Journalism Day, Fired Up & Bad Tweets

Last week the fab-u-lous newspaper staff and I along with my hall monitoring buddy Rhonda piled into two school suburbans and journeyed to participate in The Dallas Morning News Journalism Day extravaganza.

On the way there, I asked the amazing Shannon, my editor-in-chief, how she was doing. To which, she responded (in hopes that I would mention it in my blog) that she was "Fired up about life."

While the kiddos attended some interesting seminars presented by professional journalists, I hiked over to another building for a session about "social media" taught by a very nice techno guru kind of guy--Kevin Sharpe. The session primarily focused on Twitter and TweetDeck.

Instead of raising our hands to ask questions, we were suppose to tweet our questions. Fine and dandy, but I noticed something. People (like me) would tweet a question, but rarely were those questions answered because people were lost in their own steady stream of tweeting. It all rather reminded me of those people who stand in the produce section of the grocery store and look like their talking to radishes when they're really talking to someone at the other end of their Bluetooth. (At least, I hope there's someone at the other end.)

Although I'm still not quite sure about why everyone should be all a twitter about tweeting,  I figured I would just roll with it. So the next day when I returned to school, I really tried to implement some of this new found knowledge. Instead, I couldn't get logged on to TweetDeck. Some dumb upside bird with error 500 appeared, reappeared and reappeared over and over and over again. If that stupid bird, weren't already dead  I think I would have popped him full of birdshot myself.

And they wonder why teachers are so reticent about implementing new technology into their classrooms.

Yeah, I guess you could say that I'm pretty fired up, too. I'm just not so sure it's about life.

Tweet that.

All in a Twitter

Years ago I could sing (keep in mind I’m using that term rather loosely), most of songs from the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Those of you of my vintage (and you know who you are), certainly can sing along to “What’s the buzz, tell me what’s a happenin’.

But that buzz thing seems to outdate me (and you). Perhaps we need to revise that and say, “What's the twitter, tell me what’s a happening…” Or, What in the tweet is this all about…”

I'm not quite sure what the correct vernacular would be. What I do know is that I need to get a handle on this twittering thing before I become the teacher left behind, or worse yet, a twit instead of a twitter. Right when I was thinking about all these twittering things, I received an email from freelance writer Mary Ward offering her “Top 8 teachers to follow on twitter.”

Crackfire! See why I should have been twittering all along? I would love to be on that list… except I’m not twittering. So join me as we investigate this twittering thing, and what better way to start then take a peak at Mary’s list and then head on over to those sites…

Top 8 Teachers to Follow on Twitter
by Mary Ward

As Twitter is full of interesting people and perspectives, it can be compelling to follow top professionals in any given area. If you work within the education field or even have an interest in it, finding and following some of the top teacher sites can make for some great information and of course networking. Here we follow the top 10 teachers and educators on Twitter.

1. Tawny Press – What’s nice about this educator is that she has a distinctive background but a very approachable and realistic persona. She specializes in corporate education with a focus on e-learning so she knows the field well, but she is also a very normal down to earth woman talking about everything from dogs to cupcakes. She is definitely a good one to follow as you never know what you might find on any given day.

2. Vicki Davis – This teacher goes above and beyond what you can provide in the classroom. She works to link students up with technology and make natural connections between the two. While her main focus is on education, she can also provide a great recipe or insight on life lessons along the way.

3. Discovery Education – Though not a teacher specifically, Discovery Education is an excellent Twitter site to follow as its goal is to connect teachers. This is a forum whereby teachers can network with one another and really talk about their profession, their ideas, and any struggles that they deal with. This makes it a rather comprehensive Twitter site to follow.

4. Dot Schools – This is a unique Twitter site as it helps people as they search for their best fit for a college. It’s a great networking site and offers some excellent perspective and ideas for those interested in the best colleges.

5. Carol Utay – This educator focuses on the function of the brain and helping individuals to realize its full potential. Her mission is to help children with their learning and she uses Twitter as an excellent forum to do just that.

6. Boost Teacher – This educator has twenty-two years of experience teaching others. She is an enrichment teacher and takes us through her daily adventures in this role while also focusing on the integration of biotechnology. This Twitter site makes for some very interesting discussions.

7. Internet for Classr – This Twitter site works as a resource site which makes it unique and relevant to so many educators. The focus here is to unite teachers of K-12 students with parents and students. It offers a platform for interactive classrooms making it an interesting perspective.

8. Kathy Schrock – As a Google certified teacher, this in and of itself makes her Twitter postings interesting. However she has also spent much time in the education field and serves as a district Tech Director as well as an Adobe Education leader. She has some fantastic experience and therefore her posts are quite intriguing.

Mary Ward is a freelance author and writes about education topics, such as how to research online university reviews, accreditation, and more.