Spicing Up Class Discussions With Twitter

Twitter chats have taken the education PD world by storm over the past several years. Every day, there are tons of engaging chats for educators, technology specialists, and administers to get involved with and learn from. If you want to know if there is one for you, just check out the archive HERE of daily education chats. Since I, like many others in the education field have found Twitter and the chats to be beneficial in the journey to continually learn, connect, and grow; I thought why not give it a try with my students and show them the power behind the software.

Check out this FLIPGRID on how "Twitter Has Impacted You As An Educator!" to hear testimonials from ROCKSTAR educators about how Twitter has changed their teaching careers.

I have found that when we as educators give students a platform to express their thoughts through another avenue other than raising their hand in class, you hear from everyone's perspective, not just the interpersonal ones. Twitter chats allow everyone to share their thoughts and opinions in a quick and fun way.

So far, I have conducted two Twitter chats with my entrepreneurship and accounting I students. Check out the #DTacct & #DTentrep in the search box to see how it went! HERE IS MY LESSON PLAN for the entrepreneurship one I conducted.

Some things that I think are important to know if you complete one with your students:

1. Take time to brief students about what a Twitter chat is, how they are run, and why they are useful.
2. Don't assume everyone knows how to use Twitter. Take time to go over hashtags, how to follow, and how to comment, favorite, and retweet someone else's post. Also, remind them that every tweet must have the hashtag you are using!
3. Give students the option to create another Twitter handle that isn't their personal one. 
4. Prep students the day before with the questions you will ask them.
5. Teach them how to appropriately comment and respond to others. 

I am lucky in that my district is very open and supportive in not blocking Twitter and having it be used for educational purposes. If you are interested in trying a Twitter chat with your students, but Twitter is blocked, you can always do a "Mock Twitter Chat." Thank you Alice Keeler for the second option! Please let me know if you have any questions and don't be afraid to try something different and SPICE UP those class discussions! 

A Week Without Facebook and Twitter: Liberating

If you have a Facebook or Twitter and are active like me, you probably are involved in the daily carousel of posts, comments, news, and shares. It starts when you awake. You wipe your sleepy eyes, grab the cellular device, open your social media apps, and check to see what you missed while you were dreaming about that bear chasing you. You get out of the shower, dry off, and check it again. Your just about at work and find yourself at a stop light. Instead of thinking for yourself, taking in the scenery, maybe being mindful for a moment; you habitually check social media once again to see what’s happening. This cycle goes on all day long for the majority of people who utilize these platforms.

As I was sitting on my couch last week watching tv, my wife brought to my attention how much I was checking Facebook lately. I would watch tv for a few minutes, check Facebook. Go to the bathroom, come back, and check Facebook. I was doing this probably 50-100 times a day. I feel that in our society today, I am not in the minority of people who live their lives like this. After a discussion, my wife and I decided to challenge each other to live as if it never existed. We were going to delete our Facebook and Twitter apps from our phone and see how it would feel after a week.

The first day was hard I must admit. My habit was to go to the social media folder, and open Facebook when I had a free moment. Not having the app made it a lot harder. Through days one through three, I broke down a few times and used the browser to peruse. After day four, I think I checked it one or two times for only a minute. As the week went on, I cared less about what others were doing and invested more time into my life. It honestly felt good to break my mind of the habit and think for myself again. Some of the things I noted about the week through reflection were:

1. Who cares what others are up to all the time. Spend less time worrying about them and focus on living your life to the fullest. I found I have had way more time to work on important things in life rather than wasting my life on worrying about what others are up to.

2. Honestly, anytime I did something fun in life, it was in my mind, “take a picture and share it on social media.” It was so temping during that week to share the places I went to, my new walkway I completed, where I was running, etc. I now realize that sometimes the best memories don't need to be shared with the world, only with the people who truly care.

3. Stop comparing your life to others. One of the worst things about Facebook is we look to see what others are up to and then we compare our life to theirs. Recently, I saw someone’s post say, "OK, you all can stop getting engaged now." Basically what that person is says is, "I am not happy in my life and I am tired of seeing others getting engaged." Stop wishing it would happen, put the device down, and live your life.

4. I didn’t miss out on anything. I'll say that again. I DID NOT MISS OUT ON ANYTHING. What I had been missing out on is doing things to make myself a stronger person like reading, learning to program, brainstorming ideas, exercising, etc.

