While I Was Sleeping

This morning I woke up bright and early for a Saturday and, after a warm cup of coffee, checked in with Twitter. People from all over the glove had been busy sharing news, websites and blog entries with anyone who happened to be tapped into Twitter while I was sleeping.

Part of my morning routine is to spend about five to ten minutes quickly reviewing old tweets and click on links that catch my eye so I can check them out later. Remember, the subjects of my tweets are specific to the people I follow. Your tweets can be as well.

I've listed a sampling of sites noted to give readers a taste of the richness of resources shared on Twitter.

Local Educators Study Promising Japanese Teaching Method

• An article from the Washington Post discussing a new form of Professional Development that made me think of our recent Tech Fair and what Tech Tuesday's is all about.

Classics Illustrated Comic Books

• This site has many classic books in comic book form. I can imagine how much fun it would be for kids to check out this site either before, after, or instead of reading one of the great classics. Options are endless, titles are plentiful.

A Library to Last Forever

• Another New York Times article written by Google co-founder Sergey Brin defending the Google Books Project, one of Google's newer projects attempting to digitize the world's books. I support Google's efforts which is what caused this tweet to catch my eye. If you haven't checked out Google Books, it's worth some sniffing around time.

50 Years of Space Exploration

• This tweet was a surprise because I was expecting a video or a blog entry and not the image that showed up when I went to the site. I kept thinking about th emany possibilities of using this image for independent research when I was teaching Astronomy.

President Obama On Being Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

• The space news agency reporting on Obama's letter of acceptance.

10 Rare HTML Tags You Really Should Know

• Now that I'm working with sixth graders on wikis and blogs I have the chance to introduce HTML code to them so they can design their pages to look like they want.

Quick Trick for Downlading YouTube videos without a 3rd Party Service

• Who doesn't want to easily download those YouTube videos when you find them so you can show them multiple times. YouTube videos aren't on YouTube forever.

Edublogs and How to Use Them

• Great explanation supporting blogging in a classroom. Edublogs use a WordPress environment but allow the teacher to have a bit more control of the blogging environment. Edublogs also allows users under 13 to participate. This blog is written using Blogger.

Improvements in Google Squared

• A Google blog entry about the number of improvements to the amount and quality of information you can find with Google Squared, as well as new tools to sort and export the data.

Thoughts on Setting Up a Student Centered Wiki

• A few days ago an I read an article by Ruth Reynard in The Journal ” More Challenges with Wikis: 4 Ways to Move Students from Passive to Active.” I use a wiki in my classroom now and it is largely teacher driven. I'm trying to change that by having the students become authors of pages themselves, editing the How-To pages, etc.... But, at the end of the day, the wiki is primarily teacher driven. Any time I can read about the like struggles of other teachers and how they are compensating for them I'm interested.

Interactive WhiteBoards

• I'm always interested in what users of these boards have to say about them, especially in classrooms. This site was a double bonus because this teacher has a large number of other resources on her wiki - definitely a keeper.

Computer Lab Classrooms

• Just a ton of links related to computer labs and technology. Nice find.

Digital Storytelling

• Larry Ferlazzo's latest blog entry has amassed a great number of resources related to digital storytelling. In addition, several comments also point to further resources. Just in time!

Well, in the time it took me to write this at least 20 more tweets came in with more information to sift through. I'll never have time to sift through it all, but that's not the point. You take what you can, when you can. If I have 15 minutes to look, I do. It's always better to be walking.

Using Twitter and Finding People to Follow

People are always asking me why and how they should use Twitter. They've read about Twitter in the news and don't see anything worthwhile about learning what Brittany Spears or Oprah Winfrey are doing. To everyone I reply, "There is so much more."

Twitter helps grow your personal learning network. Personal learning networks are virtual spaces that employ aspects of social networking and blogging. They allow us to connect with others in our field and learn with and from them. They provide a safe and convenient place to ask questions whether we're in the information stage of gathering new ideas or in the implementation phase of new methods. Sue Waters does a nice job of detailing how to grow your PLN on her PLN Yourself Wiki.

Once you've created a Twitter account you'll need to find people to follow. There a few easy sites that help you do this very efficiently.

Mr. Tweet helps you identify relevant followers on Twitter, providing the reader with a glance at each person's profile and latest tweets.

Twellow works like yellow pages and allows you to find people to follow by occupation.

Twitter4Teachers is a wiki that lists teachers by content. It's a great resource all in one place. You'll even be able to add your name to the list if you join the wiki.

You can always do a simple Twitter Search to find people tweeting about a subject of interest. If you like what they have to say, start to follow them. I recently did this with the latest shuttle mission and ended up following one of the astronauts, Mike Massimino, while he was in space.

Finally, once you arrive at a person you'd like to follow, see who they follow. You'll never know who you might end up connecting with. Start with me if you'd like. This is the beauty of Twitter. Twitter is a global community sharing common interests and ideas of which you can instantly belong.

Things I Learned Today Via Twitter

People are always asking about Twitter, what it is and how I use it. I thought a convenient way to bundle this response would be to fill you in on today's Twitter highlights. Twitter runs in the background while I'm at work. If something interesting catches my attention, I'll usually mark the comment, known as a tweet, as a favorite to view at a later time.

Here are some of the highlights from Twitter today within our building:

• My teammate is wondering whether it's best to buy district technology to map curriculum or to put technology in the hands of students.

• A link the Twitter information of five kids under the age of 17 who are doing incredible things with Twitter and technology. Thee kids have over 10,000 followers.
  

Highlights from my Twitter Followings and Followers:

• Recommendations for technology to purchase for student use (This was a response to a request I submitted, or tweeted.
  

• Read the Google Apps Blog and got some great GMail add-ons.
  

• Invitation to Webinar hosted by Classroom 2.0 Live - Future of Education Panel Presentation on Eluminate. Excellent hour spent with Steve Hargadon, Ruth Reynard, Karen Greenwood Henke, and Jim and Sara Beeghley

• A link to John Wooden defining his definition of success on TED
  

• Read a blog post for beginner podcasting
  

• Links to countless blogs related to education (Could be an upcoming blog post.)

• And the list goes on and on and on

And then, the icing on the cake....
My 21 year old son has joined twitter!

Someone posted a link on Twitter to a Google Spreadsheet documenting how other educators around the world are using Twitter. The spreadsheet is filled with good ideas and worth checking.

Twitter

I am officially in love with Twitter. Twitter.com (Please don't tell my husband - well actually, I think he already knows.)
Here I have found more resources and been involved in more professional conversations than I thought possible.
To make following others even easier, there are a plethora of applications that make Twitter even easier to use.
What's the lure? Quick status updates that give the reader a glimpse into the writer's mind and thought process throughout the day.
You have to be a member of twitter to follow someone on twitter but the good news is it's free to join.
If you want to check out my twitter account go to https://twitter.com/lisettecasey

If you decide to Twitter, here's a terrific slideshow that details applications to be used in conjunction with Twitter which bring a whole new level to the subject. Twitter Slideshow