Wednesday, June 3, 2015

The Magic of the Ed Tech Twitterati

I'm going to be honest: Twitter confused me at first and I didn't want to use it.  I created a personal account years ago because I wanted to ask Neil Gaiman a question that my students pondered while reading The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish.  I died when he answered me.  After printing off his response to show my students, I explored the Twitter phone app, even tweeted to Neil one more time (died again when he responded), followed a few people, checked my Twitter feed every other day for about a year and then just stopped using it when I had upgraded my phone and decided against re-downloading the app.  Maybe it's because I'm a Facebook junkie and the hashtags and at-signs and retweets overwhelmed me.  I think really it's because I didn't take the time to explore Twitter in a meaningful way.  As I've checked out the profiles and tweets of these education technology leaders, I've realized that the Twitterverse isn't as scary as I thought and that these individuals share some pretty amazing stuff with the world.  Here are some of my favorite tweets from leaders in the ed tech world.

Buffy Hamilton -- @buffyjhamilton


As she tweeted herself June 1, “May was hell”.  It breaks my heart to see that this library world leader (who I discovered in my first semester of MLS studies and fell IN LOVE with) is struggling with receiving the expected degree of professionalism in health care for her father who appears to be suffering from numerous health issues.  Before his health and hospital stay escalated into the stage it is now, she retweeted from DMLCentral (a blog she frequently contributes to) regarding "Collaborative Thinking Through Writing".  I was so inspired after reading this blog post because it shared a creative way to get kids to think about research by connecting it to the literature they're reading and how to get them to come up with research topics and eventually research questions.  Seeing the wonderful activities she helps to implement, makes the possibility of becoming a librarian at the high school level seem not as intimidating to me.


 Jim Lerman -- @jimlerman

Never heard of Jim Lerman until I explored his Twitter profile.  Only got to the last week of May's tweets before my heart started fluttering and I got really excited about all the cool stuff he posts about free stuff for teachers and great ideas for learning!  I CAN'T WAIT to share him with my co-workers!  I mean, it's only the first Wednesday of summer break and I want to inundate the teachers in my school with his educational delights!  The first one that I came across and checked out was this free e-book with writing prompts galore!  In my department, we struggle to find relevant and fun writing prompts and these are so engaging.  I felt like I hit the lottery with this find!  I'll be spending the majority of my free time poring through his 12,800 tweets to see what I've missed!  Holy!




Kathy Schrock -- @kathyschrock


This lady is an Apple product aficionado!   She appears to live and breathe all things ed tech, I'm so impressed by her knowledge and passion.  While she is a huge proponent of Apple products, she also tweets about tips, tricks, and reviews on a range of products, apps, and ideas.  I can't wait to explore her blogs and entire social media footprint as well.  I'm really in awe of how these individuals have gained all this knowledge.  She's been a librarian and educator for such a long time and is truly committed to learning all there is to know about her profession.  My favorite tweet of hers was actually a #tbt of a library orientation video she filmed in 1984!  It was just precious and you should really take the time to watch all 12 minutes and 37 seconds of it.  Two words:  Eighties. Glory.





Linda Braun -- @lbraun2000


If it's education issues and ed tech ideas you're after, Linda Braun's Twitter feed is the place to be.  I shared at least two links with my science partner and one with my math partner before even getting out of May's tweets!  Just browsing through her posts and seeing the diversity of educational topics about which she posts leads me to believe that she is just exceedingly passionate about education and what's best for kids and I really like that because it echos my district's motto of "Every Student Is Worth My Best".  The tweet I honed in on was one for the Free Summer Math Program sponsored by Amazon.  My son struggles with math and after learning his STAAR Math results for the year, I worried about how to help him prepare for what's coming in sixth grade.  I've signed him up for this program and hope it along with some tutoring will get him where he needs to be mathematically.  I also immediately shared the link on my Facebook page.  So excited about Linda Braun!




 The Daring Librarian -- @GwynethJones


She has a TARDIS on her cover photo.  SHE HAS A TARDIS ON HER COVER PHOTO!  What's not to love about her already?  Gwyneth Jones is a hip, hip lady.  Her tweets range from pop culture happenings, to adorable Vines and pics of students, to lifted lines from books she's read and recommends.  She's a nerd and seems to like pretty much everything I do, so obviously I want to be besties with her, but she doesn't know I exist so that might put a damper on things.  Naturally I had trouble choosing a favorite tweet. While the "Where's Andre?" Project Runway video (which I've already watch millions of times and is a joke amongst my friends and I) and the Google Art Project link were very tempting, the tweet that most spoke to me most was the "Open Letter to Principals Before You Hire a New School Librarian".  My campus librarian unexpectedly had to retire a year earlier than anticipated.  My school's policy is to only hire highly qualified applicants when available.  They were available.  So I will be moving on to a different campus when I complete my degree, something I never really thought I'd have to do.  I wish I would have been able to share this with my principal and the other administrator responsible for hiring the librarian.  On the upside, I have some insight in how to sell myself in an interview.




Tony Vincent -- @tonyvincent


I gotta be honest.  My first impression of this guy is that he kind of comes off as car salesman to me.  I think that may be due in part to the fact that a big part of his tweeting is focused on his own products and articles.  He is marketing himself and trying to make a buck, I get that.  This sort of blatant self-promotion wasn't present on the other Twitter accounts I reviewed and it put me off a bit.  Tony Vincent seems to be an Apple guy as well, with many tweets about iPads in the classroom  He also offers some pretty cool tips and tricks for both PC and Apple products.  For instance, I learned how to activate voice search on Google Chrome and was dazzled!  I called my 10-year-old son in to show him what I could do and he was like, "Uh.. yeah.  I already knew that."  Guess I'll have to try to wow my husband when he comes home from work instead.  But the best tweet of all was a short and sweet plug for an Online STEAM and Arts Conference.  My science partner and I are writing a grant to bring an Art Lab into our campus and have been looking for some relevant professional development for months!  This is the answer!  Thanks Tony Vincent!




Bottom Line: What a fool I've been putting Twitter on the backburner!  So beyond excited right now to continue exploring!
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1 comment:

  1. Elizabeth GrossJune 13, 2015 at 2:16 PM

    Thanks for posting the tweets that were most helpful to you! I get fired up when I go on my Twitter account, too!

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