![7 Steps To Financial Freedom [VIDEO]](http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/1236662_money_heap.jpg "7 Steps To Financial Freedom [VIDEO]")
Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’
Comment
If you’ve read much on my blog, you know that I do not have the traditional mindset of most educators. I have no problem with kids dropping out of school as long as they are doing so as a means of furthering their education. I don’t think that a college education is essential for success in the world. In fact, I know that it’s not.
I recently was watching to a TED Talk by Cameron Herold (@CameronHerold on Twitter) that challenged me and also reinforced some of my previously-held views and articulated them in a way that shed new light on them. The talk was entitled Let’s raise kids to be entrepreneurs. You should watch it. If nothing else, you…
Tags
Comments
You are currently reading the 501st article on this site
Over the past few years of my time in the blogosphere, I’ve seen some blogs come and go. I’ve seen some great ones start up and hopefully even been able to send out some positive blogging encouragement to some of these folks in the process, either via Twitter or by linking to their blogs. Whatever the case, it’s always encouraging to see new bloggers start into the effort.
With all things, there are numerous people who start out but simply fail to follow through. It’s just the human propensity we have for starting something new and moving on after it loses its newness. I’ve had times in my blogging…
Tags
The background
It took me about three years. I heard rumblings of Twitter way back in the fall of 2006 when I was getting into blogs. “Who cares what you ate for lunch?” So I ignored it. I finally got on in the spring of 2008, but never really got around to doing too much with it until then.
Evidently my first tweet was something about an enjoyable weekend. How fun. It was so much fun that I blogged about it. This all came less than two months after I reached a subscriber count of 150. I was excited.
Fast forward
Now even despite the incredible slowdown of RSS subscribers (and even RSS reading in general) due…
Tags
Back in March of 2009, I received my first guest post submission from Karen Schweitzer entitled 50 Online Reference Sites for Teachers. At the time, she was barely building her online portfolio by sending out guest posts to edublog across the web. As best as I can tell, So You Want To Teach? was one of the first blogs she submitted articles for.
As soon as the article went live, it quickly became one of the most popular pages on the entire blog. In fact, that article alone received some 275 views the first three weeks it was up. At the time, that was huge. For comparison, 14 months later, I posted a guest article 8 Teachers Who Changed History…
Tags
For the first time since started my blog three years ago, I am going to be taking a break for at least a month. No writing, no checking stats, no emails, no nothing. In fact, I’m pulling the plug on my cable modem as soon as I finish writing this.
This is not just a blog issue, but I am going to be away from Facebook almost entirely for a month. In fact, I deleted Facebook from my phone a couple of weeks ago and noticed a substantial improvement to my productivity at work. My free time isn’t spent checking to see who else is slacking off at work, but rather in avoiding the temptation to slack myself. I’ve been…
Tags
So here’s the situation:
You’ve been teaching for quite a while. You’ve pretty much gotten a handle on classroom management, paperwork, classroom rules, and any number of the other day-to-day tasks we encounter. But how many of these teaching vices do you struggle with? I know I’m not guiltless in these areas. In fact, I’ve had run-ins with most of these. Not all of them, of course.
- Luxuria (extravagance or lust)
While most people think of lust in a sexual kind of way, in the original context, it essentially meant excessive love of others. Even so, some teachers take this one quite literally and end up losing their jobs over abusive relationships with their students. - Gula (gluttony)
…
Tags
Over 10,000 of the visits to SYWTT this year came from nine sources. The top three alone actually sent me over 6,200 visitors. This is incredible, and I need to thank all of you for the help you’ve provided me.
Top referring blogs
These are the blogs that have sent the most visitors my way in 2009. I cannot thank these people enough for taking the time out of their schedule in one way or another and finding something on my site that resonated enough with them to send their readers my way. You people rock!
- It’s Not All Flowers And Sausages
- TutorFi.com with the post 50 Reasons Why I Enjoy Being A Teacher
- Guy Kawasaki with the post
…
Tags
Over the past (almost) three years of blogging, I have learned a lot more about myself, teaching, blogging, WordPress, CSS, HTML, and social media than I ever really thought I would. Most of it has been good, or at least fun. Some of it hasn’t been all that great, but I keep on keeping on.
As we close out each year, I like to take a sort of retrospective on the past year and look at some of the most popular articles from the year. I’ve traditionally broken this retrospective into three individual posts (2007 Loneliest/Busiest/Overlooked, 2008 Loneliest/Busiest/Overlooked), but this year I’ll do things a little differently and pack everything into one huge year-end blowout.
The busiest articles of 2009
Tags
I have been getting more and more into sharing information via Twitter recently. With 1,300 RSS subscribers, and only 850 Twitter followers, I know that not all of my readers are getting all of the links that I share. I thought it might be fun to share with you some of the links that I came across last month and shared on Twitter. If you aren’t following me on Twitter yet, you should start: @sywtt
Also, if you’re on Google Wave and would like to add me, feel free! My address is soyouwanttoteach.com@googlewave.com
- 5 great resources to find out about Google Wave
- 5 Reasons Google Wave Is Not Ready
- 5 Step Change Strategy
- Five Technology Lessons Every Teacher Can
…
Tags
Today is the day. Thousands of new users will be presented with the opportunity to get their hands on Google Wave.
What is Google Wave?
Google Wave is a brand new technology that positions itself as the way Email would have been made if it were invented today. (Watch the 1:20:12 long video clip)
Imagine a combination between Email, IM, Twitter, Facebook, and Skype all bundled into one. Now imagine it being drag-and-drop easy, live-updated, and being constantly improved. Then throw on top of that an eager community of developers seeking ways to make it even easier to use and more powerful.
