In the 21st century, technology has become more than just a fad or a craze, its well life itself. With technology comes the bombardment of social media. Twitter is one of these "new" social media sites. You may wonder why the quotes around the word new, Twitter popped onto the Internet as a social media site in March of 2006 but has only in the past few years become such a trend. Twitter is in essence a microblogging site. It allows people to post their thoughts in 140 characters or less. It allows you to embed links to articles and videos and of course to "follow" other people. It is a way to catch a glimpse of someones life.
In my world of education twitter is especially helpful in keeping up with the bigger names in education, technology, library science, etc... For the people that I do not have the privilege of interacting on a face to face or even a personal level with I can stay up to date about their advancements and opinions in my career. Below are some of my favorite tweets from 6 big names in education.
The first person I want to highlight is Linda Braun, twitter handle @lbraun2000. She posted the following tweet,
To Create Real Change, Leadership Is More Important Than Authority http://t.co/RGzaGBT3v1
— Linda W Braun (@lbraun2000) June 2, 2014
This was a great article to bring focus on. It illuminates the fact that just because you are given the authority, you are the person in charge, or that you have the responsibilities that does not make you a leader. A leader is defined by what you do with your authority or power.Tony Vincent, Twitter handle @tonyvincent, is another interesting person to follow. Tony is a whirlwind in the technology world. This is an extremely helpful tweet posted the other day,
Tip Tuesday! Here’s a bunch of things you can do with Google: Find a card you like and flip it over to learn more → http://t.co/8hwwSWCY2o
— Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) May 20, 2014
With technology changing from one split second to the next, this tweet of Tony's really gives us a simple guide to follow for using many of the new functions that Google allows.Buffy Hamilton, Twitter handle @buffyjhamilton, is one to follow for a hodge podge of tweets. You get to see her human and personal side and also her passion for literacy. The following tweet was one that Buffy reposted and if she had not reposted it I probably would never have read the inspiring story.
#ConnectedLearning Personal Story: educator Danielle Filipiak (@flipster33) - http://t.co/hFCqT1DGJf by @hrheingold
— #ConnectedLearning (@TheCLAlliance) May 27, 2014
The Daring Librarian or aka @GwynethJones, spices up my twitter feed. She has a great knack in choosing how and what she tweets. One of my favorite tweets from her lately is one that she actually retweeted. I must say that if she had not retweeted this then I would never have stumbled upon it and her retweet brought me another person to follow on twitter, Larry Fitzgerald.
“What every parent needs to know about video games: a crash course” http://t.co/sUOMuoB1VF
— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) June 2, 2014
This is a well thought out and designed article about video games and how they effect our kids. Being a parent myself of a four year old, who yes loves his iPad and Playstation, video games came be overwhelming to myself. Lets just say that at the wonderful age of 32, I still haven't gotten Mario to beat King Coopa and save the princess in level 10-4! I have already sent this article to my principal as a resource to extend to our student's families.Jim Lerman, Twitter handle @jimlerman, brings up some very discussion worthy tweets. One that my fiancee and I discussed for hours this evening was about colleges updating and changing the degrees. We discussed how one of the primary goals of K-12 education is assisting our students become 21st Century Learners but then they go to college and a lot of the degrees have not been revamped to match our 21st century careers. I suggest everyone read the article and research some more.
Why We Need to Update the College Degree http://t.co/3G6Ky36OdA
— Jim Lerman (@jimlerman) May 31, 2014
My final twitter acknowledgement goes to Kathy Schrock, Twitter handle @kathyschrock. Kathy is one busy lady and never fails to tweet about a new Web 2.0 app that she has figured out the best ways to integrate into the classroom. The following is a tweet from Kathy about a new interactive whiteboard tool that can be used in so many more ways than just the smartboards hanging on classroom walls can. check it out and see how you can use Pixiclip in your classroom!
PixiClip for Teaching and Learning http://t.co/mSThkw7OXF
— Kathy Schrock (@kathyschrock) May 23, 2014
