Top Educators to Follow

For those who read Tuesdays with Swindy, you’ll know I am not a big fan of making posts that are just top ten lists – I guess I’m just too long-winded to limit myself to a list! However, this is a topic I’ve thought about sharing for a while, and a list seems like a good way to get started.

I use Twitter as a Professional Learning Network (PLN). In addition to colleagues in my school district, people I meet in ed tech seminars and training sessions, and a list-serve I belong to comprised of technology integration coaches from around the state, I find Twitter is a great way to learn what I need to know, what I need to watch out for, and what’s trending in educational technology.

I got my start in Twitter with some simple advice from a colleague, which I’ll pass on to you. “With Twitter,” he said, “it’s not about how many followers you have. It’s about who you’re following.”

Twitter can be a news feed, streamed to your computer or mobile device when you are ready to view it, and delivered by a variety of sources that you choose, all with their own knowledge, insight, bias, passion, and networks of their own.

Looking at trends is a great way to see what topics are buzzing, and following the people you see posting on these topics whose comments interest you is a great way to build a network for learning.

It’s not hard to get started. Log in to Twitter and type one of these popular “hash tags” into the search field:
#edtech
#edapp
#education
#edchat

You could also search for other topics or trends that interest you, such as a specific content area or grade level you teach. Then READ the posts you see from people who have participated in the subject you searched. As you find particularly insightful or interesting tweets, click on the user name of the person posting to read more from that person. If you like what you see, click “Follow,” and this person’s tweets will become part of your news feed (or “Timeline”).

This is the way I found many of the people whom I follow, but I also looked at who the people I was following were following. To that end, here are some of the many great educators in my Twitter PLN who I highly recommend.

Here are my “Top Ten” Educators to Follow on Twitter:

10) Angela Maiers (@AngelaMaiers) – Iowa - “Educator, Author, Speaker passionate about literacy, learning, and power of social media.”

9) Joe Mazza (@Joe_Mazza) - Philadelphia – Elementary principal (in our very own district!), “Univ of Pennsylvania doct learner studying tech's impact on Family & Community Engagement, Blogger for ParentInvolvementMatters.org, co-host of #PTchat”

8) Olweus Bullying Prevention (@Olweus) - Center City, MN – “Best known, evidence-based bullying program. Olweus is making school a safer and more positive place for students to learn and develop.”

7) Edutopia (@edutopia) – “Inspiration and information for what works in education.”

6) Kyle Pace (@kylepace) - Kansas City, MO. – “Instructional Technology Specialist and Google Certified Teacher. Always learning and sharing about education and tech. Ed.D. student. Edcamp KC organizer. Dad.”

5) Jimbo Lamb (@misterlamb) - Lebanon, PA – “Math teacher, Tech coach, soccer and hockey fan, reader of comics, major geek”

4) Dianne Krause (@diannekrause) – PA – “Instructional Technology Specialist, Medievia Goddess, Lifelong Learner, Mac/PC, iPhone & iPad Lover” (and one-time colleague in our district!)

3) Kristin Hokanson (@khokanson) – PA – “Technology Integration Coach~STAR Discovery Educator~PA Keystone~PAECT Regional Director~life long learner”

2) edReformer (@edReformer) – USA – “edReformer strives to develop excellence and equity in education through innovation and education reform.”

1) Steven W. Anderson(@web20classroom) - Winston-Salem, NC – “Educator, Speaker, Blogger, #Edchat Co-Creator, #140Conf Character, Edublogs Twitterer Of The Year, ASCD Conf. Scholar. Do You Use Social Media In Education?”

Want to make it a top 15 list? Also check out these 5 more great Twits:

Nicholas Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher) - Michigan - “Just a guy who likes to blog about education, technology and all things nerdy. The 'Lady Gaga' of teaching.”

Eric Sheninger (@NMHS_Principal) - New Milford, NJ – “Principal of New Milford HS w/ an interest in EdTech+Change leadership; Google Certified Teacher, ASCD Conference Scholar, Author, Speaker”

Shannon Miller (@shannonmmiller) - Van Meter, Iowa – “Teacher Librarian & Tech Specialist who loves connecting, creating, technology, Web 2.0, change, advocacy & NOISE. Connecting People Shorty Award Recipient.”

TEDTalks Updates (@tedtalks) - New York – “The official feed for daily TEDTalks. Only new TEDTalks are posted on this feed.”

Curriki (@Curriki) – Everywhere – “A community of education stakeholders who are working together to create quality open source materials that will benefit teachers and students”

Enjoy these great tech-savvy educators! Thanks for reading. See you next week.