I do not need PD hours in my line of work, at least it isn't required of me. I do believe that everyone should try to stay current and should try to learn something new periodically. I love learning and using new things, I will definitely sign up for some of the classes offered in Michigan LearnPort. I'm especially interested in the courses about Using Technology in various classrooms like: Math, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. My goal is to be as helpful in that area as humanly possible to the teaching staff in our district.
I have enjoyed this course. There are several items that I am sure I will share (and have already shared) with others and some I will continue using. There are also some items that I felt were not my 'cup of tea' like Twitter. I really didn't see the point and still feel as if I missed something. Why are people so enamored with this?
Anyway...I am glad I joined this group on a quest for knowledge.
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Twitter is a great way to share, ask questions, give answers, in short to learn, in 140 characters or less.
Here is this single greatest thing Twitter has done for me...
I've been learning about and teaching others about "Mathcasts", short screen cast videos that explain how to solve math problems.
One of the coolest ways to do a mathcast is with the Livescribe Smartpen, BUT the video (called a "pencast") can't be embedded on a teacher's own web page, it had to be viewed on Livescribe's website.
Tim Fahlberg, who has been a great mentor to me on mathcasts, was able to "hack" the code to make the pencast embeddable, but it required more effort than 99.9% of teachers would want to do.
Because I "met" someone on Twitter who is a programmer, I was able to ask him to write some code and create a website that creates the necessary pencast embed code with just a couple of clicks. All for free, out of the goodness of his heart, for someone he's never met face-to-face before.
That's the miracle of Twitter to me. It connects you to a whole network of people who are willing to share, and who are eager to learn from others.
So while you may not "get" Twitter at first, just give it time, chat with others, share some websites, and be ready for one of those serendipitous moments of saving grace! :)
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