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Importance of social networking not only for teachers but students as well. Very interesting..

This article brings up some really good points about the types of skills students need and how educators can make sure they are developing theses skills. Having students design and participate in PLCs is a great way to start developing the skills that are going to be essential in their future. Thanks for sharing.

Interesting article, Meg. I started following the guy that was mentioned, Paul Moss, on twitter, and hope to get some good ideas. I love the idea of starting to get kids networking in an educational way. They are already experts on doing it socially! If we have another EdCamp format, I'd love to have a discussion about what PLNs could mean for students, even as young as middle school.

I wish I could convince some of my skeptical colleagues at RMHS how valuable Twitter has been for my own self-directed professional development. For the most part, they think I tweet about random daily happening and any comments about my participation in social media are tongue in cheek. I shrug it off because they don't understand the truth of the value of social media to me. Here is a list of people UNDER 30 YEARS OLD worth following to enhance your own social media self-directed professional development experience. Enjoy!

This document discusses instructional practices that support social emotional learning in three common teacher evaluation frameworks.

I thought this was interesting especially after reading Tony Wagner's chapter on social innovation. Some food for thought. My conclusion-social innovation should come from student interest and motivation-not from some assignment by the teacher.

Interesting article, Laura. I think it could also spark a debate about making work public in general. While I like the broader audience we can so easily reach with technology, what about students who might be reluctant to publish to a blog, knowing that it's public, or a student not wanting a class video shared on YouTube, even if the channel is somewhat private? I don't have a right answer, but it does bring up more questions to consider.

Explains how social media can facilitate and expand student learning. Robyn, it even has a cook infographic!

A Somali student writes a guest post for a blogger I follow. She explains that social media is already present in schools, whether teachers are using it or not. Teachers have an opportunity to help students broaden their understanding of any topic through social media, and they should take advantage of it.

This is an interesting infographic. Perhaps this is why the flipped model has gotten some traction. The truth is that because of the internet and social media we get a lot of our information and communication done via video. Heck, my own kids haven't ever really talked on the phone. They only video chat with our relatives using FaceTime. Like all other teaching tools, though, video needs to be varied with other methods and it requires a great teacher for the information to have the right impact on the kids. Summary: When I was a student, 'using video in education' mostly meant showing a movie in class. Which to me, as a student, was clearly much better than the alternative of a lecture. With so much interactive multimedia technology available to today's students, 'video in education' means way more than it used to.

I guess I need to look into Google+ and start teaching kids more about how to create and produce a good audio/video podcast!

Google+ is very handy. It helps to be part of a community. Maybe we should start an Expanding the Boundaries community and see who joins.

Interesting discussion on using social media to connect and collaborate with educators around the world. Educators develop their own PLN they then "take ownership of the learning and it is much more meaningful." Isn't this what we are striving for our students to do?

Interesting article on a study about inclusion. Amazing to read how much it helps those with disabilities as well as their regular education peers in their studies as well as socially. I wish there were more opportunities for co-teaching and full inclusion.

This is a great resource for social studies teachers. Students can follow along while discovering buried treasure, sunken ships, look up battle sites of the American Revolution and so much more.

I started using Vine late last year to post videos of our students doing great things. (Reading to first graders, working together at field day, encouraging one another during a Smart Board review game, etc.) This Edutopia blog post gives TONS of links to really great ideas for using Vine with kids as a way to assess their understanding. Some of them are really funny and insightful. I know there is some nasty stuff out there on Vine and Instagram, but if we teachers don't show kids how to use these social media outlets in a positive way, who will? Right? I think I might give some of these ideas a shot.

Thanks, Kerry. I haven't used Vine before, though I've seen it used. I'm definitely interested in trying it out this year. It's amazing how creative some people can be in six seconds! Taylor and I recently started using Instagram to post what's going on in our classrooms. We are loving it so far. It's something that the kids are on anyway, so the interest is there. They love going on to "like" pictures of themselves and their peers, and even "like" the picture Taylor posts of the homework board! It's also a fast and easy way to keep parents informed about what's going on in the classroom on a daily basis. I also love that even though we're only in October, it's a photo log of the many things that we've done already this year. I look forward to giving the video capabilities a try.

I've thought a lot about this topic and how BYOD makes it so plain which students are haves and which are have-nots. We are lucky to be in the cohort and to have supplemental devices in our classrooms. How can we make BYOD more universal without making economic inequity so obvious in more classrooms. It seems unrealistic to put 10 iPads in every classroom district wide, so what is the answer?

Kerry, This is a really important article, and I'm so glad you posted it. I'm acutely aware of inequity in my classroom as well, but because I teach smaller classes, I've been able to skirt it so far. I agree that it is important to raise the question so that we can discuss it openly. It's bound to spark passionate opinions and discussions, but the issue of access is one of social justice in a way, and I agree that it's important for us to address it as much as we can in the public school setting.

Has anyone seen this new feature of Socrative yet? There are a lot of audio files for History/Social Studies and STEM and many lessons designed for both subjects, which use Socrative to evaluate student learning. What do you think?

Annemarie, There is some great content for STEM classes in this link. I shared the volcano and roach robots with some of the teachers at CMS and will direct them to the entire list. Thanks for sharing this.

Interesting way to show teens how important it is to think before you post. I think we should lead my example. My teen students are welcome to follow me on Twitter. What do you think?