Another Reason to Love Twitter: Authors

I am a bit of a geek when it comes to meeting celebrities. It hasn’t happened very often, but when it does, I become very, very excited. (I still haven’t stopped talking about the time Diablo Cody retweeted me. And did I tell you about the time I went to a meeting with Dave Eggers? He signed a book for me!!!)

One of the things that fascinates me about twitter is how easy it is to interact with the leading minds in the field of education. There are so many authors of books about education that are tweeting. But not only that, they’re all so nice and so helpful! Not only do they share great stuff, but they’ll answer questions and interact and help you out when you need it. So not only do I get to be in awe of their celebrity status and mere presence in my twitter stream, but I also get to “talk” to them!

And you can, too. Here is a short list of authors that educators should follow on twitter. Like I said, not only do they tweet great stuff, but they interact and chat, too!

Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) & Julie Lindsay (@julielindsay)

I still can’t believe we’ve gotten to work with the founders of the Flat Classroom project. I’ve been learning from Vicki via her blog and presentations since I first got started in ed tech about six years ago. The new book she and Julie have written is awesome and they are always ridiculously helpful.

Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) & Willyn Webb (@willynwebb)

Lisa and I met at ISTE last year (stay tuned for more awesome ISTE12 posts!) and she invited Neil and I to write a guest post on her blog (which is awesome in its own right). She and Willyn, authors of Teaching Generation Text: Using Cell Phones to Enhance Learning, were also kind enough to make an appearance on the inaugural episode of Engaging Ed Radio to talk about their book and their ideas for using cell phones in the classroom. Both of them are really smart and helpful, too.

Barbara Blackburn (@barbblackburn)

Barb and I “ran into one another” during an #urbaned chat and have been having great conversations ever since. Her books on academic rigor are easy to read and can be of use for any teacher. Barb was also kind enough to appear on an episode of Engaging Ed Radio to share even more ideas about improving teaching and learning.

Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo)

Mr. Ferlazzo has one of the most helpful blogs out there and he has written for the Washington Post and Education Week, among other stellar publications. His book on motivating students is a must-read, too. There may have been a high-five involved when Larry started following Engaging Ed. Just sayin’.

Todd Whitaker (@toddwhitaker)

Todd’s books about leadership are inspirational, even if you aren’t in a leadership position. However, if you are a leader of any sort, or if you aspire to be, his books and presentations are not to be missed. He’s quite active and engaging on twitter, so he’s a must-follow for sure.

Chris Lehman (@iChrisLehman)

I wonder if Chris gets confused with Chris Lehmann (@chrislehmann) very often. They’re both great tweeters to follow in my opinion. Mr. Lehman is fairly new to twitter, but quite active. His most recent book is about the Common Core, and it’s on the way to me as we speak. Give Chris a follow and you won’t be disappointed.

Sharon Creech (@ciaobellacreech)

Ok, Ms. Creech doesn’t write books about education. However, she’s an amazing author of books for children. AND (another celebrity encounter I can’t stop talking about) she follows @engaginged on twitter! I could do another 10 pages on children’s authors who tweet, but I’ll save that for another day. If you teach reading at any grade level, give some thought to following authors of books you’re reading.

A huge thank you to all of the above for being such great parts of our Personal Learning Network. There are certainly more education authors out there to follow. Who did we miss? Who are your favorites? Let us know. Maybe someday the Engaging Educators will join their ranks!

photo credit: ailatan via photo pin cc