Social-networking tools such as Facebook, Skype and Twitter — once widely scorned by schools because of concerns over student conduct and privacy — have become popular vehicles for engaging students in innovative lessons, promoting schools and spurring collaboration and professional development among teachers. Many hurdles remain, however, as schools work to develop policies on safe and appropriate use of the tools by students and teachers alike. Education Week: Click Here for the full story
Thanks to Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers for this amazing resource. I love it. Like Richard, I had been wanting a way to automatically have links posted to my delicious. Whoo hoo, Pactrati.us does it.
Check it out. http://packrati.us/
Christian Long shared the website TweepML as his “geek of the week” in the February 11, 2010 Seedlings webcast / podcast.
TweepML is:…is an extensible, open standard format that allows you to manage and share groups of Twitter users.
Without saving your Twitter password or sending you Twitter messages / spam, TweepML lets you follow groups of people. You do not have to even create your own TweepML account to use the service.
by All Hands on Deck: Reflections on Teaching, New Literacies, & English Education in a Time of Change
If it’s #followfriday (#ff), this must be Twitter. #followfriday is when folks who Tweet list names of folks they think other Tweeters might want to follow. This custom has a sweet history. Michah Baldwin, the originator, says,
It wasnt hard for people to suggest folks to follow, because everyone has people they follow that they find interesting, insightful, funny, intelligent or whatever it is that makes you love to interact with another person (online or off).
Then came #teachertuesday, when folks were (are?) called on to list educators who would be interesting to follow.
I’ve been a little leery of the custom. Sure, it’s gratifying to get listed– who didn’t want to be one of the cool kids in high school? But when people keep recommending the same people, who in turn recommend people from the same circles, etc., what’s that about?
Probably these folks really like and admire each other. Probably they– we– just love lists. For example, I can predict with some accuracy that I’ll bookmark a site with a headline like this:
- 25 Sites We Can’t Live Without
- 20 Free Web Apps for the 2.0 Student
- 27 of the Most Comprehensively Compiled Social Media Guides
Or, maybe we just want guarantees: we want to be sure that we get the most valuable information. After all, since there is so much out there, we want to know what the best is. This is true of everything from movies and restaurants to pediatricians and… education blogs?
- 50 Best Blogs for Education Leaders
- Determining the Top Education Blogs
- Best Education Blogs for 2010
But I think there’s at least one other explanation for all of this listing, rating, and recommending.
As the tsunami of information continues to swell, it becomes less possible for all of us to know the same things. Do you feel that rumbling beneath your feet? That’s just everything we once felt sure of, breaking open.
I think lists counteract the feeling of overwhelm or helplessness in the face of TMI (Too Much Information) or TLC (Too Little Certainty.) After all, if there’s a list, it means there’s Someone Out There Who Knows and Something We (All) Should Know.
Recommending the same folks over and over reminds me of circling the wagons on a new frontier.
And still, with every dawn, that wagon train uncurls. It pulls out again.
by William M. Ferriter
ASCD Educational Leadership Blog | February 2010 | Volume 67 | Number 5
Meeting Students Where They Are
I’ve got an embarrassing confession to make: Until recently, I wasn’t convinced that differentiating learning opportunities for students really mattered. Like many teachers, I would deliver one lesson each day, keeping my fingers crossed that I met everyone’s needs. And even though I’ve always had a sense for the strengths and weaknesses of my individual students, I rarely drew on that knowledge to make specific changes in instruction or assignments.
To read the Full story, Click Here
