My presentation was on using social media for professional development. I spoke about Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Ning. Most of the time was spent on Twitter, and I was able to market the Tuesday evening #edchat a bit. I had also registered the hashtag #aobtech for the showcase and encouraged participants to use it. The concept of a back channel was a bit new for them.

The people in my session seemed very open to using the tools but had some legitimate concerns. Figuring out how to navigate through this new sea without drowning in it is a bit tricky at times.

My own passions center around learning, teaching, and mint chocolate chip ice cream.

One of the members of my PLN, @cybraryman1 (who has an incredible website, btw), tweeted: “Let us never forget that students still need meaningful relationships with their teachers!” In the middle of retweeting that, I accidentally sent it before I was finished, and it didn’t include his name so it looked like I had written it. Yikes! We spend so much time making sure our students don’t take credit for others’ work, and here I was doing just that. At least, it looked that way. I made sure to send out an immediate correction and an apology to cybraryman. He was very gracious.

It was a good learning experience for me, and I started reflecting on how students could very easily make the same mistake. Instead of getting harsh, we can use those “teachable moments” to ensure that they attend to errors and make any necessary reparations. I just hope everyone is as understanding as cybraryman!

There were plenty of great tweets about the issue. Some themes included making sure the technology does not drive the curriculum, the importance of modeling, and taking a gentle approach.

The topic was about administrators evaluating teachers’ use of technology. I really enjoyed seeing all kinds of educators engage with each other. We weren’t always on the same page, but we were having a civil discussion and supporting our viewpoints. I learned about the cultures of individual schools and about universal problems. In addition, I saw familiar names and encountered new ones. #Edchat is awesome.

What are they? I believe that security, engagement, a sense of control, and non-contingent interaction are vital. If they are lacking, we are setting ourselves up for failure.

I also pondered about teachers’ needs. If they aren’t met, both instructors and students will suffer. Teachers’ needs are parallel. They need support of administration, engagement, appropriate power (without being micromanaged), and a sense that they matter.

There are more, but these are enough for now. I encourage your comments about foundational needs. What must be addressed?

The topic was about methods that foster a love of learning in students.  I will post my thoughts below as well as several others that resonated with me:

My thoughts:

Methods that foster “relaxed alertness” http://www.cainelearning.com/files/Greatteaching.html #edchat

Love John Medina’s work in this area; Brain Rules is must read http://www.brainrules.net/ #edchat

Modeling.  How can we foster a love of learning in students if we don’t demonstrate that ourselves? #edchat

Incorporate music.  Allow choices.  Get them moving as much as possible. #edchat

Make your classroom a safe place to be, physically and emotionally.  Who can learn if you’re afraid? #edchat

For some reason, Twitter had some tech issues, and my tweets were not appearing until I imposed on a buddy, who was very gracious about having me send my thoughts via her account.  Thanks, Shelly!

Here are some other insightful tweets:

@sammorra: How can we ask our students to function at the top of Bloom’s when we assess them at the bottom? #edchat

@cybraryman1: I loved using Cooperative Learning projects with my students: http://bit.ly/4kjU3S #edchat

@Justlikemary: I have specific goal for tomorrow. Round table discussion w/ stdts on their thoughts about motivation #edchat

@tonnet: There is a difference b/t saying “I teach” than “I am a facilitator.” #edchat Students connect better to the last assertion

@ShellTerrell: I think prof developmt from those passionate about these methods can also influence teachers to integrate methods #edchat

There were many, many more.  I strongly urge anyone with an interest in education to check out this wonderful tool.

The topic centered on the needs of preservice teachers.  The consensus was classroom management, educational technology, clinical training, and developing into reflective practitioners are all vital.

I tweeted a few times about the importance of modeling.  Here are some of the other posts that I found profound:

Reflection is not just “what happened” but must include what went well, not, why decisions were made, what to change.   @Linda704

Mentorship programs dont work if mentors are forced into it & dont want to help the new tchr.    @ShellTerrell

You can’t learn how to teach from a book…you have to actually teach to learn how to teach.    @web20classroom

Edu is a prof of Assessment,Reflection and flexibilty. We need to assess what Futr tchrs need Rflct on doing it & be flexible to give it.   @tomwhitby

New tchr training should stress that “learning” is the work. Student learning and their learning. It never stops.    @eduinnovation

Of course, we want to keep children safe. But do we want to have fear override intellectual curiosity, wonder, and just plain good sense?

Some of the posts that deserve repeating:

“I live on an island. We teach our children to swim because we can not filter them from water.The Internet is becoming as prevalent.” tomwhitby

“The best filtering is good classroom management and an informed teacher.” mbteach

“I see this as teachable moments we are missing out on completely, we could really be reaching our stdts w/ their personal struggles.” ShellTerrell