Twitter

Twitter AssignmentKayla TriplettCI 350

This assignment has provided me with an opportunity to follow 5 different

influential educators on Twitter, and given me a perspective on educational

strategies and advice that will be valuable in my future career. The five individuals

that I chose to follow are: Pernille Ripp, Lyn Hilt, Chris Wejr, George Couros, and

Aviva Dunsiger. I also started follow my class twitter, @CI 350, which posts different

information about technology in the classroom.

Pernille Ripp:

Pernille Ripp is a very popular fifth grade teacher and mother of 4 from

Washington. She is also the creator of the Read Aloud Project as well as an author.

Throughout the period of time I have been following her, Pernille Ripp has tweeted

many, many tweets with helpful videos, blogs, images, and just inspirational

messages to her fellow educators. She seems to be most concerned with increasing

and promoting effective reading strategies and techniques for encouraging student

motivation in the classroom. Ms. Ripp has her own blog “Reading through the

Fourth Dimension” where she also posts very useful information that is geared

toward helping students receive the motivation they need to love reading. She is

very much a supporter of going the “extra mile” to encourage and promote reading

in her classroom by providing students with whatever they need to enhance their

reading. I found Ms. Ripp to be a true inspiration for myself as an aspiring teacher.

She seems to genuinely be willing to do whatever it takes to make her students

succeed. She also is of the opinion that tests and letter grades do not necessarily

reflect the learning that is actually taking place. I ultimately agree with her, and also

believe that a letter does not appropriately measure the learning of a student.

Overall, I am very happy that I chose to follow Pernille Ripp because of her

informative and interesting tweets, and her obvious commitment to bettering

education.

Here are a few of her tweets:

Lyn Hilt:

Lyn Hilt is an Instructional Technology Integrator at the Elementary level,

and a former Elementary School Principal from Pennsylvania. She is very active in

promoting the use of educational technology in classrooms across the country, and

frequently tweets links to blogs, short videos, and websites that revolve around 21st

century education. Lyn Hilt seems to primarily focus her tweeting on using

technology to promote learning and expand the classroom beyond the actual

building walls. She is an advocate of class twitter and Facebook accounts for

breaking down barriers of communication. In addition to her twitter, Hilt also has a

blog where she shares her thoughts, tips, feelings, and ideas with her fellow and

aspiring educators. She is definitely someone who has experience with the effect of

technology in the classroom and shares her experiences with the world of twitter.

My personal opinion of Hilt is one of agreement. She firmly believes that

incorporating technology into American classrooms is necessary for an education

that is up to date with our ever-changing society, and I fully agree. I am pleased

with my choice to follow her because I know she will provide me with tips and

information that I can utilize in the future.

Here are a few of Lyn Hilt’s tweets:

Chris Wejr:

Another individual I decided to follow is Chris Wejr, a Principle of an

Elementary school is an avid supporter of leadership and parent involvement in the

classroom. I am definitely a supporter of Wejr, especially his promotion of parental

engagement because I feel strongly that it is an extremely important aspects of

education. Wejr also frequently tweets about increasing student involvement in

their own education and the most effective ways to do so. He firmly believes that

educators need to work on uplifting all students, not just the ones who frequently

succeed, because the students who struggle are more often in need of

encouragement and support than the students who do well all the time. I am in

complete agreement with Mr. Wejr when it comes to his ideas for improving student

motivation and teacher support and positive reinforcement in the classroom. After

following his tweets for the past month, my eyes have been opened to the need for

fundamental motivation that must come from the students. I fully intend to

continue my following of Chris Wejr and plan to use the information he is providing

to shape my teaching strategies for the future.

Here are a few of Chris Wejr’s tweets:

George Couros:

George Couros is another individual that I have had the chance to learn from.

Couros is a Division Principle of Innovative Teaching and Learning. He is very

passionate about the importance of student collaboration and the employment of

technology in education. The central theme behind the majority of Couros’ tweets is

the importance of the use of technology in the classroom, and effective ways to

incorporate said technology. As a huge advocate of Web 2.0, he is involved with

launching these applications in classrooms across America. In addition to his Web

2.0 work, he also advocates collaboration between teachers and administration to

ensure they are creating the best work environment possible for their students. I am

a huge supporter of this collaborative effort. If administrators and teachers aren’t on

the same page, how can a school operate successfully? Following this specific

individual has opened my eyes to the many possibilities of using Web 2.0 and the

importance of teacher/administrator collaboration. I fully intend to apply the

information on leadership and technology that Couros has and will continue to

provide when I have a classroom of my own.

Here are a few of Couros’ tweets:

Aviva Dunsiger:

Another individual I have been keeping up with is Aviva Dunsiger, a woman

who has experience in teaching grades K-2, 5, and 6. She is currently teaching 5th

grade and is very supportive of group projects and project based learning in

education. Dunsiger frequently tweets links to her blog, “Living Avivaloca”, and

images of projects her students are working on. Her students recently finished a

“Passion Project”, where they create a presentation on something that they are

personally passionate about, and that they want to teach their classmates about.

They were to be creative in making their presentation; every student’s project was

completely different. Some were made of Paper Mache and others made theirs from

construction paper and poster board. I love the idea of having kids teach their

classmates about something that is important to them personally because if it is

something they really care about, they will put forth all of their effort to make their

project the best possible. Dunsiger is an avid blogger and promotes “small bloggers”

in elementary and middle school classrooms. This means having young students

blog in class or at home, and can they can be about any topic of the student’s

choosing or an assigned topic. “Small blogging” is mainly about introducing kids to

the world of blogging, and hopefully making it something kids will continue to do

even when they don’t have to. I feel like I learned quite a bit from following Aviva

Dunsiger’s blog, especially in the area of Project Based Learning, and I hope to be

able to incorporate some of her tips and ideas in my own classroom one day.

Here are a few of Dunsiger’s tweets:

Harold Blanco:

The final individual I have been following is my instructor, Dr. Harold Blanco.

He is the Instructional Technology and Computers for future teachers professor at

Marshall University. I have definitely learned a lot about implementing technology

in the 21st century classroom. Dr. Blanco frequently posts links to Internet images,

websites, blogs, and videos. The central theme of Blanco’s posts is the utilization of

technology in a classroom, and how to properly do so. Harold Blanco is a huge

supporter of social media in the classroom, if it is used properly. I agree with

Blanco’s stance. Using social media and other technology in the classroom opens so

many possibilities for our school system. It also allows students to use something

that they spend most of their time on anyway for an educational purpose. Following

Dr. Blanco has really exposed me to several valuable resources and techniques for

my future career, and I fully intend to continue following him even after my course

with him is concluded. He has very innovative ideas for using technology in the

classroom, and I know keeping up to date with his account will be nothing but

beneficial.

Example of Harold Blanco’s tweets: