Twitter, Blogs, and Conferences – Oh My!

presented by Gregg McGough,Teacher, Penn Manor High School

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Twitter, Blogs, and Conferences…Oh My!

Three Reasons Educators Attend Model Schools Conferences

The Scarecrow“Rigor”

Educators attend Model Schools Conferences to grow intellectually by evaluating “best practices” from Model Schools and synthesizing the “new” instructional and assessment methods with the “old” practices from their own teaching experiences.

The Cowardly Lion

“Relevance”

Educators attend Model Schools Conferences to prepare for the times when they, who have the courage to push for authentic learning in the classroom, have their professional fortitude and knowledge challenged.

The Tin Man“Relationships”Educators attend Model School’ Conferences to collaborate and communicate with professional peers who are currently facing the same joys, issues, and problems of modern education.

“The Dorothy Principle”

Take that which is learned outside of the limits of the day-to-day, black-and-white environment of the past and enhance the academic possibilities of future learning situations with the colorful perspectives of collaborative exploration and discovery.

Narrative Inquiry

• Shapes and informs practice as a “window into people’s beliefs and experiences.”

• Allows for analysis of underlying insights and assumptions.

• Functions in opposition to elitist scholarly discourses.

• Issue of time makes NI difficult for research into large groups of people…until now!

“…narrative has an inherently temporal thread in that current events are understood as rising out of past happenings and pointing to future outcomes.”

Sinclair Bell, J. (2002). Narrative inquiry: more than just telling stories. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Education, York University, Toronto, Ontario. Retrieved from ld-sig.org/files/Bell_TQ36.2.pdf.

Power of Social MediaHarvested from: http://spearsmarketing.com/599/the-power-of-social-networking/

The Wicked Witch of the West

She sweeps in to remind potential users that technology is not for feint of heart. She will try to dissuade by telling one that his/her story is unimportant or that the journey is too difficult.

Twitter StatsHarvested from: thenextweb.com/twitter/.../the-who-why-and-how-of-twitter-

infographic/

•Only 8% of US internet users are active on Twitter.

•Just celebrated its fifth birthday.

•460k new accounts daily.

•177 million tweets per day

•162% increase in new Twitter users.

What is Twitter?

Twitter Explained

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers."

Harvested directly from: http://tweeternet.com/

Backchanneling a Conference

“Whispering in digital conversation”

Recording those nuggets of truth for later analysis.

Asking questions of presenter and participants.

Share resources and links that help to support presenter.

Makes one an ACTIVE participant.

Cogdill, S., Fanderclai, T.L, Kilborn, J., & Williams, M.G. (2001). Backchannel: whispering in digital conversation. Proceedings of the 34th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, www.hicss.hawaii.edu/HICSS_34/PDFs/DDPTC03.pdf

Voices from Twitter

True Collaboration

Krissy’s Blog http://greatdaytolearn.com/learningendeavour/

Super Simple Twitter Start-Up

(for Public Tweets ONLY)

Step 1 – Go to http://twitter.com and enter:

a. Full Name b. Email c. Password d. Username

Step 2 – Skipping Screens

SKIP the next two screens by clicking the “Skip” button at the bottom of the page. You can always go back and add this information at a later date.

Skip:

1.Interests

2.Friends

Step 3 – Enter Profile

Click the upper right corner of the Profile Page to enter your profile. Don’t forget to add a 140-character biography.

Step 4- Tweet Away

Start Tweeting and following other educators as you start to build your online Personal Learning Community (PLC). By the way, Tweeting means to type a brief 140 comment about a topic and hitting submit. You may follow me to start @McGough3R.

**Don’t tweet anything that you would not like stated at the next

school board meeting.

Step 5 - HashtagsA Hashtag is nothing more than a Twitter term for a marker that is added to a tweet in order for it to become part of a conversation thread. This small feature allows users the chance to chat with another Tweeter and also with the entire PLC simultaneously.

Two Established Hashtags:

#SPNchat – Weekly Discussion Group that meets Tuesday nights at 9pm(EST.)

#MSC2011 – Official Hashtag of the 2011 Model Schools’ Conference.

How to read a “Tweet”

A. User PhotoB. UsernameC. Actual NameD. Symbol that this tweet is part of a convo thread.E. This means that this tweet is a response.F. 140 character message.G. Shared/hyperlinked resource. H. Date of Tweet.I. Favorite saves permanently to Twitter account.J. Retweet sends the Tweet out to just the user’s followers.K. Reply allows the user to respond to anther member.

Twitter Searchfor LURKERS!

Individuals who would like to take Twitter for a spin before becoming a member can go to Twitter Search and type in any hashtag. The search will allow the user to view the tweets as they occur in real time. The only function that is lost in this mode is the ability to participate.

SPN Blog PostingEvery SPN member has a unique story to tell and a forum with which to publish it for others to read.

What is a blog?

•A blog is short for Web Log.

•It allows individuals to publish their own personal narratives.

•It is important to read some blogs before attempting to write one. Great examples at Technorati.

•Short paragraph or two that focuses on one concept or idea.

•Others can comment on your blog and start a conversation.

Choosing Seminars

It is important to establish WHY you are attending a session before you decide what presenters to view. Participants should move from the inside out and not the other way. Presentation categories:

•Keynotes

•Featured Speakers

•Model Schools

•How-to Sessions

Sinek, S. (2009). Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. New York: Penguin Publishing Group.

http://www.modelschoolsconference.com/

Selecting by “WHY?”

Make sure to follow these Notable Tweeple at #MSC2011

@Ray_McNulty

@vteharris

@jimwarford

@susanwarford

@AshleySPN

@RigorRelevance

@McGough3R

All Wizard of Oz photos and images are courtesy

of IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/

tt0032138/mediaindex

19th Annual

Model Schools Conference

June 26-29, 2011 - Nashville

Showcasing the nation’s most successful practices for improving student achievement and growth!

www.ModelSchoolsConference.com

Questions and Answers• This is the end of the presentation portion. We can continue the conversation on Twitter for those willing to log-on and give it a try.

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For more information:

www.successfulpractices.org

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www.successfulpractices.org