Tag Archives: social networking

Learning From the #Twitter Archives

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by petesimon

It started with this tweet:

That was my first tweet ever, using a medium that I had heard about but never really understood.  No Twitter handle, no hashtag, and actually thinking that my brother Alec would be the only “Alec” that I would possibly get an answer from.

Now that many (if not all) people are able to download and learn from their Twitter archive, I took the opportunity to look at some of my progression through Twitter, and to actually go back and revisit some of the things that I shared, and how I shared.

The first month that I looked at, was September 2010, the month that I lost my best friend Kobe.  I saw people rallying around me, caring for me, and checking in.  What was hardest to look back on was how I had the false hope that it might be just a routine visit to the vet that day:

 

With family so far away, I reached out to strangers a lot that month. 1,612 times to be exact. At a time when I wanted both to be close and far from people, Twitter and all of the people that I had connected to were seemingly comfort.

I also look at what I have learned, what never panned out (I got that invite to Google Wave, but I never understood how to use it), and some people I got to help (I actually made sure Jesse McLean changed his handle to something more user friendly).

A few things…

First of all, it is pretty amazing to have these little snapshots of my life saved in this archive.  To be able to go through my tweets and look at how I was when I struggled, excelled, or was somewhere in the middle, is pretty remarkable.  I actually found myself laughing and crying going through my own tweets, just in aww of how I have grown in the last few years.

Secondly, I am quickly reminded of how we all start somewhere.  Over 52,000 tweets later, I am pretty comfortable with the medium and treat tweeting almost like I would texting.  I don’t sit and contemplate what I am going to put out there anymore; tweeting has become second nature to me.  But it isn’t for everyone and we have to recognize that if we really want people to see value in this medium, you have to get them to care about it in the first place, and then work with them to help them to understand how they can use this it.

Finally, I learned that I not only have a voice, but that I have a voice that can matter.  I often talk about how we all live in a world where we all have a voice, but I do believe that we also live in a world where everyone’s voice can make a difference and Twitter is one of those places where our voice can be heard.  Maybe by 10 people, and maybe by a 1000, but it can be heard.  Through my tweets, I saw my confidence and learning grow, while also learning to connect with some amazing minds.  That experience made my voice grow stronger, when I once believed that nothing I said in that space would ever really matter.

As educators, we have to learn and understand that our voice does matter, not only for ourselves, but so that we can properly relay that notion to our students.  If we can teach them how their voice matters from our experiences, can you imagine how powerful their voices might be?

You Should Read…(August 5, 2012)

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by mrsdkrebs

We are in the final week of our Australian tour and I will have to admit I am pretty tired. We have met some amazing people and I have a ton of great ideas to bring back to our school division, so I am grateful for all of the connections that I have made and the wonderful ideas that have been shared. Thanks to all of you both online and offline :)

In the spirit of sharing, here are some interesting/helpful articles that I have found this week:

1.  Do you confuse what you do with who you are? – This was a great article discussing how we often identify ourselves by the positions that we have.  I know that I often tell people that I am an educator and am extremely proud of the fact, but is there something else I should be focusing on?

What difference would it make if you responded to “What do you do?” with a slightly surprising twist? What if we started a movement of sorts and, one by one, conversation by conversation, we played a little game and each of us changed things up a bit?  It could sound something like this:

Them:  “Hi, my name is …. I am the president of XYZ Company. What do you do?”
You:  “Nice to meet you.   My name is Jack and:
“I am a terrific husband.”
“I am a proud mother.”
“I am a good friend.”
“I am absolutely content and happy!”
“Today, I am making a difference by …”

I loved this article because it has pushed my own thinking about what I do and how I define myself.  It probably will do the same for others.  How will you start the conversation the next time you introduce yourself?

2.  The Connected Educator Starter Kit – This is an extremely comprehensive document that has been shared

Whether you just dip your toe in the water by trying a few of these activities or you dive in headfirst and take advantage of this entire month-long, do-it-yourself professional learning journey, we’re sure you’ll find something to challenge you or spark your interest. This guide is separated into 31 days worth of online activities (one for each day during the month of August) to get you started into your journey as a connected educator and learner. How you use the kit is up to you.

It is a great document shared by the Powerful Learning Practice to give you some ideas of how you can take part in this event.

3.  What are the 10 secret benefits of blogging? - Blogging has been one of the best activities that I have taken part in during my career and I am a big advocate of what it can do for ourselves professionally.  This great blog post offers some great insights on what blogging can do for our own development and I believe that this is something our students should be doing.  Educators should be modelling this to our students first though and they can find some great benefits if they stick with it:

Blogging for me has been a path to not only to self expression but self fulfillment that has become a journey of self discovery. I have found what works for me and what doesn’t. I write about topics that resonate with my soul and purpose while keeping focused and relevant.

These elements combined have provided an experience that has both changed me and others around me, both in the physical and cyber world. It is an exciting time to live where you can connect to your global tribe with rich multimedia that transcends time and place.

Take a look at the 10 benefits listed in this article by the author in a wonderful post.

4.  Reddit Photographer Captures Candid Marriage Proposal – This is a great example of how the world is both extremely small and caring.  During a marriage proposal, someone caught the moment and shared the visual through social networks to see if they can find the new couple:

Joel Bush didn’t know anyone was watching when he got down on one knee to propose to Jennifer Orr. But photographer Patrick Lu happened upon the couple on the capital grounds in Austin, Texas and shared his beautiful picture to Reddit: “Did any of you propose at the capital last night?”

The post made it to the top of /r/Austin with 1,400 up votes (the highest of all time in that subreddit), and Redditors offered many suggestions on how to locate the mystery couple…

“I felt Reddit was the only place where a post like this could generate enough exposure,” Patrick Lu, the photographer, tells Mashable. “Austin is actually a growing haven for tech companies and startups, and I had a gut feeling that the couple worked somewhere in that space (the man was wearing flip flops and jeans, and that’s like a uniform for us programmers these days). With a lot of techies, you have a lot of Redditors. I figured someone would have recognized them eventually.”

Although Reddit has some negative examples of social media, it is these cool stories that also need to be highlighted.

As a final share, I just wanted to share this hilarious video on the infectious Gotye song.  It is not something that may be relevant to schools, but it is just pretty funny.  I hope you get a laugh out of it!  Have a great week!