I miss taking time on a Friday to share the things I’m currently loving as a learner and a leader. Since October is Connected Educator’s Month, here are a few social media-related items I’m loving. Please share what you are loving in the comments!

• Tweetdeck – I have written about my love for Twitter on previous Fridays. As my love continues, I have expanded my twitter use to Tweetdeck. If you are not familiar with it, Tweetdeck is Twitter on speed. You can create columns based on hashtags or lists so you can see more than one tweet at a time, and stay current in a variety of conversations at once. Tweetdeck makes participating in a chat so simple. It’s easier to follow the chat and see your notifications throughout. If you haven’t tried it yet, I encourage you to check it out! I have columns for our district hashtag, various chats in which I participate, and then I add and delete new columns based on the time of year or my current interests.

• Blog and photo challenges – This month I am participating in the #educoach blogging challenge, which asks participants to post one blog a week, preferably on Tuesdays before the Wednesday evening chat. Participants are then asked to comment on a few of the blogs. This challenge has not only sparked my blogging habit into higher gear, but it is also exposing me to a wider variety of bloggers. This is a similar effect I have experience when participating in photo challenges such as the August Break or the December Reflections, created by Susannah Conway.

• Podcasts – About a year ago I discovered the podcast Serial and immediately got addicted! This summer I found the Undisclosed podcast, which sheds a very different light on the case of Adnan from Serial. If you haven’t listened to Serial, stop reading right now and starting listening! Seriously. Other podcasts I have dabbled in lately include: TED Radio Hour, Happier, and The Serial Dynasty (seriously, I’m obsessed!).

What columns are in your tweetdeck?

What blog or photo challenges have you participated in lately?

What podcasts do you recommend? 

Previous Connected Educator Month posts:

Engaging the Unconnected

Connecting with Purpose