7 Day Social Immersion Challenge

I decided to tackle both options for this week's assignment.  I'm not an overachiever or brown-noser, I just wanted to try both of them out.  The first was my first "Twitterthon" in which I followed 50 people and made 6 tweets per day.  The second was a 365 photo a day challenge divided by 52.

Twitterthon 2013 (November 18-24)

To begin, I had to create a new account with Twitter.  Very poor customer service in regards to remedying my issue with my original account.  But, I digress.  I created the @jahocking account and dove right in to the Twitterverse.  Like I said, I had an account previously, but I rarely used it. So, it was a fresh start.  I'll liken my Twitterthon to throwing someone into water who did not know how to swim.  Sure, I understood the platform, just never immersed myself in it.  And, it was actually a little exhausting trying to think up something relevant to post.

Anyhow, I needed to follow people.  I began by entering in #edtech in the search box.  I found several educators who seemed to be fully immersed in the Twitterverse.  And, as I watched their posts, I found other people to follow.  I also sent out a district-wide email requesting twitter handles.  I got 10 results from that.  I thought that was sort of a low number out of 120+ teachers and administrators.

After following people, some of them started to follow me.  I wondered why anyone would bother.  Who am I in this big world?  But, I suppose the answer is that people want to expand their own personal networks.  It was really cool to have something that I posted retweeted or even favorited.

I then needed to make 6 posts per day.  I think this was the really tough part.  I'm not trying to sell myself short, but I just never felt I had that much that was interesting to say.  Granted, that is not a requirement when making a tweet, which I also found out.  So, my tweets varied.  Sometimes I retweeted what other people stated.  Sometimes I selflessly promoted myself.  Sometimes I posted about what I did that day.  And, sometimes I searched for news articles and shared them.

I also participated in an #edchat.  Well, again, I never felt like I had much to say.  I need to be a bit more confident, I think.  Anyhow, I observed an #edchat on Tuesday night.  It was really interesting and really fast paced.  The question was about whether or not there is a fear amongst teachers that prevents them from using technology.  It was a lot to take in and so many people participated.  I had never seen anything like it before.  Really great incite on the topic, however, I would assume that those who are already on Twitter probably share the same answer to the question.  Either way, it was fun to watch.

My final take on the Twitterthon is that the #edchat (and other similar chats) was valuable, the ability to access twitter via phone and laptop was impressive, the amount of older people on Twitter shifted my view on education and technology (no offense to anyone), and the amount of connectedness was astounding.  I'm glad that I had the chance to participate and will definitely keep using Twitter to stay connected.

365 Photo-a-Day/52

I am no photojournalist, but this project made me feel like one.  I suppose I would liken it to a diary.  But, unlike having extreme depth, its a list of snapshots that capture a snippet of your day.  It was fun reflecting on each picture.

November 18

Had some fun helping out the percussionists in the Advanced Band at the Middle School on my 9th period Prep.  I'll never stop being a drummer, I hope.















November 19

 The Bethlehem Parlour opened today.  Its made by the same people who own Stefanos and The Mint.  The pizza was great.











November 20

 Long day.  Second day without the Internet at school and had an anti-bullying committee meeting after school.  Left for work around 5:30 am; got home around 8:30 pm.















November 21

Yay!  The Internet is back up at school.













November 22

One of the best perk of being an educator.  The kids will always find a way to make you smile.
















November 23

Our first turducken arrived today.  Ten pounds total.  Can't wait til next week to try it.












November 24

Been glued to this all day.














My final take on the 365 picture challenge was that it was interesting.  I do enjoy taking pictures, sometimes.  I think it would be difficult for me to mandate myself to doing this everyday.  It was fun to look back on the blog as I compiled it everyday.  One thing that I think I did wrong was that I did not publish the blog everyday.  I didn't really think about it until I sat down to compose my Twitterthon blog.  I did take pictures everyday and reflect, just neglected that aspect of it.

Again, the purpose for doing both was just to try them and record my results/observations.

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