Need help getting started on Twitter? We’ll have you signed up, tweeting, and building a network of users who share your interests in no time. Follow the steps outlined in the getting started video above. Or, if you’d rather read along than watch a video, just use the steps listed below:
1. Sign up: Go to Twitter and click the large, yellow sign up button. Enter your information (the shorter your username, the better—most people use iterations of their real names) and sign up. You’ll have the opportunity to browse interests, find friends, and search for friends who are already using Twitter.
Next, create a profile. When you finish signing up, you’ll land on your Twitter home page. At the top of the screen, click Settings. Then click Profile to edit your profile—the information displayed in the right sidebar on your Twitter page. Be sure to fill out the Bio section and list your primary research and professional development interests. This will help other Twitter users identify you as someone who shares their interests. When you’re done, click Save.
As President Obama told students in his back-to-school speech today, diversity is what makes life precious and wonderful.
I think this is especially true in the classroom, where the unique students you work with every day make working in education so wonderful. For example, my sister-in-law just started her first year as a fourth-grade teacher. Amidst the stresses of lesson plans and getting acclimated to a new school and career, she found a moment of comic relief when a student commented that she “looked like she was ready for picture day every day!”
So in honor of all those unique students out there, we’re hosting a giveaway and awarding a $25 gift card to the store of your chioce to the commenter with the best, zaniest, most hilarious story of working in education. To get inspired, check out a presentation of our favorite comics from The Learning Curve below. Each month, our writers and artists reflect on unique, ironic, and humorous classroom scenarios to create this comic strip. And every month, we share the comic with our customers in a monthly newsletter. But this month, we want to hear from you.
Yesterday was International Literacy Day, a day established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1965. Worldwide, September 8 is an opportunity to recognize the importance of literacy in our lives, homes, and communities.
Imagine Learning showed its support for literacy by announcing its partnership with the Alliance for Multilingual Multicultural Education, an organization dedicated to promoting multilingualism in education. Both Imagine Learning and AMME possess a commitment to educational equity for English learners throughout the nation.
To read the press release announcing the partnership, click here.
To find out more about how Imagine Learning can help improve language and literacy for your students, click here.
Have you ever done something you considered to be insignificant, only to find out later that it had a much greater impact than you thought?
A couple of years ago I posted a video of “The Opposite Song” on YouTube. It was a song that helped children learn the concept of opposites. The video was part of a television program I helped produce here at Imagine Learning called Imagine Island. The show was designed to help English learners and pre-K kids learn the alphabet, build vocabulary, and master the basics of literacy. We created 26 half-hour episodes — one for each letter of the alphabet.
In recent months I realized that “The Opposite Song” had been viewed over 20,000 times. This was quite surprising, as I hadn’t really emailed the link to anyone or promoted it in any way. As the total views for the video continued to increase, we began receiving comments from viewers who used the video in their classrooms. It was exciting to know that teachers were finding our video and putting it to use. But that fact was really driven home last week when I received a video response to “The Opposite Song.”
Using four exemplary practices that support cognitive growth, Imagine Learning English is a great way to help students with disabilities expand basic and academic vocabulary, increase reading grade levels, and master literacy and vocabulary.
Screen and monitor student progress. Identify students’ instructional needs and regularly monitor their progress.
Elaborate on and model instructional tasks. Present tasks explicitly and systematically, so students are more able to perform and understand task parameters.
Differentiate instruction based on assessments and ongoing monitoring.
Deliver intensive daily instruction. More time and more intensity is required when instructing students with disabilities–the amount of time spent on learning tasks is the single best indicator of academic gains.
