Refresh Your Personal Learning Network

Educators who are already connected via social media and open education resources (OER) know how empowering it can be to have a network of peers, experts, and high quality resources available to them and their students. Some teachers want to experience the same benefit, but either aren't sure where to get started, or have been overwhelmed by social media before and are hesitant to go back.

Getting Started

But getting started on social media can be intimidating. Too often I have heard fellow educators say, "I joined Twitter, but I didn't really get it right away so I haven't used it."

Coming Back

Sometimes, educators dive right into social media for professional networking. But soon they are overwhelmed by the people and resources and aren't sure how to curate it all in a way that is helpful for their teaching and their students' learning.

Some Solutions

The Massachusetts PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovators came together last week for a webinar with our best practices on Twitter, blogging, and curating.

  • How to get started with Twitter.
  • Finding a "tribe" through Twitter chats.
  • Curating resources using tools like Diigo, Flipboard, and Feedly.

We also shared our favorite PBS LearningMedia resources. To watch the video of the webinar and follow along with the busy live streamed chat window filled with participants questions and tips, click here or the image below.



October is Connected Educator Month and it was a appropriate that WGBH teamed up with four connected educators from all around Massachusetts to kick off the month with the webinar on October 7. It was a pleasure to work with Carolyn Jacobs at WGBH, along with fellow educators Jenn Judkins, Kara Wilkins, and Charlotte Corbett to plan the event.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Three Social Media Starter Tips

Image
Note: This post was recently  published on the St. John's Prep GOOD to Go blog . Chad Konecky interviewed me and wrote the post based on our discussion. Demonstrating and reinforcing common-sense social media engagement is important, especially when it comes to adolescents and teens. Kerry Gallagher, St. John’s assistant principal for teaching and learning, is leading the Prep’s emphasis on developing best practices when using social media. “Mentoring healthy guidelines like ‘Think before you post,’ ‘be kind and respectful’ and ‘be mindful of who you friend’ are key, but we need to foster—and the boys need to hone—an even keener sense of their life online.” Interestingly, the challenges of building an online identity can become even more difficult if students and their parents choose not to use social media, explains Gallagher. Alternatively, when students do create an online presence, it can become an opportunity to learn how to act appropriately and with accountability.
Read more

Teaching 19th Century Ideologies with 21st Century Technologies

Image
Some concepts are just hard.  They're hard to teach and hard to learn.  Every year that I've taught the History 10 curriculum to sophomores, one of those concepts has been 19th century European political ideologies.  Conservatism, liberalism, and nationalism have never really been pulled together into a lesson that excited me or my students.  We would work through it and we'd both be OK, but never enthralled.  This year I wanted to change that. Part 1: What Do They Already Know? I asked students to define and give examples of each term: conservatism, liberalism, and nationalism.  They used their understandings from a modern American perspective.  We talked it out and they wrote their examples on the Smart Board. Part 2: How Was 19th Century Europe Different? It was REALLY different.  Before going there, though, I wanted them to know what an ideology is. The next step was to help them understand what these ideologies mean to 19th century Europeans.  I found a great
Read more

Guest Post: A Guide to Using Instagram in the Classroom

Image
By Jennifer Gray Everyone loves social media.  Middle school students, like adults, take out their smart phones and tablets every chance they get to check their Instagram feed.  I am a teacher who doesn’t want to fight for my students’ attention.  Instead, I want to become a part of what they are using anyway.  I created my own classroom Instagram account: @mrsgray108 As a teacher of French and Spanish, I don’t think kids can ever get enough practice.   When my students are home at night scrolling through Instagram on their phones, I love that they can be learning a new French or Spanish word or getting some practice with vocabulary they already know.  Making a connection through Instagram brings my class closer and makes my subject more relevant.  Below are just a few ways I’ve incorporated Instagram into my classroom. French and Spanish Word of the Week: I like to introduce a new word about once a week.  Sometimes I choose a word that students have asked me about in
Read more