The hottest posts everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Entry	Pageviews
Learn to teach web literacy with free classes from... May 18, 2014,	1734
Social media advice for career-minded students. 10... May 4, 2014,	1654
Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement? Jun 13, 2013,	1442
How to host a Q-and-A Twitter chat May 11, 2014,	1328
The Ten No Nos of Teaching with a Projector or Int... May 10, 2010,	998
10 Reasons to Attend a Google for Education Summit... May 7, 2014,	761

Stepping Toward Sensible, Valid Teacher Evaluations

I was recently interviewed for BAM Radio's Rae Pica along James Popham who wrote, “Everything School Leaders Should Know about Assessment.”  
In this show we look at formative and summative teacher evaluations and discuss what teachers can do to support more valid and effective assessments.

I talk about how teacher effectiveness gives teachers the opportunity to know only toot their own horn, but also toot the horns of their students.  I also discuss why it is important for innovative educators to helping those who are evaluating them understand the role of technology and social media in increasing effectiveness. 

You can listen to the program on the BAM Radio! site here. 

Why innovative educators should look down upon "Look Up"

If you know and love the power of social media, then someone who doesn't get it may have sent you the "Look Up" video below.

Video creator Gary Turk is a privileged white guy who features his privileged circle of buddies using the social media platform YouTube to whine that social media is making them feel lonely.

Boohoo Gary and friends.  Could it be you just picked the wrong friends?

You see unlike the physical world where you happen to be grouped by geography that often does not cut through barriers of poverty, race, or religion, social media breaks down those barriers and provides opportunities to connect with others regardless of where you happen to have been born. Innovative educators know that social media gives our children opportunities and experiences never before possible. Young people who can't afford to visit other countries can connect and learn with people around the world. Social media gives teachers like Courtney Woods the opportunity to bring experts into the lives of her students.

Gary ends his video telling viewers to stop watching YouTube, but our students have discovered that they can teach and learn anything they can imagine on the resource that Turk and friends waste their time on. Innovative educators support and empower their students to use social media for social action like social media based and founded groups such as Student Voice are doing.

The problem with Gary Turk, and those like him who share videos like this, is that they simply don't appreciate the vast opportunities and connections afforded to social media savvy students. Perhaps Gary Turk was born with these connections, but not everyone was born into Gary Turk's world. Innovative educators have students who are living in the real world, A world where we recognize that if you want to run for office, run a business, or change how things are run where you live, work, or play then it is necessary to be savvy users of social media.

The Gary Turks of the world don't understand the value of having friends and followers whose minds may have connected even though they have not shared the same physical space. They don't get that you don't need to see someone face-to-face to admire and share ideas.

And really Gary and friends...Is it social media's fault you're disconnected or is technology the scapegoat for how you'd be regardless?

Whatever the answer, the most important thing Gary Turk is missing is this:

The hottest posts everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Entry	Pageviews
Erase Unnecessary Costs by Getting Smart ... May 14, 2010,	2499
The 10 No Nos of Teaching with a Smartboard... May 10, 2010,	1656
Social media advice for career-minded students. ... May 4, 2014,	1644
Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement? Jun 13, 2013,	1551
How to host a Q-and-A Twitter chat May 11, 2014,	1309
Learn to teach web literacy with free classes from... May 18, 2014,	1234
10 Reasons to Attend a Google for Education... May 7, 2014,	755

The Innovative Educator named top 10 #BYOD (bring your own device) influencer

Onalytica put out their list of bring your own device influencers (BYOD) and The Innovative Educator was at the top of the list. 

You can see the top ten influencers below and the top 100 here. 

Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	PageRank (Normalised)
1	@MaribelLopez	Maribel Lopez	100
2	@MindShiftKQED	Tina Barseghian	75.25
3	@coolcatteacher	Vicki Davis	74.97
4	@NMHS_Principal	Eric Sheninger	60.83
5	@mssackstein	Starr Sackstein	43.17
6	@InnovativeEdu	Lisa Nielsen	35.91
7	@RossCoops31	Ross Cooper	28.06
8	@mluhtala	Michelle Luhtala	22.63
9	@andycinek	Andrew P. Marcinek	21.96
10	@jksuter	Jason K. Suter	21.93

The Innovative Educator Hosts Tonight’s #TeacherEdChat (May 19)

If you are interested in discussing how to prepare preservice teachers for the realities of today's digital classroom, then I hope you’ll join me at 9 p.m. EST tonight for  #TeacherEdChat. The topic is "Social Media in Teacher Education Programs."

