As I wrap up the last week of this class, I am so thankful that this has been the most productive month of social media use in my life. I have always held Twitter at arms length, not trusting myself to balance the personal vs. professional use well, and not regarding it as a good use of my time in general. Thanks to the guided parameters here, I feel that I have finally found a good rhythm of engaging with Twitter in professionally positive ways.
I followed up with my lead last week of F-flat Books, and I finished reading the book I bought last week. I emailed one of the co-authors, and I have been in correspondence with her several time snow. I have been listening to their podcast, and I am even working on setting up a conversation to potentially pitch some of my resources for publication.
I am also a part of two Facebook groups now for public school orchestra directors, and I have been gaining a lot of insight into how other teachers operate over the summer months. I'm already getting some good ideas for the fall.
While the first 2 weeks brought about a widening of my PLN on Twitter, this week brought about a deepening. I have finally begun to tap into networks on social media that cater more to my niche style of teaching. First, I found a YouTube series of interviews from the authors of the book "Pass the Baton," a book that challenges teachers to empower students with independence and creative leadership. This is exactly what I have been trying to develop in my program, so I immediately found this channel compelling. I began following both of the authors on Twitter, and one of them even followed me back and sent me a personal thank-you!
Second, by looking through their recent interviews, I was able to get in touch with Sarah Gulish, the founder of F-flat books, and a fantastic orchestra director in Pennsylvania. I have already bought Sarah's book on Creative String Orchestras, and I followed it up with an email asking for more resources and what networks she would recommend. It feels like I may have found my people.
This week I participated in my first ever Twitter Chat. Thanks to a recommendation from Don Sturm, my District's tech coordinator, I joined #xplap on Tuesday night at 9:00pm. The purpose of this network of teachers is to throw around ideas based around gamification in the classroom. I was expecting teachers to be sharing about different games they created to teach different lessons.
Nope.
There is apparently an entire culture of teachers around the world who have gone hardcore into turning their classrooms into D&D style role-playing experiences. I was absolutely blown away! I felt like a Model T trying to keep up with Ferrari's on a highway. I felt like I had nothing to contribute, but it was still really fun to see everyone interact on this level and have a ton of fun with each other.
I do really like the idea of gamification, although it did come into conflict with the articles I read this week for the Teacher as Analyst challenge about competition. Still, the amount of fun that I imagine exists in these teacher's classrooms has to be incredible compelling, and it sounds like they've coupled their love of D&D with their class content in amazing ways.
Live Twitter Chats - I have been invited to participate in several live chats that look really interesting (#formativechat, #XPLAP, #celebrateED). I have never done this before, so I am excited to share next week what I learned from them. I am looking for ones that are geared specifically for music teachers and would welcome any recommendations.
Quote of the Week - "If we teach today like we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow." - John Dewey. This is so important for this current moment in academia. Technology has altered the educational landscape so quickly that refusing to change our ways will likely be detrimental to both our students and ourselves.
Video of the Week - "The Art of Creativity" TED Talk by Taika Waititi. This video was suggested to me after watching Cristina Riesen's TED Talk, and I was so inspired by it. I have thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Waititi's films he has directed (mainly JoJo Rabbit and Thor: Ragnarok), and I love learning about great artist's creative processes.
This week, I reached to two of my PLN contacts in my school, Don Sturm and Courtney Eddleman, and I asked them to recommend some good Live Twitter Chats. Don tweeted me back and tagged a couple hashtags (#formativechat and #XPLAP). Within a couple minutes, two of the hosts of these Twitter Chats had followed me and personally invited me to join! This was a big relief. I feel like a new kid walking into the cafeteria at lunch on the first day of school; I have no idea where to go, so it was very nice to feel warmly invited.
To prepare myself for participating in one of these, I watched this helpful YouTube video on how to join and participate in a Twitter Chat. Maybe you'll find this helpful too.
Already here, on day 1, I've found the #musedchat to have a lot of Live Chat options that look pretty interesting for the Music Education community. I have followed several people from these threads that look like they have similar interests to mine.
Week 4 Report
As I wrap up the last week of this class, I am so thankful that this has been the most productive month of social media use in my life. I have always held Twitter at arms length, not trusting myself to balance the personal vs. professional use well, and not regarding it as a good use of my time in general. Thanks to the guided parameters here, I feel that I have finally found a good rhythm of engaging with Twitter in professionally positive ways.
