Gadgets and...Joining Twitter!

For the last couple of days, I have been really trying to make my blog my own personalized space. Now, for tech savvy people, this post probably will not be the most entertaining to read however, I feel very proud to say the least of how I have managed to dive into the inner workings of my blog page and (to my amazement) actually understand the majority of it!

As the title of this post states, I tried to spice up my page by adding gadgets. My first priority was finding out how to add a Clustr Map which I discovered was not as hard as I thought. Next, I went on a search to see what other gadgets are out there and how hard would it be to place them on my blog? Well, not very difficult at all. I added a Date and Time gadget and found a Poll application that was easy to add through my settings. Since the Olympics have just ended, I thought that this would be the perfect topic to practice my poll creating skills on by having people vote on the best overall moments. This idea was good in theory until I never included the Ice Hockey Gold for both men and women as an option. This little slip then brought about a minor speed bump due to the fact that I could not change the options once a vote had been cast. Overall, the process was remarkably easier than I thought and I find myself becoming increasingly engaged in searching not only for more cool gadgets but others things that I could do with my blog as well.

My success on my blog has finally tipped me over the edge and strengthen my bravery to the point where…drum roll please…I have decided to join Twitter ... the thought of which a couple of months ago scared me to death!

One of the main reasons that brought about my joining was that my previous post, Making a Connection was tweeted out by Alec Couros and as a result, I not only received 4 comments on that particular post but also have had 40+ visits to my blog from a variety of countries. This type of social networking power is difficult to ignore when it is staring you right in the face. I decided that even though I was slightly intimated about signing up I would just be doing myself and my future students a disservice by not including Twitter in my PLN.

So far, I have been welcomed with many gracious tweets and had connected with a variety of educators who have also put me onto some great sites and resources…which I hopefully will have time to blog about in the future!