Interview 8 of Twittering for Education

Skype is such an incredible tool for education. In some cases, our students may not be able to join our lessons due to an illness or weather mishap. Some students may just find online learning more convenient than traveling to a location. In this case, the student chooses to take every lesson online. When training teachers to use Skype to teach English, several teachers question the way this works. Many want to know the dynamics and if using Skype for learning a language can be effective. Teachers want to know what type of lessons to conduct using Skype and if a coursebook is used. Therefore, I was excited that Marisa Pavan, @Mtranslator, shared her experience in conducting language lessons via Skype in a recent video interview! Marisa also teaches classes in a physical classroom so she is able to compare and contrast both experiences!

More Information

Bio

Marisa Pavan, @mtranslator, holds degrees in translation, interpretation and teaching from Instituto Superior Nº 28 “Olga Cossettini”, Rosario and has two decades of experience in teaching English as a Second Language. She has over 6 years experience working as a freelance English-Spanish/ Spanish-English translator. She is skilled in languages, translation, interpretation, training students to develop listening, speaking, writing and reading strategies, CAT tools and communication.

More Places You’ll Find Marisa

• Linguistic Consultancy Blog- Her blog where she posts lessons and experiences in reference to blended learning
• Marisa’s LinkedIn Profile

Previous Interviews

Check out the previous interviews Twittering for Education- Jo and Phil Hart, Twittering for Education- Eric and Melissa Sheninger, Twittering for Education- Will and Elle Deyamport, Connected Principals- George Couros, 1:1 Programs- Rich Kiker, Mobile Learning with Kids- Scott Newcomb, and Effective Leadership: Interview with Patrick Larkin!

Challenge:

Try integrating Skype into your curriculum this year!

If you enjoy this series, you may want to subscribe for FREE!

How do you use Skype to help your students learn?

Part of the Cool Sites series

Many students have yet to ever communicate with another student from outside their city, state, or country? This simply isn’t built into most curricula. Creating successful global citizens should be a goal of all schools. Educational institutions should provide opportunities for students to learn to communicate and collaborate with their peers worldwide!

Why?

Globalization is our current reality. Most companies have established themselves internationally. Foreign policy is as much of a concern as domestic policy. The environment, global warming, the global economy, and lack of resources are international problems requiring international collaboration and problem-solving. However, many students have not adequately learned a second language or learned to communicate effectively with their peers worldwide, much less collaborate with them. International collaboration and communication are skills that are developed with practice and guidance. If you have experienced joining online professional communities, you probably have witnessed that even professionals have problems with collaborating and communicating effectively online. Disagreements ensue and the conversation ends. We cannot afford to end conversations, because the consequences of miscommunication can be deadly and costly.

In a world of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) developing quickly and becoming staples, international communication and communication with these technologies is a necessary skill. The exciting part is that many free tools and resources can help us extend learning beyond our classroom walls and motivate students to collaborate with their peers worldwide.

iGlobal Projects Presentation and Resources

Yesterday, I presented the following resources and Prezi at the recent Tri-State Educational Technology Conference (TSETC). You can view the Prezi below and click on the links to visit the resources. I have also listed the resources below, but you can also visit the Technology 4 Kids: Global Projects Wiki to find all the links and resources.

Where to Find Classes Worldwide to Connect

The Epals Global Community- With classrooms in 200 countries and territories, ePals makes it easy to connect learners locally, nationally or internationally.
Voices of the World Ning- These global projects connect students with voice only in case you are not able to use student images.
Around the World with 80 Schools Skype Group- @langwitches, Silvia Tolisano, started this group to get classes to Skype each other.
Project Peace- Connect with other classes and make videos for peace!
Find Educators to Collaborate with On Twitter!- This is the way I met Ozge Karaoglu who has been connecting her young learners in Turkey with my young learners in Germany.

Internet Safety Information for Parents and Forms

Accepted Use Policy Document by George Couros
Internet Safety Information for Parents by Pernille Ripp
Why the Internet is like the Mall: Internet Safety Lesson by Pernille Ripp
Another Acceptable Use Policy Form
Parent Release Form for Publishing Student Work Online
Parent Release Form for Publishing Student Work Online PDF

Using Skype to Collaborate

Learning Beyond Walls: 21 Skype Resources

Video: A Teacher’s Perspective of Skyping in the Classroom

Video: Students’ Perspectives of Skyping by Silvia Tolisano, @langwitches

Around the World With 80 Schools- Helsinki from langwitches on Vimeo.