After going through the process, I feel I have a new perspective on life that has been deprived from me since I bought a smart phone with these apps on it. Truly, I feel liberated. Liberated from the habitual cycle of wasting time caring about what others are doing that is more fun than what I am doing right now. I am now into week two and have no reason to install the apps back onto my phone. Do I plan to use Facebook again and post? Sure. Will I check it 50 times a day again? No way. Life has been more enjoyable and I am choosing to live out there instead of inside of device. Try it. How long can you go?

-RD

PETE & C: We Came, We Learned, We Conquered!

I had the opportunity to attend one the biggest educational technology conferences in the nation on Monday and Tuesday (Feb 11-12) in Hershey, PA and learned a lot about where education is going and how educators are reaching our students in this fast-paced, tech savvy, 21st century.

For starters, the PETE & C conference was packed with educators around the state of PA and surrounding states with one common purpose: To learn more about how we use technology to increase student engagement, learning, and interest. One of the main things I took away from the conference is just how many web tools, apps, and free software is available to educators. If your students have the internet, they can access almost anything free to help them learn and grow. Here is a link to 60 web tools in 60 minutes. So much awesome free stuff!

The idea of FLIPPING out is definitly real and working. I was skeptical about flipping the classroom but after hearing and seeing people that have done it, I am definitly a believer. This summer I will begin working to record my lessons so I can spend more time in class on discussions, reflections, and meaningful work. My big argument against it was what if students don't have internet at home? Two options: One, give them a flash drive to view on a computer. Two, ff they don't have a computer, burn a DVD and have them watch it on their DVD player. Should you FLIP your classroom?


We as humans now live in the era of hyper-connectivity. For me, I had a blast using the #PETEC13 tag while in sessions seeing what people were Tweeting. Twitter is the real deal for educators to learn and build a PLN  (Personal Learning Network). It is just amazing how no one really watches and listens to a presentation anymore using a notepad to take notes. Everyone was on an iPad, smartphone, and laptops. We are becoming masters at multitasking. If you are interesting in learning more about Twitter, here is a link to
everything you need to know and a guide for teachers.

The last presentation I had the opportunity to sit in on was my favorite. Matt Bergman of Hershey Milton School killed it in sharing ways teachers can use Livebinders. Here is a link to his presentation and website Learn, Lead, Grow that has all of the information. The most important thing Matt is doing is making his content accessible 24/7 365 to students which is key in today's learning environment. He also shares some great recipes to reaching ALL learners.

Did you attend the conference? If so, what did you learn that I missed? Any other cool sites we should know about? Thanks.

-RD

Parents & Teachers: Are We Setting The Tech Example?

While on vacation in Florida over break, I came to the realization that kids, teens, and many adults are becoming hopelessly addicted to their phones. I got to hang around two teens for five days and the phone dominated their life. When we went fishing, the phones were out. When we went bowling, the phones were out. When we went to dinner, the phones were out. Now these are great kids and both have wonderful parents who limit the technology use. The problem is they need to check it every five seconds as if the world is ending. I even tested them at dinner to see who could keep their phone away the longest and they only lasted five minutes. 

It isn’t just them but it is all young people who have access to smartphones, iPods, tablets, etc. We are seeing it in commercials, we see it when people are stopped at red lights, and we see it where we shouldn’t see it. Now I teach business & computers and am a huge proponent of using technology for good but it is a matter of knowing when to use it. Maybe we need to come up with a smartphone etiquette curriculum and teach that in schools along with digital citizenship?

I just worry that young people don’t know how to have fun or hold a conversation without an iPhone in their hand. We as a society will never stop technology growth and usage but what we can do as parents and teachers is set the tech example!

Parents and teachers, teach your children when it is acceptable to be on the phone. Set guidelines and rules up for children and stick to them. If you don’t want your son or daughter to have their phone out at the table, don’t do it yourself. If you don’t want your children to text and drive, use Siri voice! Our phones, Facebook, Twitter and everything else are becoming almost, if not as addictive as drugs. Think about that for a second. It is almost as hard to quit Facebook for a month than it is to quit smoking!

Technology is wonderful in so many ways but it can also ruin us as a society. It is changing everything about how we work, live, play, chat, socialize, etc. It is up to us, the parents & teachers, the leaders to show our children what it is like to go outside and play for 30 minutes without Angry Birds. Show them what it is like to go camping in the wilderness. Show them what it is like to explore with the senses. Show them how to build and fix things. We as parents cannot fail our children because if we do, no one in thirty years will know what to do when the satellite goes off…

-RD