Tech Tuesday: 200 Tweets

This year, after I post and link to the Two Writing Teachers blog, I tweet my post using the hashtag #slice2013. I've been slowly learning how to use Twitter since last year. For the first six months I had a Twitter account, I just understand it. I didn't know what to tweet or who to follow or why I should even want to follow anyone. Little by little I started following authors and other teachers and professional organizations I was interested in. I also found other teachers from the Two Writing Teachers community and started following them. Stacey wrote a while ago that she reached over 1000 tweets. I'm not even close to that. For me, 200 felt like a major milestone. I anticipate that I will be using Twitter more and more. My favorite thing to do is follow hashtags associated with conferences. For example, ASCD recently had a conference in Chicago. The hastag for tweets was #ascd13. I wasn't able to go to the conference but many of the teachers I follow attended and tweeted their new learning or inspiring quotes from sessions. Some presenters even tweeted their PowerPoints and presentation packets. One of the speakers at ASCD was Maya Angelou. Through Nicholas Provenzano @thenerdyteacher, I was able to get a taste of what it must have been like to hear her tell a story. I think that is pretty neat.

We need more storytellers in the classroom. thenerdyteacher.com/2013/03/storyt… #ASCD13 #MACUL13
— Nicholas Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher) March 20, 2013

Using Paper.li

Last week, I started experimenting with a web tool called Paper.li. I first heard about it when reading a post written by Stacey Shubitz, co-author of Two Writing Teachers. Paper.li collects a selection of tweets posted by you and your followers and organizes them into an appealing newspaper format. As the editor of my newspaper, which I named the School SLP & Literacy Daily, I can publish it as is or delete or add articles. I can also add web content I find using the Paper.li bookmarklet. I don't have total control of where those articles appear in my newspaper but I can move articles as a lead story and any web content I add myself appears on the front page. I can tweet my newspaper or embed a sidebar gadget into my blog that shows my latest edition.

Screenshot of one of my recent editions.

There is also an option to automatically tweet your newspaper, which I would probably never do. Everytime my daily edition becomes available for me to view, there are always irrelevant tweets, photos, or videos that I want removed. I can view all the tweets included in the edition and delete anything I don't like. In the free application, there is always advertising that I cannot control. If I wanted to spend $9.99 per month, I could control most aspects of the paper including advertising. Chances of that happening are slim. And the Paper.li iPhone app is pretty useless. It is easier to access your account through Safari if you are using your iPad.

One of the most interesting features which I haven't used yet is the option to add an editor's note. Not sure why I have been avoiding it. Maybe it is because I've never written an editorial and I'm not sure what I'm doing. I think as I further solidify in my mind the purpose of my newspaper and the audience I want to connect with, an editor's note will seem easier. Creating the newspaper and learning to use Paper.li has been an interesting process and well worth the effort. The more I use it, the more I see how teachers might use it with students. The writerly decisions involved in curating and publishing using Paper.li are authentic and would promote purposeful discussion about audience and purpose.

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Twitter: Let's Do Lunch!

As I mentioned last week, it took me six months to compose my first tweet after opening my Twitter account. Good grief. I never considered Twitter as a way to connect and collaborate until Stacey's TWT post about trying out Pinterest and Twitter last November. Getting started with Pinterest felt easier although it took some trial and error. It has proved to be an excellent way to begin to connect with other speech therapists. With my transition back to speech this fall, I hoped that Twitter might also be a useful way to expand my hunt for other speech therapists like me. One problem is that I'm still so drawn to all the literacy tweets that I forget that I'm supposed to be looking for speech stuff. But I will keep at it. Like Pinterest and blogging, Twitter will take time and starting slow works fine with me. And right now, I am so excited when I see that someone I know from the TWT community posts a tweet. It feels like looking across a noisy crowded cafeteria on the first day of school and seeing a familiar face and being so relieved that I will have someone to eat lunch with. So if you are thinking about diving into Twitter but you are afraid of eating alone, don't worry. I'll look for you, if you'll look for me. Maybe we can eat lunch together. Seriously, if you are interested in Twitter, read Stacey's previously mentioned post and her recent post on microblogging. Also, check out the excellent LiveBinder below curated by Steven Anderson. It's filled with resources to help get you started with Twitter.



An Educators Guide To Twitter

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Starting to Tweet

I created a Twitter account at least six months ago. I figured out how to re-tweet but felt paralyzed composing my own tweet. One of my goals this summer was to get comfortable with Twitter so today, I tried again. I tweeted about how much I like the Blogsy app, then about what I was reading, and then I replied to a tweet posted by ASHA (American Speech and Hearing Association) about the misconceptions that colleagues have about the roles of speech therapists. I still don't really get the whole hash tag thing but I am determined. I've promised myself I will keep at it. Check out this tweet and blog post from Franki Sibberson.

On the Blog: Digital Writing: The First Six Weeks of School bit.ly/QHxQrR#dublinleadership12
— Franki Sibberson (@frankisibberson) August 7, 2012

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