Cool, but what does it look like?
I haven’t gotten my…
Tags
This is a guest post from Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes for OnlineClasses.org, an online college class resource.
Teachers and other education professionals who are interested in starting their own blog or integrating blogging into a classroom can find many online resources to improve their blogging experience. Many of these resources are free and easy to implement on a variety of platforms. Here are 15 no-cost tools to explore today:
Edmodo – This free microblogging platform was created for students and teachers who want to be able to blog and share files through a private connection. Edmodo works a lot like Twitter–it allows threaded replies and a place to share links…
Tags
I don’t use a whole lot of social media outlets, but I know a lot of my readers do. Over the last few months, I have added a few things to make sharing SYWTT articles easier. I’ve also added some rating type things where you can tell me how bad (or good) an article is. I find that Facebook and Twitter are by far the websites I spend most of my time on when I’m online. In fact, I mostly use Facebook at home and Twitter on my iPhone while I’m out.
Up to this point, I have used them mostly for personal things. I have also noticed, however, that my use of Google Reader and other RSS type things…
Tags
Legacy
Main Entry: 1leg·a·cy
Pronunciation: \ˈle-gə-sē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural leg·a·cies
Etymology: Middle English legacie office of a legate, bequest, from Anglo-French or Medieval Latin; Anglo-French, office of a legate, from Medieval Latin legatia, from Latin legatus
Date: 15th century
1 : a gift by will especially of money or other personal property : bequest
2 : something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past <the legacy of the ancient philosophers>
My friend Junior writes:
I’m proposing, my fellow Christian brother and sister bloggers, that we do a week of “Legacy…
Tags
This is a guest post from Karen Schweitzer who writes reviews for the best online colleges for OnlineCollege.org.
Whether you’re looking for ways to incorporate technology into the classroom or into your daily life, the Internet has the tools you need. There are lots of free web apps and websites designed specifically for tech-loving teachers on a tight budget:
- VerbaLearn – VerbaLearn is a comprehensive vocabulary building site that uses audio, video, flashcards, and games. It is a great place for teachers to help students improve English vocabulary at home or school.
- Writewith – This free web app makes writing online a snap. Writewith allows you to upload documents, assign tasks, chat, collaborate, and track everyone’s changes and
…
Tags
I recently came across a video on TwiTip about Monica Rankin, a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, who was using Twitter in one of her classes this semester. The video is below.
I emailed Dr. Rankin to see if I could get some thoughts on the experiment following the completion of the semester. She told me that she is in the middle of several research projects presently, but she did send me to a page on her website that summarizes the experiment. The site also includes some other links of interest at the bottom. If you’re interested in learning more, check out Some general comments on the “Twitter Experiment.”
Tags
Andy Zweibel (whom I’ve been following on Twitter for a while now — @Zweibz7) just started up a blog specifically focusing on topics concerning Music Education students. The blog is MusicEdMajor.net.
Andy is currently seeking contributors for the site, and I think this is definitely a worthwhile endeavor. Hopefully we can get in touch with some music education professors and those who have influence in the music education world to try to get more people on board.
I know a handful of musicians and music teachers are subscribed to my blog and I hope they will give Andy some encouragement, links, and just send people his way.
I also would like to add that he has chosen a very nice,…
Tags
This is a guest post by Karen Schweitzer. Karen writes about online universities for OnlineColleges.net.
Twitter can be a great resource–if you know how to use it. Here are 30 tips for teachers who want to learn how to use Twitter to network, teach, and share information:
- Determine your purpose
Before spending any amount of time on Twitter, you should decide what you want to get out of it. Do you want to meet people who share your interests? Do you want to promote something? Do you want to update colleagues in your industry? Knowing what you want to do ahead of time will transform Twitter from a timewaster into something worthwhile. - Use keywords in your profile
Your
…
Tags
The results to my most recent Twitter poll (what is your classroom management secret weapon?) can be seen over at Miss Cal.Q.L8’s blog.
Be sure to go check out 27 Classroom Management Secret Weapons. While you’re at it, subscribe to her blog and leave some comments.
Tags
This morning, I asked my Twitter and blogging friends the simple question: Why do you teach?
While most of the responses came in via Twitter (limited to 140 characters), some also came in through the comments. What I found in my nonscientific cross sampling of technolgically literate teachers was interesting.
If you missed out on your chance this morning, feel free to add your own comments below! Without any further formalities, here were the responses:
@flourishingkids
I teach because I love cultivating the joy and efficacy of learning
@kaferico
I teach because is my vocation and passion. There is never a dull day. My goal is to make every day an A-HA! moment for my students.
@flotoonie
To use tech…
Tags
Here are some quick things that you can do with now that will help you fall further behind in your workload.
- MySpace
- Check your email
- Edit your blog design
- Check your blog stats
- Catch up on RSS
- Watch TV
- Watch a movie
- Take a nap
- Drive around aimlessly
- Daydream
- Window shop
- Listen to music
- Take a walk
- Go to the park
- Go out to eat with friends
- Spend your lunch break talking
- Call a friend
- Call your mom
- Read a fiction book
- Read a magazine
- Fly a kite
- Sort your clothes
- Watch a baseball game
- Play a video game
- Surf the internet
- Read blogs
- Write in your blog
- Write an email
- Text
- Chat
- Comment
- Blog
- Sign up
…
Tags
