbird for the English classroom, how to use GoogleApps for student portfolios in any classroom ...) that anyone may or many not be interested in.
I think there is a BB app, but not sure. On my iPod I browse to itweet.net If you have Twitter followers, ask your BB question on Twitter, I bet you get an answer. If you don't have Twitter followers, well ... ask me to PM you and you can browse through my followers OR go to http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/ but I don't know how active some of these people are.
EVERYONE: Once you've done some reading about Twitter and set up an account (make a profile that has meaningful details about your role in education), PM me your Twitter handle and I will introduce to you my PLN. Then, people will respond to you and you can begin following them. I cannot stress enough how useful it will be if you download Tweetdeck (or something similar). http://www.tweetdeck.com/
OK, I figured out the Blackberry app. I am Twitterable now! I did the twitter4teachers, but I am not quite sure I have that right. How do I get followers? KU, my tweet handle is the same as atoz. Can I follow you?
I am now following NASA (actually I think I already was, I just didn't know it!), and Ashton Kutcher. Because everyone follows him right?
And, I now have Tweetdeck, but I am really tired, and I have a busy day tomorrow, so I will have to play with it later. Thanks for getting me started! I'll check back here about who to follow, ku, if you decide to reply...
You can use twitter4teachers to find other teachers to follow (but, like I warned earlier, not sure how active people are that are listed there). I AM FOLLOWING YOU! So, now you can follow me back and see my tweets. I ALSO INTRODUCED YOU to my 1100+ followers who are all involved in education. A few of them will reply to you and you can decide if you want to follow them. I might retweet your intro since it is late at night ... we'll see what kind of response I get. I suggest putting more details in your profile e.g. what you teach, what makes you excited about teaching (see my profile). That way, people have more info to base their "follow decisions" on.
Aw, see ... just a few seconds have past and you have 2 people that are welcoming you ... follow them, then look at who they follow ... that's how you build your PLN.
MrsC - I'll have limited computer access today, so may not be around to help, but go for it! I will check in when I can!
ku-thanks! I am getting used to it. It's fun! Especially now that I figured it out on my phone! I will be back around next week. Off to vacation-but thanks for getting me started!
I am following you now. I introduced you to my PLN. That should generate some people to follow. Jump in and participate!
Thanks! I'm enjoying the learning curve more than I anticipated. I checked out the two edchats today... I preferred the first one about how to engage students and parents... left me with TONS of good ideas, (though it was a little overwhelming)... The later edchat went a little off in all directions, but it was nice to be able to pick out a few people who I would like to follow.
I just started following #elemchat they are having a session with Suzie Boss on Project Based Learning on Thursday. It seems like a great group of people with lots of elementary ideas.
I'm looking forward to that. Sometimes I find edchat can be a little too focused on high school, or problems with education as a whole... Leads to great discussions, but I would LOVE to find something more practical in a twitter chat.
I don't do much in edchat. Usually, the day after, you can find people that have blogged about it ... that is a better read for me if I'm interested in the topic.
I must say I really enjoyed the elemchat yesterday. Now I'm presented with a new problem. There's this thing called #FF and a few people have mentioned me there. What is the etiquette with that?
Ok, so once again I'm deviating from what I should be doing like laundry, paperwork, etc so now I am going to check this out! Will probably get back to you all with questions after I play around with it.
Alright - you talked me into it. I created my Twitter account. I think I may have already sent a follow request to ku alum and alice. Anyone else interested can send a PM for my username. I look forward to following you all and networking with other teachers!
#FF is Follow Friday where we recommend people to follow (it helps you decide who to follow if you see someone you "respect" on Twitter recommending those people). Send them a direct message of appreciation Then, if you want, mention them in your own group of Follow Fridays.
I set up an account and found some resources just by searching around. I haven't really gotten into reading the chats yet but found some good websites just off people's tweets (esp for GT) to check out. I have to play with it some more when I have time to really push up my sleeves and get into it.
I downloaded tweetdeck, but when I try to verify my account, it gives me an error. When I try to create an account, it says my password is bad. This is aggravating, to say the least.
Okay, have you tried the support link on Tweetdeck's homepage? If so, and you are still not getting anywhere, you can Google "Twitter Manager" and find another one instead of Tweetdeck. Other managers that I've heard about (but never used): HootSuite, Twitterific ...
Kinder, you are using Twitter in the way that I find it most useful. I do less with the chats and more with the tweets that share.
Ok, that seems the route that would work for me also. I just don't know yet how to go about it. I did set up an account & have a handle. I'll play with it some more to understand it better. My main objective is to find/exchange ideas for the classroom.