Using Wikis to Collaborate

Wiki Tutorials and Tips for Educators
Glogsters From the World Wiki- Join other classes worldwide in sharing their countries’ culture and traditions through interactive posters. Created by @abfromz.
Celebr8UandMeDigitally Wiki- Join other classes worldwide in celebrating their countries’ holidays and traditions. Created by @evab2001 @alexgfrancisco.

Using Blogs to Collaborate

Blog Tutorials and Tips for Educators
Young Clovers Blog- Young learners in Lebanon connecting with kids worldwide. They send their teddy bear to adventures in other countries. You can be one of the classes who gets the teddy bear and blogs about its adventures.
Sharing Our Good News-Greta Sandler’s (@gret) class in Argentina connecting with others worldwide.
Edublogs for schools
Kidblogs for schools

Web 2.0 Tools to Embed into Wikis and Blogs

VoiceThread Tutorials and Tips for Educators
Glogster Tutorials and Tips for Educators
Voki Tutorials and Tips for Educators
Digital Storytelling Tutorials and Tips for Educators

Challenge:

Try any of these resources with your students and get them to learn to collaborate with other classes worldwide so they will be responsible global citizens.

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

What are your ideas for integrating Skype into the classroom?

Perhaps you are returning from your holiday or vacation like I am? If so, you may have missed some of the tips, resources, and tools shared on Teacher Reboot Camp. Many of these resources will help you with the upcoming school year! I apologize that I haven’t kept up with the blog much this month. I was busy getting my CELTA and teaching refugees in Athens. By next week, I will get my act together!

What you might have missed…

Your favorite posts this month based on comments and overall traffic:

• Learning Beyond Walls: 21 Skype Resources- One of the greatest tools you can use this school year is Skype! These resources will help you use Skype effectively with your students!
• Children and Cardboard Boxes-Students are discouraged from using their imagination and creativity in schools. Lecturing and continuous drill work are some of the problems with the education system. Read more how we can transform our classrooms so students continue to create.
• My Favorite Tech Tools & Resources This Month-
  • Wikis- In this post, I share with you ways to make your Wikis more interactive for students. Wikis are free web pages for educators that allow students to edit and work collaboratively through several embeddable tools!
  • Screencast-o-matic- This free screen recorder allows editing, uploading to Youtube, and more! I love this free tool for making video tutorials!
• Guest Post!
  • To Grade or Not to Grade by Tom King- Tom shares a video of his remarkable Saturn school where the kids excelled without grades! I love listening to the students on the video!
  • If you would like to contribute to this blog, please e-mail me at ShellyTerrell at gmail.com. If you would like to contribute to the 30 Goals Series, please complete this Google spreadsheet.
• My Guest Posts!
  • Planting Seeds of Belief- In this post on the So You Want To Teach Blog, I talk about encouraging students and educators. Let’s begin to support each other, especially, since educators often are under fire.
  • My Interview at the Linguistic Consultancy Blog- In this interview, I share resources for new teachers, especially those beginning to join educator communities.
  • Thoughts on Education Reform- In this post on the Peoplegogy Blog, I share my thoughts on education reform in response to Will’s thoughts. We disagree on many points and agree on others but I love that we can share different perspectives respectfully.
  • Fighting Those Demons- In this post on the Twitter Exercise Motivation Team Blog, I share my favorite video that inspires me to run. Read more exciting posts to motivate you as an educator to keep fit on this fantastic blog full of various perspectives from a supporting community!
  • Life’s A Carnival: Ed Buzz- This was a great education blog carnival I was happy to be part of and I hope you try submitting a post!