I followed up with my lead last week of F-flat Books, and I finished reading the book I bought last week. I emailed one of the co-authors, and I have been in correspondence with her several time snow. I have been listening to their podcast, and I am even working on setting up a conversation to potentially pitch some of my resources for publication.
I am also a part of two Facebook groups now for public school orchestra directors, and I have been gaining a lot of insight into how other teachers operate over the summer months. I'm already getting some good ideas for the fall.
Week 3 Report
While the first 2 weeks brought about a widening of my PLN on Twitter, this week brought about a deepening. I have finally begun to tap into networks on social media that cater more to my niche style of teaching. First, I found a YouTube series of interviews from the authors of the book "Pass the Baton," a book that challenges teachers to empower students with independence and creative leadership. This is exactly what I have been trying to develop in my program, so I immediately found this channel compelling. I began following both of the authors on Twitter, and one of them even followed me back and sent me a personal thank-you!
Second, by looking through their recent interviews, I was able to get in touch with Sarah Gulish, the founder of F-flat books, and a fantastic orchestra director in Pennsylvania. I have already bought Sarah's book on Creative String Orchestras, and I followed it up with an email asking for more resources and what networks she would recommend. It feels like I may have found my people.
Week 2 Report
This week I participated in my first ever Twitter Chat. Thanks to a recommendation from Don Sturm, my District's tech coordinator, I joined #xplap on Tuesday night at 9:00pm. The purpose of this network of teachers is to throw around ideas based around gamification in the classroom. I was expecting teachers to be sharing about different games they created to teach different lessons.
Nope.
There is apparently an entire culture of teachers around the world who have gone hardcore into turning their classrooms into D&D style role-playing experiences. I was absolutely blown away! I felt like a Model T trying to keep up with Ferrari's on a highway. I felt like I had nothing to contribute, but it was still really fun to see everyone interact on this level and have a ton of fun with each other.
I do really like the idea of gamification, although it did come into conflict with the articles I read this week for the Teacher as Analyst challenge about competition. Still, the amount of fun that I imagine exists in these teacher's classrooms has to be incredible compelling, and it sounds like they've coupled their love of D&D with their class content in amazing ways.
I absolutely love the GIF of the week Dave! Not only are the words true, but the show is a MUST WATCH!
WEEK 1 - #F5F
Here are my 5 Friday Finds for Week 1 of #tch432:
Live Twitter Chats - I have been invited to participate in several live chats that look really interesting (#formativechat, #XPLAP, #celebrateED). I have never done this before, so I am excited to share next week what I learned from them. I am looking for ones that are geared specifically for music teachers and would welcome any recommendations.
Quote of the Week - "If we teach today like we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow." - John Dewey. This is so important for this current moment in academia. Technology has altered the educational landscape so quickly that refusing to change our ways will likely be detrimental to both our students and ourselves.
Article of the Week - "Bringing the 5 Cs into your classroom" (Gregory Firn). Even though this was written in 2018, it is very applicable to today, and even more so post-Covid.
Video of the Week - "The Art of Creativity" TED Talk by Taika Waititi. This video was suggested to me after watching Cristina Riesen's TED Talk, and I was so inspired by it. I have thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Waititi's films he has directed (mainly JoJo Rabbit and Thor: Ragnarok), and I love learning about great artist's creative processes.
GIF that sums up my Week:
WEEK 1 REPORT
This week, I reached to two of my PLN contacts in my school, Don Sturm and Courtney Eddleman, and I asked them to recommend some good Live Twitter Chats. Don tweeted me back and tagged a couple hashtags (#formativechat and #XPLAP). Within a couple minutes, two of the hosts of these Twitter Chats had followed me and personally invited me to join! This was a big relief. I feel like a new kid walking into the cafeteria at lunch on the first day of school; I have no idea where to go, so it was very nice to feel warmly invited.
To prepare myself for participating in one of these, I watched this helpful YouTube video on how to join and participate in a Twitter Chat. Maybe you'll find this helpful too.
Already here, on day 1, I've found the #musedchat to have a lot of Live Chat options that look pretty interesting for the Music Education community. I have followed several people from these threads that look like they have similar interests to mine.