Busy Busy

Talk about a busy week!  I had to finish my last week’s homework in Las Vegas, not fun!  Let me tell you what, that was hard!  My husband and I went there with his entire family for my father in laws birthday!  I woke up one morning extra early so I could try and finish my homework.  This was my view at 5AM from the coffee shop at the hotel! 

Yes, that is the casino!

  After our trip to Las Vegas it was game 6 and 7 of the World Series in Kansas City so that added to the late nights and lack of sleep! Then finally ended this weekend with celebrating the Centennial Celebration at Union Station.  I have been working on this event for over the past year and it has been exhausting!  I feel like I need a vacation from the month of October!  Not only was this an extremely busy week it was another week of firsts for me!

            This past week I substituted at the school I use to teach at which brought a wide range of emotions!  The best part was seeing all my former students!  I also tweeted for the first time!  Of course, my first tweet was not that exciting!  I have had a twitter account for over a year now and I never actively used it until this week!   

            One of my assignments for a class was to tweet using a specific hashtag! First off, I was blown away by how many people use hashtags on twitter.  I knew people used hashtags on Instagram but I did not know you can follow an entire conversation using them #awesome!  I decided to follow a couple conversations using hashtags, the amount of information that was available was incredible.  My favorite hashtag conversation to follow on twitter is #edtech! Holy moly there is so much information for teachers of all levels to learn!   Just think of the conversations that can be had with students and interactions that can be had using hashtags.   I never understood the point of twitter until this assignment.  Twitter is such a good recourse for teachers.  There are so many great people and groups to follow.  My favorite group that I follow right now is @WeAreTeachers.  This is a great group for teachers to follow because all of the amount of support and material they provide!  They also have a sense of humor!

The internet has seemed like a playground for kids to me until the past two weeks.  I am now learning about the incredible amount of resources and networks that exist for teachers!  Another assignment this week was to look at different networks and starting building your own PLN (Personal Learning Networks).  I mean come on, look at all these networks; so far I prefer Classroom 2.0 but there are so many other that I still need to dive into!  While browsing on the internet I found a great website to break down the importance of PLNs.  Personal Learning Networks are so beneficial for teachers especially with all the technology being used in classrooms today!  I think it is so cool educators can collaborate with other educators from around the world and bounce ideas off each other. 
After discovering so many networks for teachers I feel more united than ever before!  #teachersunite