Come see me! Presenting in a city near you...

I am excited to announce I am going to be presenting in Portland, Oregon at the NCCE 2013 Conference (National Council for Computer Education) http://www.ncce.org/2013-home-page.html February 28th, 2013 on:
How to Teach, Connect and Learn with Social Media (1 hour session)
The Magic of iPads in Early Childhood Education (3 hour workshop)

I'm also scheduled to present for the Institute for Educational Development http://www.iedseminars.org/ on Using iPads and Other Cutting-Edge Technology to Enhance Learning and Teaching in the KINDERGARTEN CLASSROOM on the following dates:
Phoenix, AZ- February 4th, 2013
Denver, CO- February 5th, 2013
Boston, MA March 4th, 2013
Detroit, MI March 5th, 2013

I really hope if you enjoy and learn from my blog that you'll try to come to see me in person and let me share my knowledge and enthusiasm for using technology with you!

Twitter: Source for Professional Development, Community and Authentic Teaching Opportunities

I tweet, therefore I am?  Not at all.  I try very hard not to tweet what I eat, where I am, or what I am doing unless it might be beneficial to someone.  Specifically the 200+ people who follow me (which means they receive my tweets in their timeline).  Thanks by the way, if you follow me AND read my blog!  Sometimes I tweet about something funny or interesting.  Mostly though, I tweet to communicate with other teachers and for professional development.  I LOVE that it is short and concise- 140 characters does not take much time to read over.  I may check my Twitter account several times a day, or I may go a week without checking in.  Many of the 1,156 times I've tweeted (thus far) have been conversations with people who follow me or the #kinderchat hashtag.  Tweeting is a bit like instant messaging all your virtual friends about a topic- and then some of them reply.  Anyone following you or the hashtag can see and take part in the conversation.

If you're clueless about Twitter check out this tweet/link:
Ben Sheridan ‏@B_Sheridan

Blogging : For Twitter newbies: "What’s a # mean on Twitter and what is a Twitter “Chat”?" Shout out to #kinderchat http://goo.gl/OFpO7

Here are some of my tweets from #kinderchat past- I like to think of the #kinderchat as a station- everyone tuning in is for some reason interested in K and most are experienced educators.  When I am facing a dilemma, a frustration, or want to share a laugh... I go to my #kinderchat peeps.

Every Monday night at 9ET/6PT  a bunch of kinder teachers gather round the world wide web and share ideas, resources, frustrations...  During the school year there are scheduled topics- theses tweets from me were on using tech with kinders.


@i_teach_K Handwriting practice on iPads- if you gotta do it, it might as well be fun. #kinderchat

@i_teach_K tweeting w/kiddos= meaningful reason to read and write #kinderchat

[re: skype play and twitter with kinders] @i_teach_K increases communication skills and teaches manners... The kids LOVE it, good enough reason there #kinderchat

[re: skype play and twitter with kinders] @i_teach_K helps children consider others point of view, learn about culture and geography in meaningful ways #kinderchat 

@i_teach_K I like StoryKit, free for drawing, adding text and recording them speaking about it #Kinderchat 

@i_teach_K Instead of whiteboards we write on iPads with sketchio #kinderchat 




I love Twitter for professional development.  If I'm following someone it's becasue I trust their judgment and value their opinions.  So when someone tweets about an article, I can trust that I want to read it.  I don't subscribe to professional magazines (who can afford to, really?) and don't have time to search for articles.  Yet on Twitter I can find articles and websites that are amazing and timely.  
Matt Gomez ‏@Matt_Gomez

New guidelines for tech & young children by @NAEYC and @FredRogersCenter http://ow.ly/1HPGDK #kinderchat #ecetechchat #edtech

Jon Samuelson ‏@ipadSammy

Think Share Teach: Teaching in the one-iPad Classroom | @scoopit http://bit.ly/ygn4YL blog post of things you can do with the lone iPad.

 

One  of the best ways for free professional development is to follow a conference hashtag such as #iste2012 or #mobile2012 or #naeyc12 - attendees tweet quotes, key ideas, resources and links... which you can digest in the comfort of your comfiest chair while they sit in a cold or hot, crowded conference room on hard chairs.  
Good Teaching nuggets
‏@Kristy_Vincent

I don't look at the app and try to teach it. I teach math and find an app that goes with it. - Go @ipadSammy !! 

