PLN Under 2000

Everyone knows the famous people in the educational Twitterverse!  Those voices that have ten-thousand, twenty-thousand, even fifty-thousand followers.  However, there are plenty of educators on Twitter that have less than 2,000 followers that have amazing insight into educational practices.

This reminds me so much of our classrooms.  There are always one, two, or possibly three students that speak all the time.  They may or may not have good insight, but they definitely take most of the energy from the room.  Leaders are needed, but their are many quiet voices in the room (and on Twitter) that have loud thoughts that can change the world.

I encourage you to find a few teachers and educational voices on Twitter that may not have thousands of followers and see what they have to say.  They may just inspire you to create the next great thing!

May I introduce you to @RMWynkoop, @JulietDPark, and @mh_coach.

My Gains From Not Attending ISTE 2014

I've always wanted to attend ISTE Conferences!  I never have due to a variety of reasons.  In the past, I've followed the conference via social network on a hit or miss basis.  However, this year, I focused on growing my Personal Learning Network (PLN) by viewing the #ISTE2014 Twitter stream.  I wanted to add new people that represented a variety of educational backgrounds.  From national speakers to elementary teachers and from Australia to my home state, Wisconsin I truly found amazing educational leaders that I didn't even know existed prior to this week!

And so I took this to heart!

Please view these ISTE Conference contributors through my Haiku Deck.  I took screen shots using my iPad, edited them through the camera roll, and then added them to my Haiku Deck.  Haiku Deck is an amazing simplistic, elegant presentation tool.  The most impressive part of Haiku Deck is that the user experience is the same whether it is on the iPad or on a Chromebook/computer!  Perfect for students who start content creation at school on a school technology device and complete it at home on a personal device!

While this is not an all inclusive list, these are great educators added to my PLN creating important gains for me without attending ISTE 2014!

How Do I Land My First Job #satchat

I was intrigued by May 31, 2014's #satchat not because I am searching for a new job, but because so many of the conversational pieces were thought provoking.   New teachers could become truly prepared for the expectations for the job of educator.  In addition, veteran teachers can become aware of trends in the educational world, put them into practice, and continue to positively redefine the educational learning environments.

Storify documents the entire discussion among educators on Twitter.  I decided to read through it and pull out the items I felt were thought provoking.  I used the iPad as it is so simple to screen shot (home button + on/off button) anything, edited in my camera roll, and used PicCollage to organize.
*Increase browser percentage or view full screen on computer or pinch to expand on iPad for best reading.

If you are not busy next Saturday morning, consider joining the incredible #satchat on Twitter that will connect you with brilliant educators and stretch you to think, question, and create!