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Friday, September 3, 2010

Teachers! Tweet, Blog, Connect.

What are your new back to school resolutions? For me, it's learning to organise my time more effectively and to prioritise! It's the same resolution made every September but this year will be different - I'm sure of it! But can I be so bold as to make some suggestions for your back to school resolutions: Tweet, Blog, Connect!
What is Twitter? Twitter is a micro blogging social network which allows users write short snappy messages (just 140 characters) which then appear on the user's profile page (Click here to see mine). Users follow other people on Twitter who may be friends or have similar interests. Sounds kinda pointless until you see how tweets can allow you share resources, web-links, videos, photos, interesting stories or classroom tips. It's an excellent way to expand your view on how your subject can be taught and to connect with other teachers from around the world. I would go as far as saying that Twitter is an essential tool for newly qualified teachers. We all know the web is a brilliant resource and Twitter allows you to share the best of the web with like minded people. It is so simple to join and start tweeting. Just visit Twitter.com and get stuck in. You might find it useful to follow these teachers to start connecting: Me, Patricia DonaghyJulia Thompson, Maryna Badenhorst, Pajo, ScoilNet, Nicole Galante and Julian Girdham (from SCC English) to name but a few. Here are few useful links on how Twitter can help you become a better teacher: here and here.

Why Blog? Blogging is not only a great way to air your frustrations (think of it as a very public digital diary) but again blogging can be a great way to connect with teachers, share useful resources and web-links, post videos and photos, display pupil work or enthuse your pupils about your subject. A blog (or a web log) is a simple web-page which displays your posts in the order they were published. Apart for More Stress, Less Success I have been editing The Frog Blog - a website aimed at enthusing pupils about science and nature - for over two years. It started with the modest ambition to create an enthusiasm around science and nature in my school but lately its audience has widened beyond the pupils of St. Columba's College. Twitter has been instrumental in getting the name and content of The Frog Blog out to people with an interest in science and its teaching. Creating a blog couldn't be simpler. I use Google's Blogger but another great way of producing a top quality blog is Wordpress. Edublogs is a website dedicated to the provision of educational blogs, for both pupils and teachers and is well worth checking out. Create an account, decide on a theme and write your first post. You will be surprised how easy it can be and how addictive is. Saying that, blogging is hugely rewarding and its potential in education is nowhere near being fully realised yet. Of course, why not encourage your pupils to blog too, especially if you are an English teacher. Here are some good examples of Irish teacher blogs starting with my own: The Frog Blog, SCC English, Think For Yourself, Using ICT in Further Education, Anseo.net, An Increasing Digital Life, Free Resources for Education. and for a comprehensive list from Scoilnet click here.

Go Connect! So, whether it's Twitter, via your newly formed blog, through Facebook or even your subject association, this year go out and connect with other teachers and share information, resources and ideas. We as teachers have a huge amount of experience of what works and what doesn't. The above are great forums to share that experience. So, go on, make a back to school resolution to connect with other teachers! Tweet, Blog, Connect!

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the mention of Anseo.net. I also need to get tweeting on weekdays especially!

    ReplyDelete