Skip to main content

Less Physics Mo Problems

Why am I writing this personal entry? Well, it is not an attempt to gain any sympathy. It attempts to show what is possible if a clear intention and goal serve the learner's needs.  In May of 2022 just near the end of another fantastic school year, I do not remember what happened. But, I was unable to finish the school year and was unable to teach the following year.  Why? On May 21st, 2022, I fell down a flight of 16 stairs (luckily carpeted) from the 2nd to 1st story of our home.  I was found at the bottom of the stairs. I was found foaming at the mouth. This would lead to a 2-month hospital stay which included an induced coma because my seizures would not stop, several rounds of lumbar punctures, and relearning basic physical movements like something as simple as being able to roll in the hospital bed. Simply put, when I was admitted to the hospital, I was diagnosed as being “critically ill.” Please take a moment and read those words: critically ill. They are not terms that are

The Power of Twitter Lists



I'm getting to the point where when I open up my Twitter feed and scroll for about 8 minutes, I realize I've only made it about 20 minutes into the timeline. It begs the question, "What am I missing?" I understand that sometimes when I go to Twitter, I just want to drift with the current. Other times, though, I want to be purposeful with my stream. It could be getting specific news, ideas, or connecting with a community. In the name of feeding my specific needs, I've decided to use Twitter Lists a bit more intentionally.

A Twitter list is a feed that consists solely of a specific list of user accounts.  You don't need to follow these users for them to be a part of a list.  You can create your own lists or subscribe to a list created by a different user.

I first realized the power of a Twitter list when I discovered my district superintendent had created a Twitter list that consisted of the accounts of our schools and staff that are using Twitter for professional purposes.



When I saw this list, I quickly subscribed to it.  It's my go to list everyday.  It's a great way to shrink the space between me and all the classrooms and peers in my district. I get to see creations and learning from different classrooms in addition to articles and blogs that are sparking conversation in my district. It only takes me a few minutes to find everything that is being shared rather than hunting through my main feed or using a variety of different hashtags.

Every School District and Building should have a Twitter List to help bridge gaps and build relationships that the physical constraints of space and schedules limit.

I've come to realize that Twitter is the quickest way connected educations and media outlets share out.  So, I've decided to move away from trying to find the best RSS feed aggregator and move over to creating my own Twitter lists to keep on top of my personal and professional interests.

Building a List

You can build a list easily via a web browser on a desktop/laptop or via the Twitter mobile app.

The key is to click on your Avatar to get access to the menu from which you can navigate to the lists page.




From the list page you can create a new list by clicking on the "Create New List" button (in bowser) or Icon (in app).


From there, you'll be able to name your list and start adding users. I usually add users by going to their account page when I see a tweet in my stream.

Once you are on the account page you'll either click on those 3 dots (in browser) or gear (in app) and click on add to list.  You can then add them to your list of choice or create a brand new list.



Subscribing to a list.

As I said earlier, I was introduced to the power of Twitter lists by subscribing to my superintendent's Twitter list of district staff and schools. This process is very easy whether using Twitter in a browser or the app.

Navigate to the user page of the account who has created the list.  You could just go to any account and click on their list page (in browser) or the gear icon and then lists (in app).


Then click on the list you want to subscribe to.  In this example, I've gone to my local newspaper and discovered they have a list of all the Green Bay Packer players.  With preseason in full swing, this is a great way to keep track all the Packers and give them all equal airtime.

A new pop up will appear and you simply click subscribe.  Now this list will be included in your list page as one you are subscribed to.

I'm still just getting started building my lists.  So, my lists are not where I'd like them to be.  But, I love how easy it is to find a user from my main feed and add that account to a list. It's the easy of navigation that makes lists so powerful for me. So, I'll still be floating in my main stream. But when time is short or I'm in the mood to focus my learning, I look forward to making the most of my lists.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Twitter Cards for Blogger

So, I’ve been seeing people with beautiful Twitter Cards in my Twitter Stream. They make it clear that there is a web page to visit and give a quick preview of what would be found. Something like the one below: I’ve been wondering how to get one of the cards to appear when I tweet out a link to my latest blog post.  Since I use Blogger, there is not a simple button to click to turn this on.  I had to find a way to paste new code into the HTML code of my blog.  It took some searching from multiple sites to get a completely functional.   This site though was quite helpful.  But, I’d like to walk you through my process and hopefully it helps a few out. There are a few types of Twitter Cards.  Two that at most frequently see are the basic summary card and the summary card with large image.  Below you can see the layout of each, but realize that they both have the same content pieces. This is going to look like a lot more work than it will actually be

Personalized Learning Tasks and Roles

Yesterday, I read a great post by Jim Rickabaugh dealing with the roles of learner and teacher in a personalized learning environment by looking at tasks . The roles were set up on a continuum. This article timed perfectly with a reflection on part of Students at the Center by Allison Zmuda and Bena Kallick on idea generation and task development I had in mind. These two works are the focus of my reflection here. I think a key misunderstand teachers have when it comes to digging into personalizing learning is that for planning purposes, we no longer begin with standards but with student desires.  I believe like all good instruction, we need to start with the standards.  Think about it, standards are what we want all learners to know and be able to do as a result of passing through our educational system. That is why it is essential that we make sure that standards are representative of what we believe is important for learners to be informed and productive in their futur

Pear Deck 101 + Q&A

  Last week, I presented as a part of Pear Deck’s Pear Fair 2020. My presentation was Pear Deck 101 for Google Slides. During the presentation, there was a live chat. Many people said it went too fast for a 101 Session. Luckily, it was recorded so it can be rewatched.  Also, many said that they wanted to know how to build a Pear Deck first. I structured the presentation to show what Pear Deck was before showing how to make one. Perhaps that wasn’t the best structure. But, I’m going to stick with my philosophy of showing what something is before showing how to make it. The presentation, which can be watched below, was structured in several different sections What is Pear Deck? Providing an overview of the experience from the Teacher and Student perspectives. How do you build a Pear Deck in Google Slides? How do you start a Pear Deck presentation? How do you end a Pear Deck presentation? Here is the Slideshow I shared during the session bit.ly/pearfair101 Time really flew in the sess