"Creativity is contagious, pass it on." ~Albert Einstein

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

5,000+1,500=Collaboration Squared!

I was planning on posting something worthwhile for my 5,000th post on Twitter.  Well, I lost track of my Tweet count and noticed that I was in a “tweeting conversation” when my 5,000th tweet happened.  So much for planning to tweet something legendary!  I noticed about the same time I posted my 5,000th tweet that I was approaching 1,500 followers.  I thought it would be cool to offer that follower the opportunity to collaborate on a blog post about the power of building a Professional Learning Network (PLN for those of you new to Twitter).

Now I have blogged about the power of Twitter before.  It was actually my very first blog post that I composed this summer.  Well, I kept tabs on my followers for a couple of days and I finally got my 1,500th follower.  His name is Felix Jacomino  (@felixjacomino) and he is the Director of Technology at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School, a 1:1 iPad elementary school in Coconut Grove, Florida.  He is an amazing educator and we share some of the same passions when it comes to education.  
Most importantly to me, he is a member of my PLN!  

I asked Felix if he would like to collaborate on a blog post and he immediately responded a resounding, “yes!”  Long story short, we created a Google Doc and thought it would be a good idea to have our collaborative post focus on the power of creating a PLN.  As an educator, I have been able to provide some amazing, authentic experiences to my students.  I owe a 98% of the new and innovative ideas that I have tried to the educators, administrators and specialists that I follow on Twitter. I am able to learn from educators from all over the world!

Have you been considering Twitter as an educator, but have been dragging your feet because you just can’t see the benefits?  Here is some advice...Twitter style.  All of the information below will be in 140 characters or less, just like a regular tweet.
  • “Twitter allows you as an educator to take control of your learning” ~via @bethstill
  • Build a solid PLN, give it six weeks, be a lurker, start retweeting, when the mood strikes you start tweeting. It will be the best decision you have ever made as an educator.
  • Twitter leverages MILLIONS of educators.
  • Those educators tend to be passionate about their profession and love to share the best of what they find and implement.
  • Teachers tweet not because they have to, but because they want to.  That says a lot!
  • Twitter demolishes the walls in your classroom.
  • Twitter creates an authentic audience for the students in your classroom.
  • Twitter allows a teacher to create, mold and model a positive digital footprint.
  • YOU decide what information comes to you through detailed searches.
  • Find a hashtag or two, plug them in to visibletweets.com, sit back & have fun!
  • A sign of a great teacher is being a life-long learner. In this phase, you can’t ignore Twitter! 
Need a good hashtag to follow? Here are some basic suggestions for you:
OR you can always go to this MONSTER list of hashtags created by @cybraryman1 Jerry Blumengarten.

Feel free to contact us with what your interest/focus is, and we will get back to you with a hashtag or person to follow that will make your twitter experience well worth it! Good luck! 
 

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for demonstrating the effective use of Twitter which allows for the creation of any time any where learning to occur for free for all of us involved in education. With the crazy schedules educators have, the flexibility of a relevant PLN has the potential for exponential growth.

    ReplyDelete

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