Sunday, June 1, 2014

Learning from Twitter posts


Brief reflection 
Although many people may often feel overwhelmed by the mass amount of social media websites available, social media allows users to share important information and news that might otherwise go unnoticed. As a new user to Twitter, I found that following the right people can be quite educational as well as entertaining. Below are a few educational leaders and popular posters in the Twitter universe and some of the most interesting of their more recent posts.

Buffy Hamilton 

@buffyhamilton

Hamilton's post acknowledging Maya Angelou's passing was linked to an article published in the Washington Post. The tweet simply stated "The voice of Maya Angelou gave rise to others" with a link to the full article. The article itself focused on how poet Natasha Trethewey was able to find her own voice after reading Maya Angelou's classic book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Trethewey, who once suffered horrible mental and physical abuse  at the hands of her step father, described feeling silenced by the circumstance of her life. Only after reading Angelou's book did she seek comfort in writing about her own feeling and fears.

The power of words is clear. As readers we have the ability to connect to a story in a profound way, but as writers, we have the greater power to tell our own stories.


Linda W Braun 

@lbraun2000
Braun posted a link to an APP of the Week post featured on yalsa.ala.org. On this page, Wendy Stephens reviewed a free app that can be used for word processing. Finding applications for students is absolutely necessary for today's tech savvy learner, but when the apps are free, it makes them that much better. The reviewed app is called Plain Text 2. A fairly basic word processing app, it offers users sizes 10-24 with fonts in a variety of styles. Users can access the app offline, however, they cannot adjust font styles. 

After reading the article, I downloaded the app for my iPad, and found it to be as described - easy to use and with basic functions. The advertisements were a bit annoying, but can be ignored easily. 


Tony Vincent 

@ tonyvincent

Tony Vincent's post connected me to a video tutorial introducing an app he co-created called Stick Around. The tutorial video explains the basic functions of the app, how to create sticker activities, and how to play puzzles as well. The app appears to be  a simple concept. Users can create different games using stickers that help learners identify and practice memorization skills. The "stickers" are really customizable labels. However, the question that must be asked is - does this app really help students learn and retain facts? The apps' s most impressive feature is its ability to offer links that connect to the Internet within the app itself. This can take learning from a low to high level. Learners can build knowledge and access background information easily and without ever leaving the app. 



Gwyneth Jones

@GwynethJones

Gwyneth Jones, the daring librarian, tweeted about the app Wattpad. In fact, Jones's personal webpage provides additional information about the app in a section titled Wazzup Wattpad. The app provides  readers with a free ever changing library of ebooks and short stories completely and absolutely free. In addition to providing free books and stories, the app allows writers to submit their now short stories and books as well. This is an awesome app that is easy to use and can connect writers and readers. 

Jim Lerman 

@jimlerman

Lerman's tweet redirected me to a site called scoop.it. The site is an collection of articles and videos that provide a wealth of knowledge on technology, google tools, and helpful websites. After exploring a few of the tabs, I settled on watching a short video entitled Free Technology for Teachers: How to Use Google Slides to Organize Research. The  video focused on how Google Slides can replace outdated methods of organizing research information and materials such as note cards. With Google Slides, users can embed links and pull information without ever having to use a notecard or even a pencil. Choosing this organization method over note cards (where long links have to be copied) seems like a no brainer. That being said, I know many schools that still use the traditional route, even though there are more efficient ways to compile research data.  


Kathy Schrock

@kathyschrock 

When Kathy Schrock tweeted about Twitter etiquette, I knew I had to read on. As I stated earlier, I am new to the world of tweets and hashtags, so a little insight into the best practices of Twitter interested me. The main point of the discussion was the rules about retweeting (RT) a message originally written by someone other than the yourself. So, I assumed retweeted meant a reposting of another's message. The issue that concerns Schrock is when a person retweets an original message, but then altering a part of the original tweet. As a result, the altered message may or may not reflect the actual views of the original author. Schrock suggests that quotation marks should be used whenever a tweet is retweeted to avoid any misrepresentations of the original message. Other responders agreed, while others suggested using (MT) to that the tweet was actually a modified tweet. 

This was an extremely insightful discussion. I had never considered the repercussions of improperly  retweeting, but it does seem that damage can be done if the proper protocol is not followed.

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