FTT - Twitter for Professional Development

"Follow me! Follow me to Freedom!"

@joe_edtech/@LisaBerghoff

Well, that might be a little dramatic, but I always get excited when we can connect in very cool new ways. And this is cool, I am writing to you from my "spacious" coach seat on board my American Airlines flight to Washington DC. Lisa and I are attending and presenting at the CoSN National Conference on Ed Tech Conference this week. Of course, we'll share our presentation and all of the new resources we get when we get back. But, we really don't want to wait that long to tell you about the great things happening here. 

Even if you never send a Tweet, Twitter can be an amazing Professional Development tool for educators. This week, Lisa and I will be Tweeting out lots of information from the Conference, some of it you'll be able to use in your classes right away. Some of it will just be fun. For instance, we got to hear Daniel Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, give the Keynote address. He opened the tech conference by talking about how important devloping art skills is. And he challenged everyone in the audience. "You can't change everything in your school district at once, but you can one small thing you can change tomorrow and make things better."

We also got to meet Megan Smith, United States Chief Technology Officer, Assistant to the President focusing on how technology, policy, data and innovation can improve the future of our nation. She talked about the importance of offering creativity tools, maker spaces, and authentic coding experiences to reach even our most disenfranchised students.

Lisa and Joe Hobnobbing with Megan Smith

To follow the rest of the conversation and conference activities, all you have to do is get a FREE Twitter account and search for the hashtag #CoSN16. If you are new to Twitter, here's a short video from Dan Krutka, Ph.D..to help you get started:

Once you get logged in, try following some of these great educational resources:

• Edutopia - The George Lucas Foundation for Education
• NSBA - The National School Board Association
• David Pogue - Tech columnist, NY Times; PBS NOVA host; Missing Manuals creator, dad of 3!
• Common Sense Media - Organization for Research Based Digital Citizenship Curriculum
• Deerfield High School
• Deerfield High School Libraries

And that doesn't even scratch the surface. You can follow writers, other teachers, colleges, organizations, teams, politicians (ugh, I don't recommend following them).

Here are some great lists and resources you can use.

10 Educators On Twitter You Should Follow (But Probably Don't)

100 Terrific Twitter Feeds for Teaching Advice

All you need to do to get started is create an account on Twitter.com. HOWEVER, before you do, click here and check out "The Ultimate Twitter Guide for Teachers." Jeff Dunn (@edudemic) provides you with:

• A beginner's guide to Twitter (including video)
• Information on Twitter Etiquette
• Advice for Teachers New to Twitter
• 35 Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom

And much, much more.

Once you start using Twitter, you'll learn about "hashtags" (#). They are used in Tweets to denote important topics, and to make Twitter feeds more searchable and user friendly. The most important hashtag for educators is #edchat. Click here to get an idea of the myriad of topics discussed on Twitter labeled #edchat.

Find Twitter Here - And create your free account today.

By the way, there are two great HashTags (#) you should be following and contributing to if you are on Twitter:

#DHS__Pride = Tag the great staff, students, and accomplishments we have.
#D113PLN = Contribute to our online Professional Learning Network

MOST IMPORTANTLY, this week, follow #CoSN16.  Our session, "What NOT To Do With Technology In The Classroom" will be Tuesday, April 5, from 1:45 to 2:45 Central Time.