My Favorite Thoughts About Education in 140 Characters or Less

After favoriting one of my tweets today, I decided to go back and read all of my favorite tweets on Twitter.  By scrolling through my own my personal backchannel, I was able to remember why I favorited each individual tweet and why each one was so significant to me.  After re-reading every Tweet in my favorites column, I decided to make a list of my favorite, favorites.  In doing so, I was able to reflect on how my core values in education have both changed and grown over the years.  I decided to synthesize all of my favorite tweets into specific categories with regard to education.  What I discovered was that I typically value tweets about leadership and pedagogy.  This was such a great reflection activity for me and it really helped me to construct my own personal vision of education.

My hope is that you will not only read the tweets that are valuable and useful to me, but that you might also perceive them as valuable and useful as well.  Furthermore, I hope that you might choose to follow some of the people that I mention, and contribute to some of the hashtags that I use for education.

Leadership

@MrLands: For all educators: True leaders don't create followers ... they create more leaders. #satchat #edchat

@MrLands: "Either do something worth writing or write something worth reading" - Ben Franklin. This is why I teach. This is why I blog. #engchat

@MrLands: It has been said that the smartest person in the room ... is the room. #leadership #plc #pln #plnchat #plnchat

@MrLands: Perfection is often impossible. But if you strive for perfection you will achieve greatness! #edleadership #edchat #learning #edu

@MrLands: We must be reflective and prescriptive, rather than descriptive and deflective when collaborating and problem solving. #pln #plc #plnchat

@MrLands: Reminder "ahah" moment for me: Focus on the things that you can control and dedicate yourself to positively improving those things. #plc

@MrLands: Even the best seeds can't grow in the worst soil. The soil needs to be cultivating and nurturing. #pln plc# #plcchat #plcchat #edchat

@MrLands: "How might we" - best way to lead and problem solve. #edleadership #pln #plc #plcchat. #edchat

@MrLands: Two forms of change: Technical (structural) and cultural. Cultural change needs to be changed before technical to be successful. #pln #plc

@MrLands: Motivation needs to be intrinsic in nature, not extrinsic. #edchat #plcchat #pln #plcchat punishment and reward are the two worst motivators

@MrLands: All of us are smarter than any one of us! #plc plcchat #pln #plcchat #edchat

@MrLands: If we don't know where we are going, we probably aren't going to get there. #mission #vision #edleadership #pln #plc #plcchat.#edchat

@MrLands: Our belief needs to be supported by practice. Our philosophy of education needs to be institutionalized. #edleadership #edchat #pln #plcchat

@MrLands: "I don’t want her to settle for the “real world”. I want her to help build an ideal one." http://t.co/EkO9aT2c #edchat #leadership


Learning

@MrLands: "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." - Ben Franklin #studentcentered #edchat #lrnchat #learning

@MrLands: “It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.” 
― Albert Einstein #learning #mathchat #scichat #edchat #lrnchat

@MrLands: With regard to learning, failure is not an option ... It's a requirement! @web20classroom #learning #lrnchat #edchat

Teaching

@MrLands: Thank you @NicholasFerroni "Why is teaching the most important of all professions? Because without it; no other professions are possible."

@MrLands: I agree with @21stprincipal students don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care! #edchat

Pedagogy

@MrLands: @21stprincipal Answers are part of the process. They are not the product. The product is the knowledge the student walks away with. #edchat

@MrLands: Questions have always been the answer http://t.co/cET1Giu2 #edchat #edchat #inquiry #lrnchat

@MrLands: Often, a learning disability is not so much a difficulty in learning, as it is a difficulty in being taught. http://t.co/KkhHTL5w #edchat

@MrLands: For Students, Why the Question is More Important Than the Answer! Great resource! #inquiry #learning #edchat http://t.co/2U4JGlIJ

@MrLands: Agreed "@ddmeyer: Daro prefers "you, we, I" to "I, we, you." The former draws out the prior knowledge the latter ignores. #cmcmath" #edchat

@MrLands: All kids are gifted in something. Let's channel their gifts to enhance their learning. #edchat #gtchat #spedchat #multipleintelligences

Assessment

@MrLands: "Let’s shift our #assessment of students' mastery to ones that examine mastery in action." http://t.co/2ngchBOt #performancebasedassessments

@MrLands: New Post - We can't forget that there are faces behind the data http://t.co/9elV0OMd 7 reminders about data analysis #assessment #plc #pln

@MrLands: There is More than One Way to Climb a Tree! http://t.co/rhFblyT3 #edchat #edreform #speced #assessment

@MrLands: We need to remember to put faces on the data of our students! #edchat #education #assessment

@MrLands: Data are only numbers. They only measure what has been tested. And people often only test what they can measure. #edchat #assessment

@MrLands: Data need to be supplemented by other kinds of data, data that might not easily be quantifiable at all. #edchat #assessment #education

Application for Education

1. I recommend all educators to go back and look at their notes from different social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, Google+) to analyze their ideas and beliefs in education.  It might remind you about your passions, or even help you to make new discoveries!
2. How might we facilitate a similar activity with our students? This could be a great reflection activity for students to learn more about themselves, or to help them construct their own opinions and ideas about specific content.