• My Wikis and Presentations:
  • We Connect- Updated! This is my PLN wiki where you will find several resources, tutorials, videos and more on helping educators join a PLN. Please feel free to use the resources in your presentations on PLNs and social media.
  • Technology 4 Kids- Updated with new Skype resources! Ozge Karaoglu and I developed this wiki to help educators integrate technology effectively for young learners. Read about digital storytelling tools, Glogster, Voicethread, and more!
  • Children’s English classes- Updated! Search by theme for book ideas and games for children ages 4 to 10 years-old.
• Other NEWS!!
  • I will be presenting at various conferences with many online opportunities for you keep a look out! This month you can watch my webinar presentation at the KU Village Conference featuring other great speakers- Dr. Alec Couros, Steve Wheeler, Alan Levine, Steve Fadden, and Connie Knapp.
  • I write the weekly summaries for Parentella’s #PTChat, the parent and educator discussion, which occurs every Wednesday at 9pm PST.

  Thank you so much for your support of my free 30 Goals Challenge E-book. Over 3000 of you have read it and I am truly grateful! Download your free copy here, print it out, share it with your staff!

  Please feel free to use any of the resources shared here or in the wikis because the ultimate goal is to get other educators involved in our PLN.

  You may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

Part of the Cool Sites series

Image courtesy of @teflpet.

In the picture above you can see a great friend of mine, Emma Herrod, and her son who have video-conferenced with my classes and workshops. When the teachers in my last workshop interviewed Emma via Skype about our interaction through Skype they were excited about technology. Most of the teachers had been reluctant towards technology but Skype is one of those fantastic free tools that gets teachers new to technology motivated to try the technology. For this reason, I love to show teachers and administrators Skype. Skype is one of the top tools I introduce to teachers, administrators, and my students. This tool has tremendous learning potential, is free, easy to use, and has incredible buy-in.

I have been fortunate to have people in my Skype network who will Skype with me at the spur of the moment or make themselves available for my various classes in Germany. This year I have been fortunate to Skype in the following ways:

• Emma and her son Skyped my class of 5 year-olds. Her son taught my young language learners how to make an origami box.
• Emma also Skyped my adult learners to answer their questions about the UK elections and to teach them British idioms.
• Steven Anderson has Skyped my administrators, teachers I’ve trained, and adult classes. Topics usually include what makes a great Skype lesson and the ideas for integrating Skype in schools.
• Matthew Farber‘s sixth grade class Skyped my adult class and answered questions about the differences between Germany and the US.
• Candace Townsley‘s sixth grade class Skyped middle school students, my director, and toddlers about the Wild West.
• I have Skyped with several educators to train them online or their staff. Please feel free to ask me to Skype with your staff! I love doing this!

In the process of training teachers to integrate Skype effectively with their classes and using Skype to get my German students to interact with students worldwide, I have found several incredible resources. Feel free to share these resources with other teachers. Consider showing Skype to teachers taking the first steps with technology and who may be very reluctant to try integrating technology in their classrooms.

Skype in Education

Technology 4 Kids Wiki: Skype Resources
Using Skype at School (The Dummies Series)
Skype in School Wiki
50 Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom
Student Inter-school Debating with Skype by Lois Smethurst
Giving Students Skype Jobs by Langwitches
Skype an Author Wiki
10 Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom
Motivating Adult Learners: Skype an Expert

Finding Classes to Skype

List of Classrooms Ready to Skype
Want Ads by Classes Wanting to Skype for Specific Project
Skype Other Classrooms- List by Sue Waters
EPals Global Community

Recording Skype Sessions

Automatically Recording Skype Calls with MP3 Skype
15 Apps for Recording Skype
Using PowerGramo

More Resources

Improving Skype Calls by Sue Wyatt
How to Produce Video Interviews for Your Blog With Skype
Using VuRoom to Hold A Skype Conference
Make group video calls with up to 10 people with the new beta version of Skype for Windows

Langwitches Presentation: Around the World with Skype

One of the best Skype webinars I have seen! Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano’s Presentation, Around the World with Skype!

Challenge:

Try any of these resources and blog about your experience. Blogging helps you reflect and decide how you can apply this learning to improve your instructional methods.

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

What are your ideas for integrating Skype into the classroom?

St. Patty’s edition of the What Did They Tweet weekly series!

Let’s see what our Personal Learning Network (PLN) tweeted about in education and social media these past 2 weeks. Oh and don’t forget to wear green, today! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Video: Steve Jobs: How to Live Before You Die

Currently, I am reading The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo which I won from Simple K12 website. I entered one of the contests I list at the end of my blog. They are free! Therefore,  I found this inspirational video which was shared by @janetbianchini very timely.

