The use of social media - websites that do more than just give you information, but rather interact with you and let you interact with others - is ever increasing. There are so many different sites you can use ... so here are a few of my favorites!
*Twitter - I've already told you I am a Twitter-holic. I love the ease and speed of perusing my "feed" and clicking on articles and information that interest me. After I sat in on my first Twitter Chat I gained a whole new host of people to follow and be followed by and found an awesome community of people willing and ready to share brilliant ideas. I love it. If I have questions, am in need of resources or ideas, or have have something I want to share, this is the perfect place to it. Personalized PDC. What's better than that?
**Pinterest - If ever I am drained of creativity ... or have an idea and need help pulling it off ... or need to see someone else's ideas of how to accomplish something ... Pinterest is the place I go. Whether I'm searching "Revolutionary War" or "Benjamin Franklin" in search of fun projects and approaches to teaching new curriculum or looking for "ways to reach English Language Learners" (seriously, that brought up an ENTIRE host of resources here!), Pinterest never lets me down. I feel absolutely no need to recreate the wheel ... people are creative, and I LOVE that they make their ideas available to me though this site!
***Nings - This one is new to me as of today. But I like it already. I joined a Ning for Elementary teachers ... http://elementarytechteachers.ning.com/. On this site I can chat with other teachers, read their blogs, watch and share videos, and participate in forum discussions. A great deal of the current discussions on the site revolve around educational technology -- which I think is fantastic! I think this will be a fabulous resource for find new ideas, asking questions, discussing education trends, and learning from other teachers. I never get tired of hearing what other teachers have tried and loved - and this is another great way for me to do that.
****Facebook - I mostly use Facebook for personal socialization. I do think it is a great way for schools to get information out to parents/community members. I follow the pages of many educational companies and a lot of my friends happen to be teachers, so my news feed often contains educational blurbs and ideas. It is another great way to stay connected, share ideas, and keep up with people.
I know there are countless more social media sites available. I have a Google+ account ... and I use it some ... but I just haven't quite figured out how to make the best use of it yet. Maybe tackling that will be the next step.
I love being connected with people. I love hearing others ideas. I love seeing the things they try and do. And that's why I love social media.
You are a true 21st century professional! I think as we let go of the fears in social networking, we will see the incredible benefits out there for us as well. It is also good to learn to share what we are good at, and these avenues lend themselves to sharing as well as getting good info.
ReplyDeleteI love that we are creating so many online PLN's and staying connected with others around the U.S. There is so much out there to offer that is already created for us to use in our classrooms. I hope that we can find some great online tools that work well in our classroom that we can implement in 4th grade next year! I also love that I am to work within the same grade level as you and we can take these risks together!
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