Tag Archives: #tlap

Tweet Like a PIRATE Day

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“AHHHH” (scream). “He just followed me!!!”

“WHAT??? He hasn’t followed me yet! Green monster over here…a little envious. Oh, wait…AHHHHHH (scream) he just followed me, too!!!”

Those were the screams echoing on campus during the first ever ED Social Studies Methods #SMSUtlap live twitter chat held last Thursday at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.  As their professor, I couldn’t help but laugh and then laugh some more. 🙂

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Who is he you ask?? THE one and only pirate of course…Dave Burgess. He jumped in on the #SMSUtlap chat, and the teacher candidates were very excited about that! Dave is the author of the book “Teach like a PIRATE” which is a required read in my class. He joined in on the conversation, and he started following the candidates. That is one of his strong points…Dave believes in building his PLN with “connected educators and meeting the new wave of life-changers!”

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The teacher candidates had never participated in a live Twitter chat before this class. Many of their friends on Twitter were sending them text messages during the chat asking “what are you doing???” One teacher candidate even apologized on her Twitter page for all the ‘random’ tweets she was sending out. Certainly a new concept to these young future teachers.

Fast forward to week #2 of our second-ever #SMSUtlap live chat… And, of course, the teacher candidates became very excited again to see Dave pop in on the chat for a little bit. Thanks for joining us, Captain. You made their day!

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#SMSUtlap teacher candidates were a lot quicker this week with posting their questions that were on creative posters using postermywall.com. YES…they are tweeting like pirates. They even did a little dancing to YMCA. Multitaskers in the making—tweeting AND dancing! They have left their comfort zone! 🙂

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Next week will be our last live chat, and believe it or not, the teacher candidates are bummed about that. Join us if you can! Proud of all of you upcoming teachers!!! Keep tweeting like a pirate.

Below are a few of the posters made by these tweeters…enjoy!

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Stay Calm & Lead On!
Profs Dr. C. & Dr. V.

The Sheer Enchantment of Discovery

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What do sea shells, Magisto.com, and lightbulbs have in common? Discovery! The sheer enchantment of a 3-year old discovering seashells at the ocean; the happiness of a father discovering how to use Magisto.com to share his video of his child’s first-time discovery; and the excitement of a teacher when their students have those light bulb moments and at last discoveries that they finally “get it.” All lovely illustrations of discovery.

A dad recently discovered Magisto.com while on vacation in Florida. Magisto.com is an app that can be downloaded to your phone or computer. It is a platform in which you can share pictures or videos, and not only tell your story in a creative way, but also elicit emotional responses from the viewer. Take a look at the video below of a 3-year old discovering seashells, and a five-month old discovering that she can put the pacifier in her mouth by herself—sheer enchantment. When the dad shared the video with the grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa shed a few happy tears. The video certainly triggered some deep emotions from them. 🙂

http://magis.to/e3t8QFFRAAt5LD4PYnZLA3E?l=vsm&o=i&c=m

When teachers are asked what some of the best rewards of teaching are, one response that is always shared is “one of the best joys of teaching is when our students have ‘light bulb’ moments.” Sheer enjoyment; and a main objective of teaching.

One way teachers can create more lightbulb moments is to be passionate about their teaching. If the teacher is passionate and excited about the lesson, the students will be too! In his book Teach Like a PIRATE, author Dave Burgess tells teachers that in order to “ascend to levels of greatness, you have to be on fire with passion and enthusiasm.” Dave’s wife, Shelley Burgess, created this awesome picture as a reminder for all teachers to stay passionate.

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As summer approaches and the end of the school year is near, go out and discovery new things. Find new ways to add excitement to your lessons for next year, download Magisto.com, and capture special family discoveries. Most importantly, simply enjoy each day’s new discoveries.

Please share some of your new discoveries with us in the comments below.

Stay Calm & Lead On!
Profs Dr. C. & Dr. V.

Oh, The People You’ll Meet If Only You’ll Tweet!

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Greetings from #NAESP14 in Nashville, Tennessee! Elementary principals from all over the place are here to network, broaden their knowledge in focus areas such as Common Core, Instructional Leadership, School Culture, and Technology, and also to listen to some very dynamic speakers such as Robert Fulghum author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten; Differentiation Instruction guru, Carol Tomlinson; and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Don’t get me wrong, these folks are ALL great speakers! BUT…I was PUMPED UP to meet in person, Todd and Beth Whitaker!! Even though I was presenting today and had to get ready (thank you to my hubby for helping me with this), there was NO WAY I was going to miss it!! And trust me when I say…it was SO worth it! 🙂 I gave both of them a hug like they were longtime friends whom I hadn’t seen in a while. How is this possible since this was my first time ever meeting Todd and Beth?

TWITTER!! That’s how!

It is amazing the people you can meet if only you will tweet! [Click to Tweet]

I have had incredible opportunities to meet some pretty amazing people just because I am a Twitter user (Hello…my name is Wendy and I am hooked on Twitter!! Hooked on Twitter works for me! You educators who are my age—you get that 🙂 ). I ‘follow’ these amazing people on Twitter, and they are gracious enough to follow me back.

I was thrilled to meet face-to-face and get a hug from the one and only REAL PIRATE @burgessdave, well-known speaker and author of Teach like a PIRATE. When I got my hug from Dave, he looked at the gentleman next to him and said “I can hug her because I met her on Twitter.” 😉 I require Dave’s book in my Social Studies Methods course…a book every new teacher should own! He Skyped with my college students last fall and plans to Skype with them again this fall—how cool is that? My students can’t get enough of Part II of his book. Read it to find out what these future teachers are fired up to put into practice.

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I was honored to meet and have lunch with classroom management guru @BrianMendler which led to a Skype date with my college students during the past two spring semesters—awesomeness! I require his book, Taming of the Crew: Working Successfully with Difficult Students, in my Classroom Management course, and my students especially like Chapter 4. Curious? Read it to find out the great classroom management tips given.

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I had the privilege of meeting @RickWormeli at a professional development day for teachers in Pipestone, MN. Rick is the author of Summarization in any Subject: 50 Techniques to Improve Student Learning, which is a book I refer to often in my teaching at SMSU, and a favorite technique is the Bloom’s Taxonomy Cube.

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Today, I was doubly blessed to meet Todd and Beth Whitaker, authors of Teaching Matters: How to Keep Your Passion and Thrive in Today’s Classroom, one book I rely on for help when preparing for my presentations—especially presentations for principals!! I also require What Great Teachers Do Differently in my Intro to Education course.

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Because my presentation was shortly after Todd and Beth’s lunch date…I had to ‘flash and dash’ (eh hum…flash as in camera 🙂 ), but, meeting Todd and Beth was a great way for me to get pumped up before my presentation so thank you Todd and Beth for the hugs!

To @NAESP14…so far the conference has been FABULOUS! Keep up the outstanding work!

To my special colleague, friend, co-blogger, and our newly elected department chair, Dr. V, I hope you are enjoying your MN lake vacation with your family!!! :-).

To all my Twitter friends…I appreciate you SO much and it has been a great adventure so far. I hope our paths cross soon if they haven’t already! To those of you who are not on Twitter yet…what are you waiting for? Oh, the people you will meet if you are willing to tweet!

Virtual hugs, everyone, and hope to chat with you soon! ~Wendy

Stay Calm & Lead On!
Profs Dr. C. & Dr. V.