It is a great way to easily communicate with parents and your community. After watching Dr. Gross' video I would like to figure out a way to incorporate a way to communicate tech tips and information to my faculty and staff, as well. Anyone have a great tool they are using to communicate this information with your faculty and staff?
Before I started this position, I was the Teacher Technologist at Askew Elementary in Houston ISD for 12 years. I had parents asking me for tech and safety tips for their children all the time so I started another Facebook page to deliver content to my friends, neighbors and parents of my students. TeachTechTx
I post more from the perspective as to what I would do as a parent in a particular situation, not trying to tell anyone how to do their job, teach or parent their child. I have 4 children so I have been put in a lot of uncomfortable situations with them as digital natives and myself as a digital immigrant. It's a learning process, for sure. I don't post on it as often as I used to now that I am back to work full time but whenever I see something that strikes me as important, I post.
After reviewing ed tech leaders on Twitter, I found one post that was particularly meaningful. I don't even know enough yet to tell you how I got to this post. Why Teachers Should Tweet by Mark Anderson @ICTEvangelist It talks about "why you should tweet as a teacher." Basically to connect with others in our field who are usually passionate about educating children. You can get immediate and meaningful feedback. The article refers to twitter as "the best staffroom in the world." I will definitely need to hang out more on Twitter to see this. It has been a little distracting. I ended up going down a few rabbit holes and had to go back to the beginning and restart my searches.
I enjoyed learning more about Twitter through this process and now I follow all of these Ed Tech leaders. I especially like @kathyschrock and @GwynethJones I thought their information was very easy to follow and succinct. I might especially like Kathy's page because I'm an Apple/Mac lover myself. I also realized I have a lot to learn about Twitter.
Heather - Thank you for sharing the Facebook page for your school library. I am a stay-at-home mom right now, so I am not currently working at a school. I really liked your Facebook page. One of the most important things I think about having a Facebook page or Twitter account for your library is to be sure and update it frequently. I can tell by looking at your page that you post often and include a lot of pictures. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI too especially liked @kathyschrock and @GwynethJones on Twitter. They had lots of interesting and useful information.
ReplyDeleteI like that your library Facebook page showcases the students participating in a school activity. Excellent!
I am definitely on a learning curve with twitter. I like all the links and articles that are posted there. My learning curve comes to the # and peoples short and cryptic comments. I am not very familiar with lots of short hand text/twitter writing. It is the digital natives short hand language. Which this digital immigrant struggles with.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to work my way around Twitter, too. I do love how most of the people I follow stick to professional posts. As librarians, we must remember who we are targeting and what they hope to find in our Tweets. The Daring Librarian is a perfect example of someone who remembers her target audience every time; she is fun to follow!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your Facebook page. It is awesome! I can see all the wonderful activities and events happening in your school. I never had Facebook until now, so I am not sure how to use it. I will need to practice with it.
ReplyDeleteHeather, I love the quote you found in your research: "Twitter is the best staffroom in the world." I think this really captures one of the benefits of using Twitter as a tool in education. It not only does wonders for student engagement and learning, but it allows educators to connect, share ideas, spread news, and professionally develop.
ReplyDeleteHeather, I love how you incorporated photos of what your text referred to. Thanks for the great visuals. I'm sure your school and parent community is so appreciative of your online access to information. Your Facebook page is inspiring for when I have my own library.
ReplyDeleteYour experience as a Teacher Technologist is invaluable to your career as a librarian and your current campus' staff. The ability to bridge your knowledge with parents, teachers, and students will increase everyone's effectiveness with the incorporation of technology as a tool to network and share information. Like you stated, I have to transition my current Twitter from less of a general information feed to a education/library specific feed to make it an incredible resource for me.
ReplyDeleteHeather, thanks for sharing! I also think that these apps are a great form of communication to share information with our students, parents, and staff.
ReplyDeleteHey Heather, I loved your Facebook page recommendation, I've just liked it too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Best Regards,
Narda Lugo