Tech Talk January Blog Hop

I'm excited to be joining the Tech Talk blog hop this month, hosted by Tasia at Great Minds Teach Alike!

Yesterday, I led a professional development session about getting connected with Twitter - but there are so many other ways that you can connect with educators on social media! Think back to Connected Educator Month, which was October... whether its following Edutopia, Scholastic, etc. on Facebook, pinning teaching ideas on Pinterest, scouring Teachers Pay Teachers for the perfect lesson, being in a circle on Google+, or reading blogs like this, there are so many wonderful educators and resources out there waiting for you to discover!

One of the tools I use to connect with other teachers is through the Instagram app. In fact, that's how I found out about Tasia's blog hop! I'm a very visual person, so I love scrolling through my Instagram feed and getting a window into other teacher's classrooms. {You can follow me on Twitter or Instagram @iTeacherLauren}

So how did I get started even finding teachers to follow on Instagram? I used some hashtags to search, such as #teachersofinstagram, #iteachtoo, and #teachersfollowteachers to see posts by other educators - and then I followed the ones that I liked! Once I found a few to follow, I saw that sometimes they would tag other educators in posts, and I grew to have a nice group of teachers that I follow and get ideas and resources from! In fact, after I finished the Twitter class yesterday, I saw this from @ATrendyTeacher.. how timely!

One of the accounts that I follow is @EdTechBaton. Each day, a different teacher holds the "baton" and posts pictures of technology happening in their school or classroom. I love seeing all of the different ways teachers are using technology in their classrooms, and finding new educators to follow! I held the baton back in January, and one of my pictures was even featured in an article on EducationNC! 

I'll be holding the "baton" again tomorrow, and posting from @EdTechBaton throughout the day. If you're on Instagram, check it out - and maybe even sign up to hold the baton one day too! Anyone can join :-)

Thanks for hopping over! Leave a comment if you're a connected educator, or plan to get started on Twitter, Instagram, etc! Don't forget to check out the other amazing bloggers and their ideas through Great Minds Teach Alike!