Group items tagged

"Do you ever Google yourself? If you don't, why not? If you do, what do you see? If something about you does not come up on the first page, something is wrong. Your learning community needs to know what you believe is important. Your voice and ideas need to be read and heard! If you are not blogging or putting out a digital newsletter on your school or district website, you are missing golden opportunity to communicate with staff, parents, students, and the stakeholders of your community. Most students and parents are using digital media to communicate with friends and family using websites like Facebook or Google +. If you or your school community are not using these digital mediums to communicate your story, you are missing out, and what is worse, people may be telling your story for you and you might not like their version! As a leader, you have to plug yourself into these networks, to build your school's brand, to keep your stakeholders informed, and to model good communication for your staff. "

More reasoned argument from a principal why it's important to be connected as an educator.

"I recently worked on a book with Bill Ferriter and Jason Ramsden entitled Essentials for Principals: Communicating & Connecting With Social Media. As I was working on the professional development section I delved into the topic of Personal Learning Networks (PLN's). Now I fully realize that the majority of educators immersed in social media understand the importance of a PLN and how to establish one. Well, this post is not for you, but instead for a teacher or administrator that you work with that needs either a a little push to set one up or further explanation on it's value."

Still more ideas on the importance of networking and how to develop one.

"Cyber-bullying, update-addiction, sexting - from the perspective of a parent raising a ''digital native'' child, social media seems fraught with dangers. But new research suggests the risks inherent in social media use by younger generations might be overblown. danah boyd, assistant research professor at Harvard and principal researcher for Microsoft Research - like k.d.lang, she prefers the lower case - has completed a large-scale study on how US teenagers use the internet in general, and social media in particular. Her book is called It's Complicated, and is the result of in-depth interviews with scores of teens over an eight-year period."

"''More and more of our jobs are dependent on technological sophistication, and yet we're doing nothing to help prepare our kids for this,'' says danah boyd, assistant research professor at Harvard and principal researcher for Microsoft Research. ''We assume that if they figured out Facebook, surely they can figure out the skills needed to work at a company like Facebook. That's societally detrimental.''"

Sure, I can see the positives and negatives to handwriting but as a Kindergarten teacher I see great merit in developing fine motor skills, spelling skills (without spell check) and being able to write legibly. I remember back to my HCS and those exams where all you did was write was laborious but I think we need a balance of both.

"In many schools/organizations, we have the tail wagging the dog and our technology departments are often dictating the type of learning that can happen in the classrooms. I am not saying that this is an issue with the departments, but often with leadership that has seen technology as an "extra", as opposed to an essential. Focusing on learning and relationships first, often helps us to make much better decisions about what we are doing with technology. It shouldn't be the other way around."

"Twitter, depending on the day, can be either the greatest thing, the most boring thing, the most overwhelming thing, or something I simply don't pay attention to.  But is it really Twitter or my use of it?"

"Tomorrow morning, I'll make a presentation at 7:30 in the morning to get our district technology camp started. My topic is "Building your Professional Learning Network," and will focus on how professionals can use social media to enhance their skills. As I prepared, I thought a lot about my audience, some dedicated educators from our schools who are facing the constant challenge of doing more with less. My job is to convince those gathered that it is worth their valuable time to create their own digital footprint. After some reflection, here's my 6 point argument:"

A short succinct article that makes a lot of sense.

Arguments go around and come back again about the role technology should play in the classroom. Should it be a subject? Should we have standards? Should it be mandated or optional? Some people argue that technology is simply a tool to be applied where and how it's appropriate. Others say no technology is neutral and we have to be deliberate in our choices to use it. In my view, technology can't be optional and it can't be an add-on.