Wallwisher + Photobabble Tip!

@Ij64 shared useful insight on creating photos that talk for lessons in his post, Talking Photos: Fotobabble and Wallwisher. Below is the example, but make sure to visit the post for the great instructions.

How to Make Powerful PowerPoint Presentations

@Sethdickens created this fantastic presentation which encouraged me to create a PowerPoint with no bullets. My presentation in Greece this past weekend was very successful and I am happy that I found this resource by reading @janetbianchini‘s post, Using PowerPoint to Liberate Myself!

Your Body as a Touch Screen

Usually, I don’t share my finds but I think you will love this video about our bodies being touch screens, which I found in the article, Skinput Turns Your Skin Into A Touchscreen (VIDEO): Tap Your Arm To Control Your Gadgets.

Plan to Save the World via Ed

@monk51295 and her students created this great video they will share with the President.

Resources

• Visit Neave’s interactive tools to play with webcam tricks, draw in 3D, watch television and more. Tweeted by @MarkShepard.
• 50 Web 2.0 Tools Your Students Wish You Would Use This site was created by 8th graders and offers an extensive list of free educational tools. Tweeted by @ktenkely.
• Visit AdOut to remove unwanted advertisements from websites. Tweeted by @Sharon_elin.
• Update! Skype coming to your television! Tweeted by @MrR0g3rs.
• Read this interesting article, McMillan introduces remixable e-textbooks. Tweeted by @Paulmaglione.

Opportunities for Educators

Below is a list of great opportunities for free resources and more:

• Make a comment describing how you would use the eBeam Edge in your classroom to win one.. Tweeted by @SimpleCEO. This ends by March 31st. Remember I won a prize from them and you could be the next winner!
• Enter to win a 21st century classroom from Discovery Education! This ends by May 3rd.
• Early childhood educators, submit your best ideas for engaging children as active, curious learners to win $200 and a Flip Video camera. Tweeted by @weareteachers. This ends by April 6th.

If you enjoy this series, you may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!

For more tweets, check out these posts:

• Monthly Best Tweets by Larry Ferlazzo.
• My PLN Says… by Burcu Akyol.
• Monthly Tweets by Karenne Sylvester.

Challenge:

Share one of these resources with another educator not on Twitter. Then tell them you got the tip from educators on Twitter!

What was your best find on Twitter this week?

New Year’s Eve edition of the What Did They Tweet weekly series!

2010 is around the corner! Through my PLN on Twitter, I have found some fantastic tips, tricks, and projects. If you are viewing this from an RSS reader, you may want to check the homepage to see the embedded videos and frames.

Be the Hit of Your New Year’s Eve Party

Several of us will be attending parties, perhaps with our educator friends. @RiptideF shared this video, Top 10 Quirky Science Tricks for New Year’s Parties, which is filled with cool ways to liven up the party. Try these if you dare, then share them with your students to motivate them to learn the science behind these incredible feats!

Tips on Becoming a Creative Teacher

@ahrenfelt created this wonderful Wallwisher of tips to becoming a creative teacher. Use these suggestions from various educators to help you become more creative as an educator or add your own sticky note. Wallwisher is one of my favorite tools that you can read more about in this previous post!

Bloom’s Taxonomy Poster

In the New Year, most of us will be updating our curriculum objectives. @Nharm shared this beautiful Bloom’s Taxonomy Butterfly poster which is a nice touch to any classroom as well as an important reminder of what our students should be doing daily- remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Click on the image to access the pdf of the poster!

Second week of November edition!

Here are the tweets that grabbed my attention this week. Check out the rest of this weekly series, What Did They Tweet? to discover some valuable resources and links!

Videos to Bring Languages Alive

Ken Royal runs an incredible website which is updated daily with several interesting articles by various educators. In this piece, Isabelle Jones, shares advice on how to effectively use videos to motivate students to learn languages. Isabelle also lists many video search engines and video tools. Below is the video wall from one site mentioned, Blinkx, which is a highly visual search engine that allows students to view what world events are taking place in real time.

Skype an Author

Patrick Larkin is one of the most progressive principals I have met on Twitter. One way to motivate students to read is by allowing them to interview and speak with their favorite authors. This activity is possible if you follow Patrick’s link with instructions and a database to help you Skype an author in the classroom. Below is a video from the website that shows you a class’ interview with author, Mike Artell.

