1. 5 Ways to Get Better as a Teacher
(No Additional People Required!)
By Steve Katz (@stevekatz) & Kevin Duncan (@duncanka)
KEY WORDS: PODCASTS, TWITTER, MAILING LIST, FACEBOOK, WEBSITES
“Do the best you can, with what you have, wherever you are.”
Words adapted from a quote by Theodore Roosevelt
1. PODCASTS - Subscribe to podcasts that feature discussions about best
educational practices.
•Specific example - Steve Hargadon’s Future of Education' podcasts are
interviews with cutting edge authors and educators about changes that are
happening and/or (perhaps) should happen in education.
•Helpful hint: Don’t get bogged down in the 1st 4-5 minutes during
the introduction...the interviews are quite good.
•Specific example - Tech Chick Tips is a great podcast by Apple
Distinguished Educators Anna Adam & Helen Mowers that “is geared
specifically to educators interested in integrating technology into their
curriculum.”
•Helpful hint: A companion blog, forums, and resources can be
found at http://techchicktips.net/
2. TWITTER - Get on Twitter and use hashtags.
•Specific example - Learn more about your profession and from others
around the world who teach in your grade level or subject by following
(and sometimes contributing to) hashtags. More focused, up-to-date
information can be found this way than through any other medium. For a
plethora of educational hashtags (perhaps follow just a few at first), see
Cybrary Man’s detailed list of educational hashtags.
•Helpful hint: Create your own hashtag for your school community
like the teachers at the Korea International School in suburban Seoul
did with their #kispd hashtag.
***5 Ways to Get Better as a Teacher (No additional people required!)***

2. 3. MAILING LISTS - Subscribe to mailing lists that send out pertinent articles and
tips on a regular basis.
•Specific example - Tech & Learning Magazine - Education articles http://
www.techlearning.com/Subscribe
•Helpful hint: For an informative, non-education technology mailing
list, check out Apple reseller Small Dog Electronics’ informative
newsletter that includes news, software and hardware features and
reviews, and tips and tricks. Subscribe at http://www.smalldog.com/
newsletters.
4. FACEBOOK - Use the world’s largest social network to learn from leading
educators.
•Specific examples - If you “like” an organization/group, helpful articles,
blog entries, and more will appear in your Facebook news feed and are
also accessible on each group’s Facebook page. Quality ones come in all
shapes and sizes, from the popular ISTE and Free Technology for Teachers
to the lesser-known Teach With Video and David Lee's EdTech World.
•Helpful hint: To use the interactivity of Facebook, join a Facebook
group to discuss and share links with other educators. Examples
include the Education Bloggers and Ed Tech in High School groups.
5. WEBSITES - Don’t think we’ve forgotten about traditional websites! There are
countless of excellent websites that can inspire and inform all types of educators.
•Specific examples - One of the most comprehensive and relevant
education sites is Edutopia which is sponsored by the George Lucas
Educational Foundation, an organization “dedicated to improving the K-12
learning process by documenting, disseminating, and advocating for
innovative, replicable, and evidence-based strategies that prepare students
to thrive in their future education, careers, and adult lives.” Edutopia is
awesome, but there are many other great sites such as Future of Ed,
Edudemic, and Education World that help teachers get better at their craft.
•Helpful hint: To find websites that can help you teach at your grade
level and/or a particular subject area, ask using the Twitter hashtags
or in a Facebook group!
In addition to the five ways mentioned above, there are a host of other ways to
get better as a teacher without formal professional development. They include but
certainly are not limited to excellent books such as Out of Our Minds: Learning to
Be Creative, blogs from teachers such as Intrepid Teacher, streaming videos from
such repositories as educational TED talks, forming discussion groups at your own
school, learning about progressive schools such as Big Picture Schools and Round
Square Schools, & online courses such as this one you found here in iTunes!
***5 Ways to Get Better as a Teacher (No additional people required!)***