WeAreTeachers Blog

[#1]

You probably use Facebook and/or Twitter all the time on a personal level, but have you ever thought about the many possibilities that social media programs hold on a professional level?  More and more educators are getting online and making the most of their careers using social media.  Here's how.

On Facebook:

1. Get free stuff and promos.  Many education companies offer exclusive promotions, discounts and even free stuff to their Facebook friends.  So, search out your favorite educational companies (find us here) and "like" them to see what they are offering. 
2. Connect and communicate with your students parents through a group.  Create a Facebook group and invite your students' parents to join and interact with each other as well as get updates from you on your classroom calendar and activities.
3. Use Facebook for class projects.  How's this for amazing:  Teacher Colleen Andrew used Facebook to help her second graders reach their goal of touching 1,000,000 people with a random act of kindness. Within 3 weeks, the class had 10,000 people enlisted thanks to social media. 
4. Connect with other educators and education companies.  Use Facebook to create a network of teacher friends and companies and you'll be able to share information, ideas, itps and more.

On Twitter:

1. Join an educational chat.  Virtually meet hundreds (or even thousands) of other teachers on Twitter to chat about the latest in educational research, tips, advice for your grade or subject level and much more.  Best of all, its easy and free.  For detailed instructions, click here.
2. Get instant professional development.  By connecting on Twitter with top teachers, educational companies and administrators, you'll join a network of people who share their best ideas, favorite articles and simplest tips.
3. Meet other teachers.  Use twitter to find other teachers who teach the same grade or subject that you do.
4. Meet Edubloggers.  Bloggers use Twitter to share links to their best articles, tips and reference materials.  So, by checking twitter from time-to-time, you'll be able to scope out the latest information in the world of education.

Question for you:  Do you ever use Facebook or Twitter on a professional level?  How?

[#2]

Although new, Google+ is proving to be an excellent way for people to connect professionally. With Google+, you have the ability to easily separate private or personal contacts from professional contacts into "Circles," giving you contol over who will see the things you post. Circles allow you to share with a single individual, family members, friends, your students*, other teachers, or any other group you choose, without having to worry that your message can be seen by those who shouldn't see it. Plus, you can also post publicly, as you would to a blog. Google+ also provides a video chat feature, Hangouts, that supports group chats of up to ten logins at once, which is great for meetings that might otherwise be difficult to schedule, as well as for spending a bit of time with friends.

Google+ is free and easy to use, and I highly recommend it. Feel free to "Follow" me on Google+ (aka, G+). Please, note that I am not affiliated with Google or any of its products, except as a user; I've just been very pleased with the level of communication and discourse supported by the various features of this new social networking service.

* At this time, the Google+ terms of service do not allow children under the age of 13 to participate.