This document provides tips and resources for teachers to use social media, including Twitter, blogging, and visual storytelling. For Twitter, it recommends participating in chats, sharing classroom moments, and engaging respectfully. For blogging, it suggests focusing on passion and including others' voices. For visual storytelling, it offers tips like starting with the ending, using text and details in photos/videos, and focusing audio quality for videos. Several teacher profiles are also included for each platform.

1. Connect 2 Grow: Social Media For Teachers
Friday, July 17th
, 2-5pm | Seattle Sheraton Hotel, Willow B
#Connect2Grow
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TWITTER
Tips:
 Take part in Twitter chats to discover who to follow and discover new ideas
 Share moments from your classroom from your morning journal prompt to the big take away
of the day
 Keep in mind the balance between number of people you follow and number of people who
follow you. If you follow too many people, your account can come off as spam and if you don’t
follow back enough people, you can come off as snobby.
 Take the time to give kudos to someone who shares a resource or a new idea with you
 Engage with others with respect, kindness, and generosity. Internet and social media is a co-
creation space.
 Don’t hoard, instead share widely. If you find a great resource for your classroom, share it so
others can benefit as well.
Resources:
 Guide to Using Twitter in Your Teaching Practice via KQED
 Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Twitter for Teacher
Profiles:
Two Writing Teachers
@2writingteachrs
Ann Leaness
@aleaness
Tom Murray
@thomascmurray
Education Week
@educationweek

2. Connect 2 Grow: Social Media For Teachers
Friday, July 17th
, 2-5pm | Seattle Sheraton Hotel, Willow B
#Connect2Grow
________________________________________________________________________________
BLOGGING
Tips:
 Start with your passion, big question, curiosity and use it to shape your blog’s theme.
 Include others’ voices, offer guest blogging opportunities to other colleagues, your students,
even parents.
 Use clean theme and appropriate fonts to convey a professional message.
 Use images and short videos to engage with the audience.
 Most importantly, have fun with it. Be authentic, engaging, and respectful.
 Take the time to comment and interact with other bloggers.
 Don’t forget to include your blog link in your Twitter profile.
Resources:
 Start Your Teaching Blog via Edutopia
 Blogging Tips for Teachers via Powerful Learning Practice
Profiles:
Donalyn Miller
nerdybookclub.wordpress.com
Dana Huff
huffenglish.com
Dr. Luis Perez
luisperezonline.com
Audrey Watters
audreywatters.com

3. Connect 2 Grow: Social Media For Teachers
Friday, July 17th
, 2-5pm | Seattle Sheraton Hotel, Willow B
#Connect2Grow
________________________________________________________________________________
VISUAL STORYTELLING
Tips:
 Overall:
o Start by thinking about what will happen at the end of your visual story & work backwards to
figure out how to tell it.
o If you are creating a photo series or a video, think about using text (typed or hand-written!)
within the media to help tell your story.
 Photo:
o Light is everything for capturing quality photos, especially if using a cell phone. Think about
using the sun, lamps, or even other cell phones to shine light on whatever you’re shooting.
o Choose the focus of your photo, and employ the rule of thirds to guide you.
o Think about all the beautiful details in your classroom when telling a story. While snapping a
photo of the whole room might be nice to set the “scene”, make sure to capture plenty of close-
ups as well.
 Video:
o Most of the time, audio is just as important as video. If you don’t have a mic plugged into your
camera, don’t shoot near loud noises (things like fountains, traffic, and open hallways).
o If you can’t avoid shooting in a loud space, simply turn away from the noise and get as close as
possible to the mic. You should notice an immediate improvement!
Resources:
 http://content.photojojo.com/category/photo-technique/
 https://www.canva.com/
 http://www.cameraawesome.com/
Amal Giknis
hellohomeroom.com
Luke Neff
Writingprompts.tumblr.com
Catherine Ordeman
https://instagram.com/creative
classroom/
Clint Smith III
http://www.clintsmithiii.com/video/