1. The people I followed for this Twitter assignment were:
George Couros (@gcouros)
Josh Stumpenhorst (@stumpteacher)
Shannon Smith (@shannoninottawa)
David Truss (@datruss)
Harold Blanco (@CI350class)
1. The first person I followed was George Couros. George Couros is currently a Division Principal of
Innovative Teaching and Learning in Canada. From following him on Twitter, you can tell that Couros is
passionate about what he does and he greatly believes in a very collaborative environment to ensure
kids get the most out of their education. To Couros, kids get the most out of education by providing
environments that are collaborative, innovative, and leadership driven. This tweet from Couros stood
out to me the most:
He is basically saying that you cannot improve education by alienating teachers. I think this is so true.
Teachers are the ones that carry out the education process, so why alienate them and limit them on
what all they can or can’t do in a classroom? “If anything is ever going to change in education, we have
to not only be open to ideas being challenged, but actually encourage it.” –George Couros
2. The second person I followed was Josh Stumpenhorst. Josh Stumpenhorst is a 6th
grade
Language Arts and Social Science teacher in Illinois. Stumpenhorst is all about making the classroom
relevant:
Stumpenhorst is saying make things relevant. Students learn more when they can relate to things.
Therefore, you get more positive and successful learning environments when teachers can make things

2. more relevant and relatable. Making them more relevant also inspires kids to take control of their
learning. So, why stick with the traditional route? Technology is constantly changing and can be a very
creative tool used in education, Stumpenhorst represents. “The teachers that don’t want or can’t handle
criticism are those that often need it the most.” –Josh Stumpenhorst
3. The third person I followed was Shannon Smith. Shannon Smith is a Vice Principal of K-8 in
Canada. Smith and her tweets show that she is a great motivator in getting her students to constantly
question:
Smith wants her students to realize that constantly questioning results in more learning - you learn more
new things that way. Getting her students to constantly question results in getting and providing more
authentic feedback, which is imperative in a positive learning environment. Smith is against traditional
school ways…“If you want to build grit, don’t focus on grit.” –Shannon Smith
4. The fourth person I followed was David Truss. David Truss is a Vice Principal located in Canada
and is all about change. Truss believes educators should change with the times and not stick with old
ways because they’re comfortable. He thinks education should be constantly shifting and embracing
transformation, such as technology:
Change should be embraced and those that find a way to make change happen in their classroom will be
the most successful. “Embracing change – will you find a way?” – David Truss
5. The last person I followed was Harold Blanco/our CI 350 class. The main idea I got from
following our class’s twitter page was that social media can be used in the classroom effectively. For

3. example, I read an article about destroying the stereotype of using social media in the classroom from a
tweet on April 19th
2014:
Teachers are cautious and weary of using social media in their classroom mainly for the fact that there
have been so many news stories about social media and education gone wrong. However, what we
don’t see is all the news stories about how social media mixed with education has gone right. Used in
the right way, social media can be a portal that will open up many more opportunities than traditional
ways. Effects of social media and education can help students today reap a lot of amazing benefits
educationally.