PLN

When it comes to blogs and twitter I really do not get as much out of them as I could.  Incorporating them into the fabric of my daily work responsibilities does help me to stay abreast of industry trends and ideas that are new on the horizon.  For those things I rely on Edsurge.

https://www.edsurge.com/

I have been reading Edsurge for a few years and find it tremendously helpful when incorporating trends into discovery meetings with schools.  Edsurge has a twitter feed as well but, I prefer the news letter.

As a substitute teacher I always attempted to strive for something new that could help fill a void.  Even the best of lesson plans left me with empty space because I was never as prepared or fluid as the teacher who taught the class full time.  I relied on a number of current event type sites and like the children's Book A Day Almanac

http://childrensbookalmanac.com/

I knew in advance the grade I was teaching and could reference a new book or author and share with the students or bring up the website if I had access to the technology and discuss new books with the students.

In my K-12 studies as an undergrad I majored in social studies and always found maps to be fascinating.  I hoped to share my love of maps and how interesting they could be and stumbled upon this site from Wired Science

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/maplab/

It goes beyond the traditional map and provides opportunities to explore.

My twitter usage and feeds really reflect industry technology trends in K-12 and eLearning and revolve around MACUL and ISTE.  The content is impactful for my day to day tracking of industry trends and who's who.