Katherine Burdick ‏@iAppleLearner

From Graham of Learning Without Frontiers on QR Codes "just because it's digital doesn't mean it's good ;)" #mobile2012 

Twitter also is a GOOD source for free apps/websites

Tony Vincent ‏@tonyvincent

45 of these 60 educational iOS apps are free: http://tonyv.me/60a60m (via @ComputerExplore & @iPadSammy) 

TCEA ‏@TCEA

New free iOS app BrainPOP Jr. Movie of the Week is fun for students in grades K-3: http://bit.ly/KXsTc6

Through Twitter I found out about Daily Five- which revolutionized my literacy instruction this year.  My kids BEGGED for Daily Five time.  
Heidi Echternacht ‏@hechternacht For your reading pleasure: archive to tonights #kinderchat re: #daily5. Enjoy! http://ow.ly/6MuhO #kinderchat

And Symbaloo and the AWESOME #kinderchat mixes
Matt Gomez ‏@Matt_Gomez

Here is the link to the #kinderchat @symbalooEDU webmix of youTube songs to get them moving http://ow.ly/8UEZD

AND Wonderopolis
Jon Fines ‏@Mr_Fines

BTW @Wonderopolis is brought to you by the great people at @NCFLiteracy http://bit.ly/wmH2sQ #kinderchat

And my classroom families LOVED when I discovered how to use Facebook to connect and share daily what we were doing in class
Heidi Echternacht ‏@hechternacht

RT @Matt_Gomez: I use a closed group for my class FB page. Little more info here http://ow.ly/629wi #kinderchat

Resources too great to miss
Matt Gomez ‏@Matt_Gomez

Kids loved that THE author was rdg it RT @happycampergirl: The Kissing Hand B&N online storybook: http://ow.ly/6hbJf. #kinderchat

AND 
Tweeting is not just for adults- get your kinder kids involved next year- as I tweeted ealier it is a way to connect them with the world, give them authemtic reasons to read and write, an audience, and expose them to culture and diversity AND timezones!  
Great blog post about tweeting with kinders

more re K and tweeting

Another about tweets in K

Kathy R. Cook ‏@kathycook1

Guide to using Twitter in K-8 Classroom http://langwitches.org/blog/2011/08/27/guide-to-twitter-in-the-k-8-classroom/

Lastly, the laughs on Twitter are awesome when it's humor you totally get becasue it's from the kinder-universe:  Hint- look at the picture in the link!
Matt Gomez ‏@Matt_Gomez

Sometimes play is awkward http://ow.ly/i/nmvs worst part "Mr. Gomez you are the one on top" ... I changed tables after that #kinderchat 

 

So,  if you've been hesitant to join Twitter... I hope you'll dive in and discover it's amazing opportunities for connecting, learning, and especially teaching!  Follow some of the people I copied the tweets from @matt_gomez @tonyvincent @hechternacht @mr_fines @tcea and definitely check out #kinderchat on Monday nights or anytime for great kinderworld inspirations!

Tell me how you use it in your professional life and say hi on twitter: My accounts are @i_teach_k or @tweetsueh

Facebook and Family Communication

Thank goodness kinderchat came into my life this year. It has helped me become more excited about teaching and kindergarten than I've been for awhile. I like new things, and the people on #kinderchat have given me a plethora of new ideas to challenge me.

Going successfully, so far, is the Facebook page I've created to share with families about the daily life of my classroom. This idea sounded great to me once I read Matt Gomez's blog about his successful use of FB last year (lots of info and links can be found from kinderchat's blog). He let me look at his page from last year and the quality of information shared as well as his parents responses on the page itself made making my own Facebook page a priority.


Feedback from my own classroom page parents-
Thank you so much! This is really nice. It is a great way for me to see what is going on. I ask a million questions but not much imput back from DS. Love this!


Cute! I love that we can see pictures so fast on what they are doing in class! Great idea!


It's so nice to be able to see our kids' work they are doing. Thank you.

My opinion, so far...
SO far I have posted pictures and videos of kids in class playing and learning, outside at recess and more. I took videos of them dancing to Jack Hartmann's Hip Hop tooty ta song today and asked them to guess what animals we would be studying in science. I enjoy looking for great pictures and video moments during the day and adore how easy it is to upload to Facebook from my phone. 7/20 parents have joined our page since school started (we are on our 9th day today). I really would LOVE if all 20 families actively participated on the page. As a parent I would love if my kids' teachers had a FB page too.

Pro's of Facebook Classroom Pages:
easier to update than school website
immediate sharing of what went on during the day versus a weekly/monthly newsletter
grandparents, and other long distance family can join too
secure- families must request to join page
do not need to be friend's to see page and posts

Con's
Some parents may not have easy access to FB/internet.
Some parents might be leery of having photos on the page. We don't use names and the posts can't be shared like most FB posts.