Here's a description of #TeacherEdChat:

The focus of #TeacherEdChat is on teacher preparation and connecting higher ed with Prek-12. The intent of #TeacherEdChat is building bridges with PK-12 to help align those enrolled in teacher education courses, undergraduate and graduate, with teachers and educators in the field. The chat provides a forum to help higher ed faculty and educators gain additional insights into the teaching field as well as help those in the teaching field get a better sense of what Schools of Education are doing.

Check out tonight's questions and start collecting your ideas and best links to support what you have to share:

Learn to teach web literacy with free classes from Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla, the non-profit that created Firefox, has created tools and resources to educate and empower people to understand the architecture, culture and citizenship of the web. The effort stems from a framework of skills and competencies–known as the web literacy map that addresses everything from basic web navigation and writing code to understanding the consequences of sharing data online and collaborating with others. You can see the map below.

Visit the map at https://wiki.mozilla.org/Learning/WebLiteracyStandard 

The hottest posts everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Entry	Pageviews
Social media advice for career-minded students. 10... May 4, 2014,	1656
Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement? Jun 13, 2013,	1646
5 Ways to use social media to spice up your next m... Apr 16, 2014,	1426
Caution banning cell phones may interrupt learning... Apr 20, 2014,	881
10 Reasons to Attend a Google for Education Summit... May 7, 2014,	769

Meeting the uncommon core of our work using social media in the library

I had the opportunity to speak with a few hundred librarians today to discuss how we can get to the uncommon core of our work using social media.  You can see the presentation below and visit it at this link. It is made available for others to view and copy if there is something you want to share with others. 

Highlights include:

• What is social media (from a dog's point of view)?
• Why we need social media to prepare students for college, career, and citizenship success?
• How does social media help us meet the common core standards?
• The new rules of social media.

How to host a Q-and-A Twitter chat

Cross-posted at Smartblog on Education

Many educators are aware of education Twitter chats and some have even participated in one of the hundreds of chats that take place each week. The reason Twitter chats are great is because they let you dive quickly into an issue with others around the world who share your passion. The people whose input you find valuable are ones that you can follow and connect with in the future.

For those who don’t know what a Twitter chat is, it is a way to bring together people from across the globe — tweeps — at a set time to discuss a topic of interest in a fast-paced format using an agreed upon hashtag. It can also give tweeps access to experts they otherwise might not be able to connect with. It gives experts a great vehicle to connect with others who care about their work.

The hottest posts everyone's reading

Here’s the roundup of what's been popular on The Innovative Educator blog. Below you’ll see the top posts along with the number of page views. I hope there's something that looks of interest to you.  If it does, check it out. If you’re inspired use one of those icons below the post to share it with others and/or leave a comment.

Entry	Pageviews
Social media advice for career-minded students. 10... May 4, 2014,	2513
Erase Unnecessary Costs by Getting Smart about Interactive Whiteboards... May 14, 2010,	1978
Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement? Jun 13, 2013,	1541
5 Ways to use social media to spice up your next museum trip... Apr 16, 2014,	1415
Caution banning cell phones may interrupt learning Apr 20, 2014,	994

10 Reasons to Attend a Google for Education Summit

Google Summit attendees in Vermont.

Whether it’s Docs, Earth, Glass, Translate, Voice, Hangouts, Blogger, Chromebooks, and more, Google provides some of my favorite tools for education.  If you feel the same way or are just intrigued, you may be interested in a Google for Education Summit.  

Here’s why.  

1. Try out shiny new tools like Google Glass, Chromebooks, and Android devices

Do you want to experience the world through Google Glass? Did you know Chromebooks are instant on? Summits have a dedicated classroom where you can drop in any time to demo Google products and learn more about using Android tablets in Education. 

2. Become a speaker and raise your profile in EdTech circles

Presenting a session during summits is a fantastic way to highlight your expertise and raise your profile in the Google for Education arena. Many educators who have attended past summits have grown their practice and experience and are coming back as speakers.

Social media advice for career-minded students. 10 things to consider.

This week I had the pleasure to speak on a panel to career-minded students at the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation's annual conference. Our panel consisted of four experts familiar with social media who shared advice about what to do when it comes to how to best use Facebook, Twitter and other digital platforms. The main message as reported in the Staten Island Advance: Think before you post, tweet ... and curse.

Below are the 10 statements the Staten Island Advance selected as the best. Take a look. There are some new considerations. For example: What does it say about a person who constantly posts selfies? Does having less friends mean that you are more discerning about who you associate with and having more mean you are trying to win some silly popularity contest? 

See what the panelists said. What do you agree with? What ideas are new to you?  Is there anything you disagree with?