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

Privacy and protecting ourselves and our children

A colleague shared a disturbing article about the Teach Me Series, link here (picture is from iTunes store NOT my classroom! :) today at my school.  The Teach Me Kindergarten App is one of my favorite educational apps, they have made a series of apps designed for toddlers through second grade.

Apparently kids photos, and first and last name as well as device information have been sent to a third party site. Luckily it is optional in the program, my students only have their first name entered, and with the iPad1 you can't take photos so my kids info was protected.  I feel very let down by this company and it is a reminder to the consumer/teacher we need to be vigilant to ensure that the very apps that are 'helping' aren't also potentially harming our students or children. 

If you use the Teach Me Series, or plan on using it be sure to not use your last name or use your child's picture. I am disappointed to hear about this and I sincerely hope that the security lapse was unintentional. It is a great reminder though about protecting the children's privacy as well as our own.

 This week as well, LinkedIn, a service for adults, announced 6 million passwords were stolen, and as my husband, the techie says- "it is best to have different passwords for all your different school, home and online accounts.  I know it is a pain to remember them all but if you have a few you like to use and change each one a little bit you will be safer in the long run.  A reminder that you should use at least 8 characters with upper and lower case, numbers and symbols.   Here is more info on the LinkedIn leak:"

http://lifehacker.com/5916177/65-million-linkedin-accounts-may-be-compromised-change-your-password-now

Alphabet Songs

The internet, with all of it's infinite resources was a lifesaver last year when I had a BUSY class of 24 students and no aide in the morning.  I used Tumblebooks, and learning videos to steal a moment to set up the next activity or clean up the last. As useful as they are to keep the attention of wiggly boys and girls while freeing me up for a moment, I only use videos and sites that 'teach' or reinforce skills in ways that are fun, engaging, and 'worthy' of my students' precious learning time.

I use the terrific learning videos created by Have Fun Teaching frequently in my classroom.  There are currently more than 70 videos uploaded on YouTube by them, with alphabet songs, sight word songs, and more.

There are 27 videos in the alphabet song series- one alphabet song and then a song video for every letter.  I credit the songs with helping my students understand the difference between consonants and vowels, not only from the practice of singing along, but I love the visual in the ABC song, with the consonants separated from the vowels.


With the individual letter songs, the letter is shown among the whole alphabet, the letter sound is sung, words beginning with the letter are displayed and spoken in a sentence, and the students 'write' the letter in the air.  Here's an example...



Besides the great alphabet and letter songs, Have Fun Teaching also has many Sight Word Song Videos on YouTube, as well as other sobjects.  I subscribed to their channel on Youtube so I get notified when they add new songs.

I'm floating away in a Word Cloud...

Have you used http://www.Wordle.net  or http://www.tagxedo.com/ or http://tagul.com/? if you haven't seen or heard of a word cloud before below is one that I made using Wordle simply by typing in my blog's web address.  Teachers in my building have students make them by typing in their favorite things.  The more you type a particular word, the bigger it becomes (wouldn't it be a great way to teach topic?).  I may use it in class for kids to share their "I like" lists, or what they got for Christmas, or what they did on the weekend.