Great post, Bill! I have always told people that Twitter is only as good as the people that you follow. #simpletruth Yeah sure, there is a pile of crap being shared on Twitter but, as you mention, there is also GOLD. I find that Twitter is a great filter for me to find GOLD through the people that I follow. All that information on the internet being filtered for me by my PLN. I, in turn, share what I think is good to my followers...and anyone else who wants to listen. I thought back to this http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2011/02/twitter-can-save-you-time.html with happened almost two years ago. I have grown and learned so much since then and it thanks to awesome educators like you. #simpletruth BTW...the hashtag provides great punctuation and I can certainly vouch that it is a trademark of yours having read your stuff for so long! Stay GOLD! Derek

Thanks for the quick reply, Bill. To answer your question, I think we need to have this conversation in our schools and in our districts. Yeah sure, kids can use the tools but they need to be shown how to use the tools to learn...and which tool is appropriate for what they want/need to learn. As educators, we have to be willing to learn alongside our kids and we need to model the process. Learning new things is uncomfortable...and many of us don't like the way that feels. Gone are the days when the teacher had all the knowledge and would give this knowledge/information to the students. Now...kids have access to the same information that we do. Times have changed and so should we. Want a laugh? I was making a point to a student, the other day, about appropriate use of Twitter. I showed my own Twiiter stream and demonstrated how I use Twitter to learn about things that I am interested in...edtech, teaching, sports, etc. When the student saw this, she said, "Wow, you're a nerd!"

Hi Bill, This post is absolutely brilliant! You have summed up what I have been telling people for years. I can't stand the terms "digital native/immigrant". If you leave a teen alone with a computer for a few hours, they will play games and use social media. We, as teachers, have the power to show our kids how to use the Internet to collaborate, create, and learn. Thanks for the post...can't wait to share it.

Congrats on the new book, Bill. I can't wait to get a copy of it. Derek

Hi Bill, I am so sorry to hear that this happened to you. Kudos for turning it into a learning opportunity for all of us. I thought it was a little strange the other day when, in my feed reader, there was a single link from your blog. It infuriates me that hackers and spammers are preying on good people, like yourself, who are using the Internet for positive things. Thanks for the post. Derek

Hi Bill, Staying focused when you are on-line is definitely one of those "21st century" skills that we need to teach our students...and our teachers for that matter. The internet has a nasty habit of leading off on a path that gets us away from where we want to end up. With so much info online, we have to sift through heaps of stuff to find what those treasures which are useful for us at that particular moment...this is definitely a skill which needs to be modelled and taught. I think we take it for granted that our kids know how to do this because they are "digital natives". Yeah, they grew up with technology...doesnt mean they know how to use it effectively. Thanks for the piece and the opportunity to chat for a bit. Derek

Awesome post, Bill. You have been on fire lately. I love the way you use tech tools to enhance learning. To me that is what it's all about. Many teachers mistake 21st century teaching to mean teaching using technology. Teaching is still about teaching/learning the curriculum...the tech tools just help us to do that in a more meaningful way. Keep rockin' the posts and tweets! Derek

Wow...thanks Bill! I am extremely honoured to be part of such an esteemed group of fine educators. You are the one who inspired me to embark on this whole PLN journey and for that I am eternally grateful. Happy Thanksgiving! Derek

Bill, This is a fantastic piece! You are correct...many times we throw teachers together into groups and say, "Go collaborate!" we would never do this with our students. I don't know why we try it with adults. Teachers, no different from students, need to be given some direction with respect to collaboration. I also believe that it is the responsibility of the administrator to ensure that PLC are operating effectively...not by micromanaging but by sitting in on PLC meetings once in a while. As well, it is very effective when a group of administrators (in a larger school) models good collaboration practices. Thanks for your piece. You have always been a mentor for me and I love reading your bits and tweets. Maybe some day we will actually have the chance to sit in the same room and have coffee together.

Please do not misinterpret the intent of Bill's article. To me, he is venting because it seems that when we think about spending money on tech, the first thing that everyone thinks about is an IWB. He is simply letting us know that there are alternatives to the IWB. If you have read Mr. Ferriter's articles in EL (and his books), you will find that he is definitely "with the 21st century" and he is a tech mentor to many of us, as well as to his students.

Hi Bill, Thanks for taking the time to post. Your blog is always so well thought out and easy to read. I am in awe of the magnitude of all that you do...books, tweets, posts, comments. I am just looking through the document that we use in our school district to evaluate teachers. It is newly developed and is based on the Erikson model for evaluating teachers. Twenty four pages of rubrics and not one of the attributes of quality teaching has anything to do with standardized test scores. I believe that if you have quality teaching going on, the test scores will come naturally. It seems counter-productive to evaluate teachers based on test scores. I think if you ask kids and parents what makes a good teacher, you won't find many that will talk about test scores. Quality teaching is mostly about relationships and caring enough about kids to want the very best for them. I know that you understand this based on all your stuff that I have read. I had the opportunity to interview some potential teacher candidates last week for our school district. Funny...during those interviews, we never talked about test scores. When did it become all about the scores? Sorry to vent, Bill. Keep up the GREAT work!

Great post! It really sums up the need for us to prepare students for a world where they are going to be faced with a sea of data. Let's hope that we can teach our kids to collaborate as all of you have done to create this post.

Great post, Bill and thanks for the excerpt from your upcoming book. You (along with others) have helped me to discover that social media is a valuable tool for educators. I have learned more from Twitter in the last few months than I have learned from PD sessions in the last few years. The information that I access and share on Twitter is timely and personalized. As an example, this past weekend, a colleague and I were working on school vision statements. I sent a quick tweet out to you and you provided us with two fabulous links to aid us in our work. A powerful tool!

You have hit the nail on the head...evolutionary change is the answer. Our schools are not going to change over night...it will take time. It is up to teacher leaders like ourselves to make sure that we are changing for the betterment of kids!!