Online Safety Video for Students

During our #edchat discussion about teaching students how to make a positive digital footprint, Kyle Pace shared this video. In the video, a girl realizes that posting her picture on the Internet has consequences. This commercial could be used to spark a discussion with students on the implications of several online behaviors. This discussion should be a part of all schools!

The Iphone App that Makes a Difference

My Iphone is definitely helping me to stay on track of projects with the various apps that help me coordinate, organize, and collaborate. Now, my Iphone can help me make a difference. Neal Chambers shared this tweet about the Do Good app for the IPhone. Daily your Iphone will provide you with activities that several people are doing to make a difference for the day. One example has people using less water throughout the day.

Cooperative Learning VoiceThread

Paulo Simões and José Carlos, who are from Portugal, have created this collaborative Voicethread for anyone to join and leave comments! The topic they are exploring is “How can a microblog promote cooperative learning communities?” Please add a comment to the VoiceThread.

Add the people in this post to your PLN by using this mass Twitter tool. Just copy and paste this list!

kenroyal, icpjones, bhsprincipal, kylepace, nealchambers, pgsimoes, jctf, larryferlazzo, kalinagoenglish

On the mindmap, click on the earth icons to follow the links to the Twitter profiles, blogs or websites! You can also make this mindmap smaller or larger and move it around. If you enjoy this series, you may want to subscribe for free to receive regular updates!

If you enjoyed this post, you may also want to check out these posts with a more extensive list of favorite tweets:

• Monthly Best Tweets by Larry Ferlazzo.
• Monthly Tweets by Karenne Sylvester, Kalinagoenglish.

Challenge:

Leave a comment on the VoiceThread!

Which of these tweets really inspired you? Leave a comment below!

Globalization is our current reality. Most successful companies have established themselves internationally. Foreign policy is becoming as much of a concern as domestic policy. The environment, global warming, and lack of resources are international problems requiring international brainstorming and problem-solving.

Problems

Social media, such as Twitter, makes us more globally aware. However, are we preparing our students to effectively problem solve, collaborate, and communicate with their peers abroad? My experience has shown me that several students still live in a microcosm where they carry misconceptions and assumptions about people living in other countries. The problem is that when these students enter their career fields they will have to collaborate with others from various cultures and backgrounds. When this communication takes place our students will carry those assumptions and misconceptions into the conversation either verbally or non-verbally and create barriers to effective problem-solving of global issues.

I have worked on over 20 different global teams for over 20 various international projects within the last two years. A majority of these experiences were frustrating and argument often ensued or projects suffered due to the lack of skills members had in working on global teams. These are a few problems I saw:

• Unwillingness to be flexible
• Cultural insensitivity
• Cultural misunderstanding
• Lack of communication of deadlines, project details, roles, duties, etc.
• Time zone differences
• Unwillingness to compromise
• Mutual misunderstanding of cultural customs in negotiation and communication (nonverbal and verbal)
• Mishandling of conflict
• Inexperience in communicating with English language learners- remember that most English speakers in the world are not from the United states, but from China and India. Therefore, English speakers will have accents or may have learned British English. Students need experience in communicating with non-native English speakers.

Experience

Many people have told me I am great at organizing global projects. My extensive experience and research in this field is what has helped me plan projects quickly and effectively. When the process is done effectively then the outcomes are magnificent. I believe collaboration is key to all successful projects. Yes, I may have a fantastic idea, but unless I get help from you then the project may not reach its potential greatness.

In the same respect, students need to learn various skills so when the time comes they will be able to collaborate effectively! The easiest way for students to learn this is through involvement in global projects offered by the classroom.

