I recently presented a keynote speech entitled:
Keeping Your Head Above Water in a Sea of Information

Here’s the description: Drowning in a sea of information? Having difficulty keeping up with wave after wave of tools and resources? In this session, Tammy will provide a 6-step strategy that will help you to stay afloat.

For my Tip of the Week for the next 6 weeks, I will present my 6-step plan. Here’s Step 3:

Join an Online Community (or Two)

It is important to expand your resource pool beyond the people you see everyday. Try joining an online community (or two) to see how beneficial they can be.

Here are some resources to get you started:

Online Community Definition:

http://www.commoncraft.com/archives/000208.html

What is a blog?
http://commoncraft.com/blogs

What is a podcast?
http://www.podcastalley.com/what_is_a_podcast.php

How to find and subscribe to podcasts using iTunes

http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/ipoditunes/2007/tutorials/apple_itunes_getpodcasts_r640-10cie.mov

Idea 1: Browse / participate in one or more Education communities:

1. •Blogs:
   - 2¢ Worth - David Warlick
     http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/
   - Moving at the Speed of Creativity - Wesley Fryer
     http://www.speedofcreativity.org/
   - Search for blogs (Google)
       http://blogsearch.google.com/
   
   

2. •Podcasts:
   - Driving Questions (Kevin Honeycutt)
     click here
   - List of K-12 Podcasts
      http://www.podcastingnews.com/forum/links.php?id=7&start=25
   - Search / browse for podcasts
     http://www.podcast.net/
   
   

3. •Educational Communities:
   - Classroom 2.0
      http://www.classroom20.com/
   - Discovery Educator Network
       http://community.discoveryeducation.com/
   - Twitter (Tammy’s Twitter ID is tammyworcester)
      http://twitter.com/home
   
   
   

Idea 2: Browse / participate in one or more Non-Educational communities:

Tammy’s Favorites:

1. •That Home Site (Garden Web Home Forums)
   (Active discussions on various topics including decorating, cooking, & remodeling.)
   http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/
   
   

2. •Zen Habits
   (A daily blog that provides inspiration for being productive & organized + more!)
   http://zenhabits.net/
   
   

3. •Lost Podcast
   (A weekly re-cap and discussion about the TV show, “Lost”.)
   http://www.jayandjack.com/