And now, we return to our regularly scheduled series,
already in progress…. We had to take a little side trip to discuss the 1:1
initiative but we are back to discussing PLNs. For those of you just tuning in,
we (I) have been talking about blogs as sources of Professional Development.
Remember PLNs or Professional Learning Communities are no longer limited to
geographic boundaries. We covered blogs and how to subscribe to blogs. Today we
are going to talk about how to find blogs and introduce our new friend Twitter.
J
Blogs. Where do we find them? Well, for those of you that
are Pinterest addicts, no doubt you have stumbled across gems that are pinned
from blogs. As you follow the pin to see its origin, you are rerouted to the
blog itself. No doubt you have poked around other postings by that particular
blogger. (I mean, if the one item was worth pinning there must be other hidden
treasures for you to find and pin, thus sharing with the world.)
But, did you know that your favorite blogs can point you in
the direction of other blogs that you may want to check out? Many bloggers post
a Blog Roll on their blog. A Blog Roll is a list of blogs that that particular
blogger reads or follows. You can click on those links to grow your PLN. Don’t
forget all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy – well, we don’t want you to
be dull so don’t forget to subscribe or read blogs that are about other things
besides work.
Blog Roll
Now, let’s switch lanes on the PLN Super Highway – Twitter.
What’s the fuss all about? Twitter is a social media sight similar to Facebook.
The differences between Facebook and Twitter:
·
You don’t have friends on Twitter you have
followers.
·
Posts (Tweets) are limited to 140 characters
including spaces.
·
Topics are sortable using # (hashtags)
·
@ isn’t just for emails on Twitter
Twitter is short and to the point. 140 Characters don’t
allow for a lot of fluff. Twitter is not a blog. Twitter is not email. Twitter
is not Facebook. Twitter is about connecting with other educators and getting
information that can actually help you grow as a teacher. Creating a Twitter
account is easy and most importantly it’s free. Here is a short (7 min.) video about getting
started with Twitter as an Educator. J
---- IT GIRL
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