How to Prepare Kids for Global Collaboration

1. Integrate cultural projects- Have students research poetry from around the world or investigate their own roots.
2. Create Culturally Responsive Curriculums- This type of curriculum celebrates and responds to various cultural issues through student-centered instruction.
   • For example, have English language learners give presentations about their culture
   • Have students collaborate on solving global issues such as poverty, unequal access to education, war, and racism
   • The teacher acts as a facilitator
3. Use literature from various authors and genders- For my high school ESL class, we used the Brief Bedford Reader which featured stories from various authors, such as Maya Angelou, Sherman Alexie, Amy Tan, and Gore Vidal. How diverse are your students’ reading lists?
4. Host cultural festivals- I created an International Society with another teacher in the school with over 70 students involved. We had over 100 members of the community attend our International Thanksgiving supper which featured over 30 ethnic dishes.
   • Have students research their backgrounds or other cultures and make food and give presentations. You can even receive donations from local grocery stores.
5. Connect with a school in another country- Go the extra step and have students problem-solve issues! Some useful collaboration tools and links to help you with this process:
   • Skype- Sue Waters lists several schools to connect with through Skype in this post!
   • Wetoku- See Ana Maria Menezes’ interview with Ozge about her children’s global projects.
   • Glogster- Have your students join this global Glogster project by Arjana Blazic
   • VoiceThread- Read my post on my connection with my kindergarten class to kindergarten classes in Turkey and New Zealand using VoiceThread.
   • We Are Teachers- Read this article on how I connected with Candace Townsley using We Are Teachers and Skype.
   • The Harris Burdick Online Collaborative Writing Project- Watch this video to see how schools connected using Skype and Google Docs!
   • Blogging- Read Rawya Shatila’s class blog in Lebanon, which shows how they connect with several classes around the world!
   • Chickensaltash writes about a fantastic collaborative project in which students from various countries write about the heroes in that country! Read the post here which details the planning process.
6. Go on virtual field trips- Create your own virtual tours on Google Earth. Use already established tours on Google Earth, Webquests, TeenGrid and so forth to learn about places around the world.
7. Get your students connected through social media such as Twitter!

Challenge:

Use one of these ideas to teach your students to collaborate on global teams!

You may want to subscribe to receive regular updates, leave a quick comment of how one of these tools helped you, tweet this, or share this series with your Personal Learning Network (PLN) through your RSS reader or Delicious account.

The school year is here, which means educators need to be encouraged and fed continuously through their Personal Learning Network (PLN). Right now, you are in an environment where you can incite change. However, many of us can become preoccupied with the madness that surrounds our professional calling! Listed are a few tweets to keep you motivated and enriched as you inspire change within your students and the educators around you. These tweets are listed in order from the most current to the earliest tweet in the week. If you enjoy this series, you may want to subscribe to receive regular updates or check out previous posts by clicking here!

Valedictorians in Their Own Words

Margaret Haun supplied this very inspirational link from the New York Times that shares images and audio of valedictorians giving advice. Whenever you wonder why you give so much to your students, just imagine the enormous impact and influence you have in their lives. How do you help create forward thinking within your students? Follow more of Margaret Haun’s (@Ellyn32) tweets or visit her blog!

Words to Remember

Ced Paine’s quote via Adrian Bruce is just what we need to motivate us to keep up with our PLNs and professional development. Adrian created a humorous cartoon on his blog worth checking out to illustrate his point that educators can choose to stay current with educational technology. Check out more of Ced Paine’s favorite links by checking out this Diigo site or follow Ced Paine on Twitter!

Japan Standardizing the English Accent

As an English language teacher I keep up with various issues concerning linguistics and phonetics. Neal Chambers incited thought-provoking discussion with this article by asking his PLN, “What do you think?” If you ever want to engage in discussion, ask your PLN questions. Moreover, most of your PLN will be directed to inspect the link if a question is attached or you place a strong opinion before or after the link. Engaging others in discussions helps you hone your own opinions regarding various issues in your field! Engage in more thought-provoking tweets by following Neal Chambers or reading his personal blog. You can also access various materials for teaching English language learners at his site, English Sparks.

Second Life Graduation

Entering the school year means lesson planning. Therefore, you should be quite familiar with the Bloom’s Taxonomy method of  having students use higher-order thinking skills. Tamas Lorincz provided one of the best sites I have seen explaining Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Zaid Ali Alsagoff actually created a wheel of the levels and provides various images, links, and resources about Bloom’s Taxonomy. You can even download a free pdf! Follow Tamas for more valuable links or engage with him on his wonderful blog!

