9 Reasons to Use Twitter in Schools

More than one billion tweets are sent every 2-3 days across Twitter, which has become a social network of significant importance in every continent, and almost every country, around the world. Twitter isn't just all fun and games, it has many different uses. In Laura Walker's blog, she gives us 9 reasons to use Twitter in schools.

1. Together We're Better
Teachers can access a stream of links, ideas, opinions, and resources from global professionals.

2. Global or Local: your choice
It is up to you who you choose to follow, you can connect with people from around the world or you can follow local people.

3. Self-Awareness and reflective practice
Reflect on what you are doing in your classroom and see what needs improvement. Teachers on Twitter can share these ideas and support and challenge each other.

4. Ideas workshop and sounding board
Twitter is great for sharing ideas and getting instant feedback. You can get different opinions and criticisms to help you improve what you're doing in the classroom.

5. Newsroom and innovation showcase
Twitter helps you stay up-to-date with the latest news or developments in your point of interest.

6. Professional development and critical friends
Teachers can talk about what they are working on or struggling with and get helpful ideas from other teachers or professionals.

7. Quality-assured searching
Trust the people you follow so that you can value their ideas. This will provide you with higher-quality information than a Google search would.

8. Communicate, communicate, communicate
You will learn to become better at expressing your professional thoughts to others in 140 characters.

9. Getting with the times has never been so easy!
Twitter is not complicated at all! Go to twitter.com and create an account. Also, there are plenty of websites that offer advice for getting started.

Thank you for reading this blog, now go make a Twitter and tweet all your professional thoughts and ideas! Promise me, you will love that you made one.

6 Effective Tips to Improve Writing

Deb Peterson wrote a great article on tips for improving your writing. Whether you are in high school, college, or have been out of college for years now, everyone should know how to write. Writing is something that we are around each and every day. In this article, Deb gives us 6 effective tips to improve writing.

1. Keep a Journal
Practice writing short essays about the things that happen to you during the day, feelings that you experience, and thoughts you have. Journaling serves as cheap therapy and improves your writing in a place that nobody but you will see.

2. Write Morning Pages
In The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron advocates writing three pages long hand first thing every morning, without stopping. This kind of writing is called "stream of consciousness." The idea is to keep your hand moving even when you don't know what to write.

3. Read
Read. Read. Read. Read the newspaper in the morning, magazines in waiting rooms, fiction, nonfiction, whatever you want. The more you read, the more easily you will recognize good sentence structure, proper grammar, and punctuation.

4. Browse Writing Books
Books on writing can inspire, teach, and boost your confidence. If you are worried about cost, browse the books in your local library. You can try several different books, choosing the one that speaks to you the most. It's okay if not all of them do.

5. Choose a First Reader
A first reader is the person you choose to be the first and only one to read your work before you do your editing. You need to choose someone you trust that is honest and kind. Choose someone that knows good writing and will give you feedback. When you get feedback from them do not be defensive, take it as constructive criticism.

6. Join a Writing Group
Sometimes people choose a "first reader" that doesn't want to hurt feelings. This shows that they are a good friend but it doesn't help your writing at all. Find a group of people that are honest but respectful and will help you grow as a writer.

3 Easy Steps to Write Great Class Notes

I was reading a great blog the other day by Michael Callicut on 3 steps to writing good class notes. These tips become very beneficial in college when the professor is lecturing and doesn't stop to let you catch up. Knowing these useful tips will help you write better, simpler notes.

1. Write in red ink
Red ink imprints what you are writing down into your brain more easily than black or blue ink. This is because red is the color that our eyes most see and remember naturally. Writing in red ink will save your brain a lot of effort in remembering what you took notes on. This is why teachers mark papers in red ink, so you see it and remember it!

2. Know what to take notes on, and what not to take notes on
Differentiating between what is important and what isn't important is one of the hardest things to do while note taking.

Things that are important:
- formulas
- dates
- names
- theories
- new information
- questions
- definitions
- anything bolded or underlined on PowerPoint

Things you shouldn't do:
- don't write down things you already know
- don't try to copy what is on the PowerPoint or what your teacher is saying word for word

3. Take notes in a structured method
Don't just write everything down wherever on your notebook when taking notes. You can divide your paper into thirds, use bullet points or roman numerals, etc. Take time before class to structure out your notebook so you don't have to do it during class. This strategy will keep your notebook looking neat and it will make it easier to go back and look for old notes.

If you follow these three simple tips when writing notes in class, you will have an easier time remembering information and it will make it less stressful when studying for a big exam. Happy Note-taking!