Pinterest & Twitter - ETLN Notes

Every month during the school year CTAP 3 at the Sacramento County Office of Education hosts a Ed Tech Leadership Network (ETLN)meeting where educators from across the community come together to discuss and exchange ideas for using technology in the classroom. 

December's ETLN topic of discussion was Social Media.  Gail Desler, from Elk Grove USD, shared how educators are using Twitter and Laurel Lyda, from San Juan USD, presented on another social media resource, Pinterest. 

What is Twitter?  Twitter is an online social media service that is often referred to as "micro-blogging" because each "Tweet" (text-based message) has a limit of 140 characters.  Micro-blogging allows users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links.  And, there is no minimum age restriction!

Education Tweeters by Gail Desler (@GailDesler)

• Robert J. Marzano: Education expert and consultant who tweets about practical applications for available studies. http://twitter.com/MarzanoResearch
• Will Richarson: Author, speeaker, instigator, blogger about the Web anad its effects on schools, education and learning.  Author of Why School? http://whyschoolbook.com. https://twitter.com/willrich45
• Steven W. Anderson: One of Edublogs' Twitterers of the Year, predominantly writes, talks, and researches effective strategies for web 2.0 educational tools.  https://twitter.com/web20classroom
• Vicki Davis: Flat Classroom Project co-founder Vicki Davis (alias "The Cool Cat Teacher") enthusiastically embraces all things educational technology. https://twitter.com/coolcatteacher
• David Warlick: Educator, technologist, programmer, author & public speaker, exploring the realms of edtech or educational technology. http://twitter.com/dwarlick
• Larry Ferlazzo: Sacramento's own-EL teacher (Luther Burbank), writer, activist. https://twitter.com/Larryferlazzo
• 2012 Edublog Awards- Best Individual Tweeter - International annual competition- a great Twitter sampler!
• Catlin Tucker - High school English teacher in Windsor, CA that wrote the Blended Learning book mentioned by Joe. https://twitter.com/CTuckerEnglish

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse boards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

• Education Technology - Edudemic's recommended Pinterest boards for learning more about technology in the classroom.
• Learnest - A Pinterest-like website geared towards educators.

Jennifer

EdTech Leadership Network (ETLN) Notes

Every month during the school year CTAP 3 at the Sacramento County Office of Education hosts a Ed Tech Leadership Network (ETLN) meeting where educators from across the community come together to discuss and exchange ideas for using technology in the classroom. Each meeting consists of casual dinner, professional development, resource sharing, and time to network with like-minded educators.  The next meeting is on December 11th and you should consider attending!  The presenters will be sharing how they use Twitter and Pinterest for instruction.

Last month I attended by first ETLN meeting. It was interesting and insightful to be able to talk with other teachers and learn what they are doing in their classrooms.  The October meeting focused on technology resources that support home/school communication. Below are links to some of the resources that were mentioned.

• MentorMob - MentorMob allows users to collect, collate and share information on specific subjects. These collections of information—or playlists, can be accessed by anyone wanting to learn more about the subject matter. 
• Weebly - Weebly is an easy way for students or teachers to create a website. 
• ClassDojo - A classroom tool that helps teachers improve behavior in their classrooms quickly and easily. It also captures and generates data on behavior that teachers can share with parents and administrators.
• Ms. Forst Independent Study - Online resources for Math, Science, Language Arts and History
• Voicethread- Voicethread is a web-based tool that gives users the choice to comment in voice or text, increases online community and enhances the instructor-to-student relationship.

If you are planning on attending the December meeting, RSVP by filling out this online form or calling the CTAP3 office at (916) 228-2748. Jennifer