Slides for a workshop on using online tools like Twitter to create teacher networks for professional development

1. Can Make You a Better Teacher?

2. I asked the teachers in my Twitter Network:

3. They answered . . . U.K. U.S. U.A.E. Australia Norway Thailand

4. . . . and answered . . . Canada U.K. Denmark Turkey Germany Japan Brazil

5. . . . and answered! S. Korea U.S. U.S. Australia U.K. Japan Twitter is like having a 24 hour, global personal learning network. U.K.

6. Baby Steps If you can text, you can tweet!

7. Create a free account at twitter.com Choose a short username Never share your password

8. Unless you use Gmail, Yahoo, or AOL, skip this step

9. Skip Twitter’s suggestions too. You can do better.

10. Create your profile Use a real photo

11. Tell people about yourself—write a short bio Include key words like ‘teacher’ ‘teach’ ‘children’ ‘EFL’ and ‘Japan’ You’ll meet more people if you don’t protect your tweets

12. How do you find people to follow?

13. Use a Twitter list like http://twitter.com/barbsaka/starter-pln You can “follow” everyone with one click Or pick and choose folks to follow

14. Ready to start?

15. Check your followers. Block anyone who looks suspicious--0 followers, 0 tweets, following 1000 people. (No one knows if you block them.) The Internet is forever. If you wouldn’t want your mother to read it, don’t post it. Protect yourself from spam. --Avoid Twitter games and activities that ask for your password. --Never click on links in direct messages. (unless you know and trust the person)

16. Learn the local language RT=Retweet When a tweet is good enough that you want to share it with your network. # + tag Hashtags are like labels. They help you search by keywords and join conversations. Short links. You only get 140 characters. Total. 2 types of tweets @barbsaka (a public message or reply—everyone sees it) D barbsaka (a “direct” message—only I see it)

17. NOW you’re ready to go! What can you do on Twitter, anyway?

18. Find teaching resources

19. Practice other languages

20. Get lesson ideas

21. Find pictures for flash cards

22. Find new ideas for teaching

23. Discover interesting blogs . . . . . . and know when they have been updated.

24. What about tags? How do they help?

25. Find a community of EFL teachers #EFL

26. Join a weekly discussion with teachers from around the world. #ELTchat

27. Follow your professional organization, or follow a conference. #jaltorg #jalt2009

28. Organization is the key Filter information coming in Tag information going out

29. Use tools like Twitter lists or Tweetdeck to organize messages. One column? Not so useful. Lists? Better.

30. Groups make it easy to filter information Use the button to create groups

31. Tags make it easy to organize your bookmarks, and to find them again later.

32. Social bookmarks are online instead of on your computer. Social = Shared Bookmarks = Links Online = Always available

34. tools, websites, blogs, and articles come with personal recommendations

35. collaboration and sharing made simple

36. like having a teaching conference at your fingertipsCome on, join the conversation!

38. get links to the websites mentioned

39. get more information about developing a personal learning network