On Friday, I spent that day at the MESPA Fall Conference. I am a member of this organization for elementary principals. The theme of the conference was 'principals supporting principals', and I was lucky enough to be selected to present. My topic was about how to avoid administrator island. It's easy to feel like you are stuck on an island when you are in the principal role. I actually spent most of my presentation talking about this blog and how it has helped me form connections beyond my school walls. I also spent time helping other administrators figure out Twitter and how they could use it to learn from and connect with principals across the country and the globe.
So I figured it's probably time for me to do one of my Twitter posts for all of you. I discovered this video clip from a principal I follow on Twitter. I included it in my presentation because I think the message supports what happens on Twitter every day. We go about our business each day, teaching our students, planning lessons, discussing education with our peers. And we might think that what we are doing is nothing special. Watch this clip and think about this: what is obvious to us, might be amazing to someone else.
That video clip sums up my thoughts for why educators should utilize Twitter. Everyday teachers are doing amazing things in classrooms, but they might not think what they are doing is so amazing. However, someone else might be so psyched to learn from you. If you are not on Twitter yet, I encourage you to create an account and start learning amazing things from everyday educators around the country. Here is another clip that demonstrates the value of Twitter for educators...
And once you have your account and spend some time reading what other educators are doing, then it will be time for you to start tweeting about what you are doing in your classroom. Here is an infographic to get you started:
Check out this extensive list for ideas of different chats to join in on.
And in the true spirit of elementary school, here's a Dr. Seuss inspired guide to twitter:
If you haven't checked out Twitter yet, what's stopping you? Remember, if we expect our students to be connected, then we need to be connected as well!
Currently reading:
During my car ride this week, I listened to The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. I thought it was definitely a good one to listen to since there are many different characters telling their perspective of Origami Yoda.
I am excited to start listening to Absolutely Almost during my drive this week. I have the actual book that I loaned to Mrs. Pierantozzi, and she informed me that her son enjoyed so I'm hoping I will too! Here is a short book trailer about the book:
I think I may have created a monster...Emerson has become slightly obsessed with books. She loves to sit and flip through all of her books. And she will pull one out of the pile and come crawl on my lap, wanting me to read to her. Maybe she is going to be a non-fiction fan because her two favorites right now, which we read over and over, are one mini board book about fruits and veggies and this book about different animal heads...
Events this week:
Monday - Latin Class @ 3:30, Mandarin Chinese class @ 3:30
Wednesday - Veteran's Day, No school
Thursday - Student Council Meeting @ 8:30, Liz at Ed Eval Working Group Meeting 12-3
Friday - Dianna and Liz at SLT Meeting in the am
Great things I noticed last week:
- I overheard lots of singing going on in the gym and I discovered the whole second grade doing some singing activities after their music and teamwork enrichment program that had happened in their classrooms.
- When Dr. Rodriguez and I walked around the building on Tuesday, we caught Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Smith's class giving each other some thoughtful compliments.
- I walked into Mrs. Roundtree's room and Mrs. Nissi's room and found students hard at work writing using their story arcs.
- Mrs. Mills's students were motivated and excited to write with partners about "small things" for poems they were working on...they had to be descriptive so that others could guess their small item.
- I caught Mrs. Wynn working with Mr. Rider's first graders. They were eagerly demonstrating their knowledge of the commutative property after watching the dice roll on the screen.
- The Two Writing Teachers blog that I follow has been hosting a week long blog focus on information writing. They are hosting a Twitter chat Monday night to sum up their week of talking about information writing. Check it out tomorrow night @ 8:30 using the hashtag #TWTBlog.
- And here is one of the posts from Two Writing Teachers which focuses on Teacher-Written Mentor Texts: Diving into Information Writing
- November is Family Literacy Night, check out this link from DESE for tips on promoting family literacy and learning
- And one more funny clip about Twitter
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