I Have Been Online TOO MUCH!!!!!

 THAT'S IT!!!

IT'S BEEN TOO MUCH!!!

Today I returned to campus to sign some things and do some work. I have spent most of the last 7 months teaching from home in my basement. All of my classes have been online as well as my meetings.

Just for a change, I donned my mask and walked across campus to the Union. I purchased a chocolate milk, picked up a Northern Iowan to read, walked outside, and sat on a concrete bench.

I perused the paper along with the thumbnail articles across the top. The Derecho Relief article looked interesting and would you believe that

I "clicked" it with my thumb and wondered why it didn't show me the whole article?

I need to get back into the real world. It's not as efficient sometimes, but it can be much more fun!!

What have YOU been experiencing?

Iowa Education Hashtags

How do we contact the educators in Iowa?

• We could email them, but we would need all of their email addresses.
• We could send them post cards, but that is costly.
• We could text them, but we would have to know their phone numbers.
• We could tweet them, but then we they would all have to be following our twitter persona (i.e., @zeitz)

BUT WAIT!  THAT'S NOT TRUE!!

They would hear our short but important messages if they were following Iowa-Specific Twitter Hashtags.

It's easy, it's quick and it segments specific sectors of people . . . It's PERFECT!!!

The other day I was trying to find Iowa Education specific hashtags when I realized that I didn't have to do this alone. There are thousands of Twitter-using educators in Iowa who could help me.

I created a Google Doc (editable by anyone with the link), Iowa Education Hashtags.  I then created a tweet asking colleagues to help me create this collection of hashtags. I tweeted it a couple of times and the content began to grow.

Presently, the list looks like the one that is below, but it is growing.  Please visit it, Iowa Education Hashtags, and add any that Iowa-specific Education Hashtags that you might know.  Please include your name and the URL of a website that might be linked to the hashtag.

Thanks.

Z

Here is a snapshot of the Hashtags on the Iowa Education Hashtags site.  Take a look to see what the updated list includes:

Similar Job Types

#IowaTL - Iowa Association of School Librarians (http://www.iasl-ia.org/)
#IACoPI - Iowa Communities of Practice on Blended Learning
#Iowa1to1 - 1:1 in Iowa
#iaedldr - Iowa Administrators
#ialegis - Iowa Legislature - @jasonellingson

Iowa Specific Topics

#IAEDFuture - Future Plans describing ideas after the Iowa Education Summit
#iowacore - Iowa Core Standards
#iowaaiw - Authentic Intellectual Work - @jasonellingson
#iacomped - Iowa Competency-Based Education - @jasonellingson
#iaedreform - Iowa Ed Reform - @jasonellingson
#NoBullyIA - used before/after the bullying summit - @jasonellingson
#SBAC - SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium - @jasonellingson
#iastem - Iowa’s STEM initiative - @jasonellingson
#iowa1to1 - 1:1 schools in Iowa
#iowatl - Iowa teacher-librarians - i.e. @scsdmedia

AEA Hashtags

#gpaea - Great Prairie AEA - @sethdenney
#gwaea - Grant Wood AEA - @sethdenney
#plaea - Prairie Lakes AEA - @jasonellingson
#nwaea - NW AEA
#aeatech - Iowa AEA instructional technology consultants - @sethdenney https://sites.google.com/a/gwaea.org/aea-statewide-technology-integration/

Specific Schools/Districts

#BCLUW - BCLUW school district
#VanMeter - Van Meter School District
#2020HowardWinn - Howard Winneshiek School District
#Westmonona - West Monona school district -@techytweecher
#soloncsd - Solon Community Schools
#newellfonda--Newell-Fonda School District

Iowa Technology Organizations

#itec - Iowa Technology and Education Connection - @sethdenney  (http://itec-ia.org)


ALERT:  Here is a GREAT schedule of Education TweetChats across the country.  
It is created by CyberMan.  He is an AMAZING educators who has catalogued everything.  

Can you add any hashtags?

Kids Respond When You Believe in Them . . . Ask Principal Roger Boddie

After 36 years of leading the Hingham Middle School in Massachusetts, Principal Roger Boddie's students surprised him with a flashmob dancing tribute to him on his last day of his term on the job.   It is touching to see how this affects Boddie as well as the students.  Imagine leading a school for 36 years.  That means that he probably had at least 2 generations of students. He became part of their families.

He obviously Made a Difference.  He believed in his students and they responded.  This aligns with the testimonials that I have been hearing all week at the ISTE conference in San Antonio.

• I heard Kevin Honeycutt talking about his passion for teaching and challenging students.
• Adam Bellow gave a moving keynote where he talked about Making a Difference in the world. 
• Jane McGonigal shaws how she had worked with learners and changed their lives through gaming.

There is no greater achievement than Making a Difference in someone else's life.  That is why we became teachers.  We want to make a difference it is when we receive acknowledgement as Principal Boddie received the tribute by his students that means a great deal.

I found this video on the blog of a good friend, mentor and colleague, Vicki Davis - CoolCatTeacher.   Visit her blog to see what she has to say about this.

How have you been acknowledged as an educator?

Z

6 Resources for Using Twitter in Education

Twitter is sometimes considered a tool that is "a solution looking for a problem to solve." it is cool and immediate and useful for people to keep in touch. Here are some resources that educators will hopefully find useful when considering using Twitter in their classrooms.

Twitter Handbook for Teachers
An 18-page ebook for teachers. Begins with a basic intro about Twitter and then provides insight about using Twitter in the classroom. These ideas are from teachers and written for teachers.

Twitter for Teachers
A collaboratively-written, wiki-based ebook to "Teach Teachers about Twitter."

Twitter 4 Teachers
Another wiki created to help teachers find teachers through Twitter. This can be quite valuable if you want to find a group of twitterers in your field of instruction.

"Where Do You Learn?": Tweeting to Inform Learning Space Development
An EduCause article about how you can use twitter to provide real-time information about your learning environment.

Twitter Tips: For Teachers and Educators
David Hopkins' Overview of how and why to use Twitter in education.

Twitter in the Classroom (YouTube Video)
In this 9-minute video a high school AP Biology teacher tells how he uses Twitter in his classroom. Begins with an explanation of Twitter and then discusses the applications.