The Innovative Educator Hosts Tonight’s #SSchat (December 16)

If you are a social studies teacher, librarian or tech teacher who infuses social studies and current events into your work, or a teacher of another subject that incorporates social studies into your lessons, then I hope you’ll join me at 7 p.m. EST tonight for  #sschat. During this conversation the topic will be "Enriching social studies with social media."

For those who don't know what #SSchat is, here's a description:

“#SSchat is a collaborative group of social studies teachers who work together to create materials, discuss teaching, integrate technology and problem solve. We learn together and talk about the direction that education is moving, talk to experts, crowdsource materials and share our best lessons. In the last two years a culture of sharing has developed. Imagine if some of the most passionate teachers you know were to get together and share the best materials they have. That’s #sschat.” -@ShawnMcCusker, Go Where You Grow.

The following were the questions for the #SSchat:

Q1 Share 1 way social media helped you become a better #SSteacher?

Q2 How has/can social media helped your students make global connections?

Q3 Share 1 cool thing you have done with students in social studies class using social media?

Q4 How can we use social media to increase the effectiveness of #SSteachers?

Q5 What are your hopes or fears about using social media with students?

If you missed it, you can check out a recap on the Storify below:

3 Step plan for a digital makeover

Who controls your online identity? Google or you?

If your answer is Google, it's time to take control with this three step plan.

Step 1) Analyze your digital footprint.

Know what the internet says about you.  Think about what you like and what you'd like to change.

Search	Background checks	Social media	Credibility
Google Search Google ImagesGoogle Video Spezify	Spokeo Zaba Search Intellus People Finders	Facebook - Museum of Me Facebook - Year in Review Twitter Cloud Tweet Grader	Klout Kred Stackoverflow

Step 2) Determine a headline. i.e. Passionate about real and relevant learning.

Who do you want to be known as on the internet? Think of this in the context of a headline. This is important because who you are, your brand, is what you'll use to update your image.

Step 3) Update your digital image.

Create your digital resume, profiles, images, and clean up anything you don't want out there using the sites below.

Digital Resume	Profiles	Images / Video	Clean Up
Why a digital resume? Linkedin Profile LinkedIn InMap Vizify	Facebook Profile Titter Profile About.Me Flavors.Me Brand Yourself Google Profile	Images Tagging images Picasa Flickr Video Tagging videos YouTube Vimeo	How to unGoogle yourself - general How to remove yourself from background checks. Remove unwanted images Remove from Google Image search Remove a page or sites from search results

Once you've updated your image, be patient. Change won't happen over night. Think of it as your digital diet. It takes a little while to the see the fruits of your labor.  It also requires maintenance.  If you've followed these three steps however, in about 30 days, you'll be rewarded with an online presence that puts your best footprint forward.

The hottest posts that 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
Think before you send or post Nov 1, 2013,	1809
Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement? Jun 13, 2013,	1696
If you're not preparing your students to use social media... Oct 29, 2013,	1319
When and How Should Kids Learn to Type? Feb 8, 2011,	1108
What if we let students design their own schools? Nov 8, 2013,	841

Create interactive learning modules with ThingLink (limited free-for-educators offer)

ThingLink is a cool tool that lets you create interactive images for anything you can imagine.  In our touch screen culture, this is a great tool for today’s students to engage with content. Teachers can use ThingLink images as interactive learning modules that activate and inspire students with creative and effective learning experiences. They can also use Thinglink images for professional development and parent outreach.  

Below is a ThingLink image that someone used to translate a blog post I wrote.  Using ThingLink to translate writing is a powerful way to update and transform information. This is something teachers and students can do.  For example, imagine how you might do something like this in social studies class to make an image interactive. Keep in mind that you can embed video and polls write into your creations.

The next ThingLink was created by Dana Lawitt at the Kurt Hahn School.  She has it embedded on the school website (you can see that here) to provide students with an engaging an interactive overview of some important items that students need to know. 

5 reasons cell phones benefit a 1:1 environment

Cross posted at Partners in Learning 1:1 Hot Topics

Go into any office today and you’ll notice that 1:1 does not exist. To operate effectively in today’s workplace, at the very least, a 2:1 environment, with a computer and a phone, is required. It’s likely that there are one or two other devices in use as well. This is the world for which we have to prepare today’s students.

Not only is it beneficial to support students with their success in school environments that look like real-life environments, it is also beneficial to schools.

Here’s why:

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
Think before you send or post Nov 1, 2013,	2619
Is compulsory education really necessary? Aug 30, 2012,	2234
If you're not preparing your students to use social media... Oct 29, 2013,	2139
Does Twitter have a minimum age requirement? Jun 13, 2013,	1772
What if we let students design their own schools? Nov 8, 2013,	1205
The principalship: 6 ways smartphones have changed... Nov 6, 2013,	1068
When and How Should Kids Learn to Type? Feb 8, 2011,	960
Help for parents who want to keep their children s... Nov 24, 2013,	832