Second Life Graduation

The beginning of the school year often makes you long for the end of the year when your students graduate and move on to the next level of their learning. Russel Tarr is well-known for providing extremely useful links and runs two great sites, Active History and Class Tools! His tweet once again shows why I am so excited about using Second Life for teaching my adult English language learners this year! Bryant & Stratton College hosted the first college graduation on Second Life in June and the guest speaker was Second Life founder Philip Rosedale. All this was performed on a virtual learning platform! Follow Russel Tarr to keep up to date with his various educational links!

You may know that several other teachers and I sponsor free teacher orientations on Second Life. The main reason we do this is because Second Life engages students with visuals, interactive exhibits, and opportunities to engage in thought-provoking dialogue.

If you would like to see the educational opportunities Second Life has to offer then join our SLife is Life ning full of educators willing to mentor you!

Have you missed my previous favorite tweets of the week? Just click here for the posts!

Challenge:

Share Twitter with another educator at your school. You can show them this series for great examples of how Twitter adds to your professional development!

Would you like to recommend a favorite tweet for next week? Please contact me to share your favorite Tweet! Please mark the tweet as a favorite so that I can find the tweet!

Visitors, time zone changes, vacation, Master’s program… Unless you are a Twitteraholic you probably miss several great tweets within the week. Here are a few of my favorite tweets that have engaged me or helped me find a useful link! Moreover, I hope this weekly series shows you how to engage others with your tweets, develop a Personal Learning Network (PLN), cause change, or add to your professional development. Twitter is a tool with several uses. Hopefully, these tweets provide you with different ways to use Twitter. If you enjoy these tweets, I encourage you to follow these people. These tweets are listed in order of occurrence with the first tweet being the earliest tweet in the week.

Tweeting for a Cause

Twitter is being revered for its ability to incite awareness for causes among a massive audience. Probably, the most notable was the situation in Iran; however, tweeters often choose to support various causes. Shonah Kennedy’s tweet is a perfect example of challenging twitterers to take action to save the environment! Several critics have discredited Twitter as a channel for real change.  Perhaps, changing the color of my avatar is not enough, but I do believe tweets like this can cause real change.

Extending the Conversation

Some people I have thought-provoking conversations with are not teachers! According to  Chris Harrington‘s bio, he was in the navy and a marketer. Now, he is an acoustic ambient musician, occasional translater, and blogger living in Japan. I have read Chris’ blog, which talks about real life issues. Below is just a snippet of the discussion we had on if most students are digital natives. People do not have to agree all the time on Twitter. The important part is to involve yourself in a thought-provoking discussion every once in awhile to solidify your beliefs.

Warnings

Often tweets from my PLN will warn others of spammers, scams, and so forth! One tweet I received this week warned me that someone might be stealing my content. Unfortunately, a wonderful English language teacher, web designer, and curriculum writer, Jason Renshaw (English Raven), had a person republish his material on the web without permission. Jason, through his English Raven web site, provides English language teachers with a lot of support and materials. The person had over 5000 documents listed so his warnings were very real! I am happy the company took his document down.

Copyright Concerns

A few hours after Jason’s tweet, Jo Hart, started a discussion on copyright concerns with her tweet. Below is a snippet of the discussion that several more individuals joined. Sue Lyon-Jones continued to add to the conversation with advice, tips, and thoughts on showing teachers and students the importance of respecting copyright. On Twitter, please feel free to join conversations and add your experiences or tips. Doing this ensures that those you follow get to know you. When others know you, this makes collaborating on various projects much easier! Heike Philp provided a useful link for searching for Creative Common images, which are free to use for educational purposes.  However, you must check the rules regarding the author’s choice for you to attribute the work appropriately.

Follow Their Tweets!

The best way to enjoy “what they tweeted” daily is to add these engaging people as friends on Twitter. Do this easily by clicking on their profiles.

• Shonah Kennedy (@MissShonah)
• Chris Harrington (@charringtonjp)
• Jason Renshaw (@EnglishRaven)
• Jo Hart (@JoHart)
• Sue Lyon-Jones (@esolcourses)
• Heike Philp (@heikephilp )

Have you missed my previous favorite tweets of the week? Just click here for the posts!

Want to explore how to use Twitter for discussions? Join Tom Whitby and I for our weekly #edchat discussions!

Challenge:

Engage in a thought-provoking discussion with a person you follow!

Would you like to recommend a favorite tweet for next week? Please contact me to share your favorite Tweet! Please mark the tweet as a favorite so that I can find the tweet!