What's Your Story?

Recently I was told, "If we don't tell our stories, others will tell it for us".  This statement was in reference to social media.  Last spring I referred to a book in my blog by Gary Vaynerchuck that described numerous types of social media.  To be honest, I felt a little overwhelmed and thought I would just stick to my Facebook posts and my weekly blog as far as sharing out about school.  However, I recently starting branching out a bit.  During our technology training day at Level Up LPS, I finally started a Twitter account.  For the first couple of weeks, I followed some celebraties, musicians, and of course my wife.  I experimented with favoriting items, retweeting, and even sending out a few tweets of my own.  Now, a month later, I'm beginning to use my account to connect with educators throughout the country, pick up interesting articles, and even post some thoughts from my own blog.  Sure, I still favorite tweets from William Shatner and follow my favorite vineyards, but I'm starting to utilize it for the useful tool it can be and I'm starting to tell my own story (and hear the stories of others).

One thing that I like about Twitter is that it is a more "professional" site.  Most posts are specific to people's career or business.  I'm still learning to navigate Twitter and my account is gradually changing from a pretty eclectic one to one that is more focused on the world of education.  This school year, I've also branched out in Instagram, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.  What I originally thought would be a time drainer has turned into something that I can quickly touch base with, connect with others, and yes, tell my story. My goal is that the story I tell is about the great things going on at our building and in the world of education and also to glean from others things that work in the classroom and at the building level.  Are you telling your story to others? Remember, if we don't, others may tell it for us!

Lots of ways to connect! Follow me on Twitter @JonWennstrom 

PEARLS OF WISDOM

"Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important." - Bill Gates


"The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do." - Steve Ballmer


"We're still in the first minutes of the first day of the Internet revolution." - Scott Cook


UPCOMING EVENTS

Monday, October 6: Data Dives in the LMC
Tuesday, October 7: Lifetouch Picture Day
Thursday, October 9: No Students (District PD Day)
Friday, October 10: Math Committee 8:30 am
Tuesday, October 14: Jon to Macomb ISD for Title 1 Boot Camp
Friday, October 24: Fall Festival