Gr8Tweets - One a Day Keep the March Blues at Bay

If you read my blog then you already know how I feel about Twitter, just look here, and here, and here and here and here. We all know that actions speak louder than words, so to help illustrate the power of Twitter:

For the month of March,
You are invited to

Pick a
“Tweet of the day”
and Re-Tweet it with the tag: #gr8t

Thanks to David Truss for masterminding this event and for inviting, Sue Waters, Laura Deisley, Bud Hunt, Darren Kuropatwa, Heidi Hass Gable, and myself to help publicize it. We hope you will join us.

Just pick one great Tweet a day, it could be

• something interesting
• something thought provoking
• something useful
• something funny

What you retweet is up to you. When you have found something good, retweet it and add the tag #Gr8T at the end. Find out more by checking out the Gr8Tweets wiki, add your name to the participating list, and check out the Gr8T Resources. You can follow all of the Gr8Tweets here. I hope you will join us!

Two For Tuesday 2/17/09

1. The Big Picture: News Stories in Photographs
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Alan Taylor chooses a photograph and posts it on this Boston Globe/Boston.com photo blog. Each image is connected to a news story of the week and is chosen for its visual impact. Last weeks images related to NASA's Constellation program, Tibet's Great Prayer Festival and China's Lantern Festival.

2.You Tube: The White House Channel
Each week Barack Obama records a 5 minute video addressing the issues of the week and posts it to this YouTube channel. In addition, you can view videos of special events, the transition and scenes from the inauguration. Subscribe and get the videos delivered to you each week.

Advice for Teachers New To Twitter

Each day several new people start following me on Twitter. As I click through each profile, I make a decision whether or not to follow these people back. I generally follow all teachers back and will sometimes follow others depending upon what they do and the kinds of things they share on Twitter. As I was going through new followers on Saturday night, it occurred to me to Tweet some basic suggestions for teachers new to Twitter.  The first 3 are really essential to building your network of followers.

1. Go to settings and fill out your Bio! This is essential to getting followers.
   
2. Tweet a few things - share a link, an idea, a resource, a blog post, anything.
   
3. Don't protect your updates. People often hesitate to follow back if they can't see your tweets.
   
4. Use your real name and your real picture. You will eventually have to say "Hi I'm "xx" on Twitter."
   
5. Look for people who will follow you back - that is what makes a conversation.
   
6. Check out this spreadsheet of educators on Twitter add yourself: http://bit.ly/xfUn
   
7. If you Tweet a question and no one answers, Tweet it again later. It is OK to ask more than once.

I also asked others to share their suggestions. Check them out below.

• nycrican2: More advice for new teachers on Twitter, become familiar with the vocabulary on this site: http://twictionary.pbwiki.com/
  
• JPerino: A friend who set me up on Twitter suggested using http://search.twitter.com/ to find others by topic...like EduCon 2.1
  
• prodev: My best advice and I wish I'd discovered it sooner is http://TweetTree.com!
  
• nycrican2:  How about the advice that new teachers on Twitter should click on their replies and direct messages links frequently.
  
• adewitt2: Use it as a prof. development tool. Use it for getting info. from others.It's like the mgc 8 ball.
  
• raventech:  I try to DM once it gets to be more personal/give & take. I @reply for general convo and definitely for thanks for RT's
  
• ScottElias When u ask for advice & someone obliges, common courtesy dictates that u thank them. How that looks (@ or D) is up to u.
  
• mwacker: join the twitter freaks group on diigo..there's some tremendous resources there
  
• cfanch: My advice for connecting with students is NO to Twitter, Facebook, Myspace. Just my two cents on that.
  
• ScottElias: Stick with it a while. There is a learning curve until you reach that "critical mass" where your feed starts to get interesting.
  
• MagistraM: Ask questions, give answers, share challenges AND successes. Don't just lurk, but join in.

Do you have advice for teachers new to Twitter? Do you have questions? Please share them here.

Image Credit:  Alan Levine, SPLJ 2.0: http://cogdogblog.com/2007/04/26/splj-20/

Two For Tuesday 2/10/09

1. Facebook In Reality
A real life depiction of Facebook. This is pretty funny. If you are an adult new to Facebook you can probably relate! (Beware of some slightly unseemly language towards the end of the video.) Thanks to @Deacs84 for sharing this one.




2. Jeopardy Labs
This website allows you to create your own Jeopardy games without using PowerPoint. You can also browse for and use other people's games. The software keeps score and can be shown full screen. Teachers can use this to help students study for a test. Students can use this to test themselves and/or can create games for their class to play. Another great link from Linda George!

Two For Tuesday 2/3/09

1. How to Friend Mom, Dad, and the Boss on Facebook...Safely

This is a great article from one of my favorite technology blogs, ReadWriteWeb, on how to manage your privacy and group settings on Facebook. What goes on Facebook stays on Facebook, so it is important to be conscious of what you are sharing and who can see it. I've also created this tutorial which shows you how to adjust your Facebook privacy settings.

2. Dipity Timeline: The Steelers Win the Superbowl

Dipity will automatically create a timeline of web and video references for your topic. You can view the results as a timeline, a flipbook, a list or a map. This is a great way to understand a topic chronologically. You can search other people's timelines, subscribe to updates on any topic, and share your own timelines. This Superbowl timeline goes back to February 2006.

Steelers Win Superbowl on Dipity.